May 2011

Nat Janoff
Come Together Move Apart

By Bill Milkowski

On his fourth outing as a leader, guitarist-composer Nat Janoff surrounds himself with kindred spirits and fellow chopsmeisters in pianist John Escreet, bassist Francois Moutin and drummer Chris Carroll. Janoff shows a propensity for fleet-fingered, Pat Martino-meets-John McLaughlin linear work on originals like “Mood,” the swinging “Shorter Times,” “Partly Cloudy” and the surging “Transit,” which includes a touch of nasty distortion on his edgy solo. Lyrical offerings like “For Now,” “Hope Fills My Heart” and his mellow “Sketch 1” and “Sketch 2” show a different side from Janoff’s sheer-burn instincts.