Although he holds onto the trio configuration for Places You Go,
Brad Shepik has made one rather major change here: out goes the bassist of the jazz guitarist's past two albums and in comes Hammond B-3 organist
Gary Versace. To say that
Shepik's shaken things up a bit in the rhythm department with this move would be stating the obvious, but with
Versace handling the basslines on his keys, and holdover drummer
Tom Rainey not only tying up the loose ends but quite often pointing the way, the additional textures aren't so much a switcheroo as an opening up of myriad new possibilities. And the trio do take advantage of those possibilities, even if, in doing so, they give up a certain amount of the abandon that characterized their previous output (as well as some of
Shepik's other projects, such as the Commuters and
Babkas):
Versace's approach is more often than not far removed from that of classic B-3 players like
Jimmy Smith and
Jack McDuff, save for one thing: like them, he's got soul, and thus he and
Shepik make sure to play off of the organ's natural funkiness as often as possible. There is a cost to all this, though:
Shepik's music has lost a good deal of its worldliness. Where past projects were likely to visit traditions from the Balkans to Africa, the improvisations on Places You Go keep largely within more conventional Western jazz structures -- if the word conventional can be applied to music this elastic and relatively edgy.
Shepik has in the past shown a predilection for angular, strong, rhythmic bursts, and while there are still plenty of those, as well as many a time signature trick within these grooves,
Shepik spends much of this record applying his technical prowess and songwriting acumen to what can only be considered rather straightforward, un-harsh tones and lyrical, easier-to-follow melodic and harmonic paths. Places You Go isn't a lightweight album by any means --
Shepik and both bandmembers kick out some serious musicality here from top to bottom, the smoother ballads being no exception -- but it is a less experimental one. It would be foolhardy to expect a musician such as
Shepik to stay here long, however -- moving forward is too much a part of who he is. ~ Jeff Tamarkin