Dave Kline
Life's Little Mysteries

Review By Steven Stone
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CD Number: Veda Music VM101

  I don't often review jazz albums, not because I don't like jazz, but because I find so few jazz albums that can successfully navigate the slender space ‘between been done before cocktail jazz' and 'too-far-out-for-comfort wall of noise'. Yet Life's Little Mysteries accomplished this musical tightrope trick with style and verve. Dave Kline, the session leader, plays steel and nylon stringed acoustic guitars as well as acoustic and electric violins. He accomplishes this quadruple threat with great style and impeccable tone.

Joining Kline on Life's Little Mysteries are Jon Carroll on acoustic piano, Hammond C3 organ, fender Rhodes, and accordion, JT Brown on electric bass and electric fretless bass, Robert Jospe on drums and percussion, and David George on electric guitar and dobro. Dave Kline wrote all musical compositions on the disc. They run the gamut form Latin inflected sambas such as "Tropical Bob" to modal melodies like "Life's Little Mysteries" with a side trip down to the delta on "Fiddlin the Blues." What I like most about Kline's music is that it has drive without being hard-edged, and is musically inventive without losing track of the song's core melody and structure.

Engineered by Bob Dawson, Kline's co-producer, and mastered at Airshow Mastering in Boulder, Colorado, the sound on this CD is first-class. Even with the mixture of acoustic and electric instruments the overall sound remains natural, open, and very real. I doubt you will find this disc in your local music mega-store, but a trip to Dave's website will enable you to get a copy.

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