Elements - Jason Carter And Ragatal

Jason Carter is a phenomenal guitarist, "one of those virtuosos who can slot into any musical style he chooses, be it classical, jazz, roots or blues - and all those appear on this gem of an album. He is joined by Ragatal, a trio consisting of Stephen Bingham on electric and acoustic violins, Steve Lawson on electric bass guitar and Sanju Vishnu Saha on tabla." They're joined by Hossam Ramzy playing world percussion on 4 songs.The album has a great mix of textures, from slow, pensive solo guitar to a blazing full-throttle quintet. Improvisation is what ties it all together as a coherent album that musicians will really enjoy hearing. If Amazon has not yet posted audio samples, you can hear all the songs on Youtube at the channel 'Jason Carter - Topic.'For my taste, about 9 of the 12 songs are fantastic, and the others are very good. Despite the trio's name 'Ragatal' (raga-tala), the Indian influence is not highly pronounced except for the tabla on most tracks. So I don't label this as 'Indo-jazz' but more 'world music improvisation.' Whatever you call it ... it's great music.

A fairly unusual ensemble, we get classical guitar, fretless bass, violin, and percussion melded together. At times it tends towards the banal (the pachelbel canon) or derivative (there are a number of moments that feel like outtakes from a Jean-Luc Ponty album), but overall, this is becoming one of my favorite CDs.

I've had this cd for several years and love it more each time I listen to it. Jason Carter's music is beautiful and evocative, especially Celestial Hymn. This is the perfect cd for watching stars with a glass of wine!