Attila Zoller: Lasting Love

For years Woody Mann kept telling me about these great tunes that Attila played solo but never recorded or performed. When Attila’s last illness was diagnosed, Woody set up the solo session that had been put off for so long, and to everyone’s credit, the CD was rushed out so that Zoller got to see it. The result is a production featuring a high quota of typos and a reasonable number of imperfect notes from a guitarist who was not a natural solo performer, none of which matters in the slightest. The feel is warm and relaxed throughout, and there is some rewarding blowing, but the focus is squarely on the compositions, which range from blues and hard-boppish lines to bossas to ballads. His musical personality seems to stand at the center of these styles, the writing always natural. Some tracks (“Lasting Love,” “Meant To Be”) are as harmonically subtle as Golson pieces, and one is left wondering how many jazz guitarists besides Wes were such convincing composers.

There are sentimental reasons for recommending this release, but there are much better musical reasons, headed by six or eight tunes that guitarists will be racing each other to learn, several of which would transpose well to other instruments.

Originally Published May 1, 1998