Howe Gelb - Gathered

There’s a new Howe Gelb album out and it is called Gathered. For many music fans, it is a name that hangs somewhere in their mental archives, after all, Gelb has been around on the music scene for almost 40 years now. Still, it might not mean much to them, with all the musical shapes and forms Howe has taken on, as a solo artist, bandleader, band member, participant, producer and often all of the above, he himself might not be sure how many albums he's released.

But for the devoted, myself included, and that group is not as small as some might think, a new Gelb album in any configuration, is a joyful event. For us, there’s no such thing as a good or bad Gelb album, it is just a question whether it is one that you will play less or more than the other, and Gathered falls into the latter category.

Usually, the key question that comes to mind with any Gelb release is what guise he will take on for the occasion - splintering guitar rock reminiscent of Neil Young’s electric stuff, solo piano music, free jazz excursions, late night crooning, dusty acoustic Americana, flamenco, mariachi bands, gospel choirs, another version of one of his songs, or something that he hasn’t done yet. If there is such a thing.

But whatever that else is, there is always this ease of touch and absolute musical sense and knowledge that Gelb brings along, and Gathered is no exception. As the title might suggest, this time around Gelb covers most of his best musical ground, from the easy on the ear, but so hard to play acoustics of “On The Fence” the ‘standard’ Giant Sand sound of “Anna” and “The Ope Road” the late night jazz of “Not The End of The World” that features French movie star Anna Carina or torch song crooning of his daughter Talula on the classic “Moon River”. Of course, there’s more.

Gelb always paid special attention to covers of songs by the people he reveres, and this time around it is his tribute to Leonard Cohen with his version of the master’s “A Thousand Kisses Deep”, which includes two Spanish guitarists and M. Ward, who’s career Gelb more or less jump-started by releasing his debut album.

So, yet another brilliant Gelb release, the kind that makes the existence of the repeat button on your musical device meaningful.