Gideon King & City Blog
City Blog
(GJKSOUNDS)

New York City composer/guitar player/producer Gideon King recently made a commitment to creating a compelling and exclusive studio band. He is calling that project Gideon King & City Blog and this is the first release from that band. The mixing of pop fusion, alternative, and jazz rock fusion is addictive on these nine songs. The title track opens with the almost-talking, expressive leading of King opening into the soft vocals informed by underlying expert piano playing. King’s distorted guitar provides the leading. “Down” has trickly keys, subtle, laid back drumming and again King’s guitar. There is a solo male vocal here that’s real sexy. The musicians are all superb and need be named, I feel. There is King playing lead electric, acoustic and synth guitars and offering up various noises. James Genus plays electric and upright bass as well as Matt Penman on upright. Kevin Hays plays piano and the drummers are Willard Dyson and Donald Edwards. Donny Mccaslin manages saxophone and flute and Andy Gravish is on trumpet with vocalists including Grace Weber, Marc Broussard, Elliott Skinner, Saul Kurtz, Carolyn Leonhart and Gideon King himself. “What Say You” is a slow and subtle ballad, informed by strong female vocals as much as by acoustic guitar and upright bass,”Dirty Bastard” is a slinky, clean, strummed guitar and splashy drums tune with piano runs, backing vocals and King’s George Benson-ims. “Broken Noise” ends it all with a concoction of layered vocals and a slightly banal lyric. But again, Hays’ piano playing rises above it all and I feel he is the real star here.