PT Gazell:  “2 Days Out”

I’ve been listening to PT Gazell’s latest offering, “2 Days Out”, thought I’d share a few thoughts.  

First off, a confession:  I’ve been a PT Gazell admirer for a long time.  Before I had any clue who PT Gazell was, I’d heard these gorgeous, melodic, and MUSICAL lines on several 70’s-era  Johnny Paycheck albums (back when they were called albums), played by some guy named PT Gazell. They were perfectly formed MUSICAL little section parts … played on diatonic harmonica … on country music records!

“2 Days Out” is PT’s first solo offering since 2005’s Swingin’ Easy … Hittin’ Hard. That record was noteworthy for many reasons, not the least of which:  a world-class diatonic player released a record of standards using a system utilizing selected valved reeds that allowed him to play through the changes.  It was a different system, requiring a different thought process and approach than the over-blow-oriented diatonic players that have covered similar ground in the past two decades, as well as different than the chromatic players that have plowed and sowed the seeds of that ground for the past half-century.   

The five years between recordings is both a blink and a lifetime.  It’s a blink in the overall view, but a lifetime when viewed from the perspective that PT Gazell has only been developing this approach (The Gazell Method) for not much more than five years.

The thing that struck me most when listening to this record is that it seems like the recording of a different player than any PT Gazell recording I’ve ever heard.  Then I realize … this is a different player than any player PT Gazell has ever been while playing this material with the half-valved system he has embraced.
The PT Gazell we hear on “2 Days Out” is a player that has spent an additional five years figuring the ins and outs of his instrument.  The swing-player PT Gazell I’ve always known comes out balls-to-the-walls … and then ratchets it up another few notches … BAM … 

This PT Gazell is a more patient player, a player that lingers over a phrase, then next colors it using a fine-tipped brush … This PT Gazell has added more Toots Thielemans-phrasing to his inner-Cannonball Adderley … Of course, one has to look no further than PT’s playing on Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison’s K.M. Blues to find that the burner PT Gazell is still very much in the house … but even here the burner is more akin to kiln-burnished-ceramic than cow-kicked house-afire.

In short, “2 Days Out” is the work of a fully developed player in the height of his maturity, gaining confidence and mastery within an instrumental form of his own design and imagination, and as such is a joy to witness and share.
I read in his press kit that PT likes to think of his projects as “an on going musical conversation between myself and my fans.”  That’s exactly what we have here in “2 Days Out,” an on-going process of discovery by a major artist on our instrument … playing the great American Song-Book (plus The Beatles: Fixing a Hole) … who is only just getting warmed up.

Available at:
http://www.ptgazell.com
http://www.cdbaby.com/all/gazell

Paul Messinger/Chapel Hill, NC
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Got my CD yesterday. 
Just wonderful and delightful! 
I am personally grateful for it, because I can hear how and when you are using 
the values. 
Your precision is the most impressive aspect for me. 
This album, I can tell, will inspire my own playing half valued. 
Thanks for a great album, truly delightful!
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