www.bass-musician-magazine.com

by Damien Erskine

Ralph Bowen
“Dedicated”
www.ralphbowen.com

This new release from Ralph Bowen is a real gift. Featuring Adam Rogers (gtr), John Patitucci (bs), Antonio Sanchez (drms) and Sean Jones (trmpt) this recording is a real swinging tour-de-force. Aside from the fact that these are some of my favorite players, both Ralph’s playing and compositional skills really shine here. His playing is truly virtuosic and the writing is supremely interesting, swinging and never “heady”.

Ralph is every bit the monster that his counterparts here are… With beautiful tone, endlessly creative and interesting solos and an ear for melody that I long for. With so many of the jazz releases these days seeming a bit typical or predictable, there is something that these guys bring to the table here that is refreshing yet familiar. Without a track by track play-by-play, I can assure you that this is some of the most compelling and inventive music I’ve heard in some time. These guys are bringing it in a big way! This is one of the few CDs I come across that didn’t just make it into my home computer’s iTunes library, it now also resides in my mp3 player and will for some time!