Indigo Kid - Indigo Kid

A young musician these days will often form a band with his or her musician friends and peers but miss out on an important old jazz tradition, that of learning from your seniors on the bandstand. Not so the upcoming young guitarist Dan Messore. It's to the young guitarist/composer Messore's credit, that his right hand man in his quartet Indigo Kid is a mentor and another ex-Loose Tubes sideman, the incredible British saxophonist Iain Ballamy, who has also produced and arranged this eponymous debut recording. As is the norm among Babel artists, Messore is someone who has inherited and absorbed a diverse range of music. On the recording Messore might draw from the sensitive side of post-contemporary fusion where Pat Metheny meets Kurt Rosenwinkel. But Indigo Kid is also filled with the rich folk-rock traditions of a John Fahey and the recently departed Bert Jansch and Messore's sweet folky harmonies and dreamily chiming open chords recall the misty mountain landscapes of Led Zeppelin, as on his composition here 'Mr Lepard'. But jazz is central, with hints of Bill Frisell's Americana on the tender 'Pages to a Friend', and a beautifully intimate rendition of the Gershwins' 'The Man I Love', while jazz fans' hearts are certain to melt to Messore's bossa-like 'New Man New Place' with Ballamy improvising in sumptuous Stan Getz-like mood.