Proceed With Caution Edition Remastérisée

Description

While Black Jazz Shawn Neeq's previous album had its share of funk based on riffs, Keys' second release, Proceed with Caution!, sticks to straightforward jazz truths with the thirty-something guitarist in the studio alongside seven equally young and rising musicians, including Charles Owens (saxophones, flute), Oscar Brashear (trumpet), Al Hall, Jr. (trombone), Kirk Lightsey (electric piano), Henry Franklin (bass), and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler (drums). The touches can really play guitar, easily and intelligently with an unfeigned feeling. The man captures our attention at all times. "Proceed with Caution," like the other tracks, is an original composition, a true feast of organized craftsmanship, with a dreamy Wes Montgomery mode based on chords at the beginning and end of the song framing long passages of fast, catchy bebop licks. Making the flute and electric piano solos almost superfluous, Keys evokes a musical drama that invites multiple listens. Then, "Tradewinds" finds the Omaha native cherishing the appealing melody of the piece before launching into creative flights that announce his certainty of purpose. A similar confidence marks his urgent playing in "Effulgence," which also benefits from trombone, electric piano, and soprano saxophone solos. Surprisingly, about a minute into this song, revelations began to channel through his quick fingers on the strings; something similar can be heard from transcendentalist Carlos Santana in certain parts of his albums Welcome and Love Devotion Surrender, both released around the same time as Proceed with Caution!