Ian Wardenski Quintet featuring TAMARA TUCKER UNFOLDINGS

May 10, 2024

Ian Wardenski Quintet featuring TAMARA TUCKER

UNFOLDINGS

Independent Label

Ian Wardenski, guitar/composer/arranger; Tamara Tucker, vocals; Savino Palumbo, piano; Amy Shook, bass; Frank Russo, drums; Mercedes Beckman, alto saxophone.

Ian Wardenski is a guitarist, composer, educator (professor of Music at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, MD, and Chair of Performing Arts). “Unfoldings” is Wardenski’s third album release. It’s comprised of a five-movement suite he has penned that is rooted in classical music. He injects jazz as the freedom and improvisational aspects inside his arrangements. After all, Wardenski is described as a theoretician in his press package. That’s a person concerned with the theoretical aspects of a subject, in this case ‘music.’

He introduces his wife’s lovely soprano voice into the mix as another instrument. Tamara Tucker sings without lyrics, like a human horn, and enriches this project. I find my ear pulled towards the mastery of Savino Palumbo on piano. His improvisational solos are mind-bending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoJPndN7l5k

Wardenski’s guitar solo is impetuous and demands attention during this first Movement of five. The initial thing I noticed about his guitar style is that he sounds very much like a horn when he solos. I mean that as a high compliment.

The second Movement opens with the bass of Amy Shook leading the way. Frank Russo solos on drums, playing tag with other instruments in an interesting dance of breaks and unison melodies that intersplice the arrangement. This Movement II is inventive and modern. Shook’s bass solo during the 3^rd Movement is lovely. Frank Russo struts his drum solo into the spotlight with lots of technique, flash, and smash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuSXzVF7KEw

Wardenski believes strongly in a close relationship between scholarship and performance. He has a passion for research and is always looking inside the music, outside the music, and around the music for that spark of innovation, experimentation, and magic. His music touches the soul of those listening, and of those playing the music. His quintet presents a cohesive package of expert musicianship to unravel his arrangements and make these Movements I through V bring excitement, beauty, and the unexpected to this recording. Wardenski’s compositions become a scale upon which one side is stacked with innovation, jazz improvisation and imagination, while the other side of the scale balances his music with classical theory and composer skills. Here is a project you will want to play more than once. There’s a lot to hear, a lot to ponder, and even more to enjoy.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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