Polka Dots And Ray Bans [CD]

Guitarist Mike Clement returns to Cellar Music with his new album Polka Dots and Ray Bans. Living in New Orleans, Clement is well aware that jazz has no fixed borders. For this project, he has set out to honor that idea by creating a body of original genre-transcendent compositions rooted in jazz yet free to roam. Clement uses this recording as an opportunity to feature some of the incredible local musicians and friends he has encountered along the way, whose voices and perspectives continually shape his own. Drawing from bebop, echoing the Great American Songbook, and weaving in tasteful elements from across the musical spectrum, the original compositions function as open vehicles for improvisation, capturing a wide range of moods-sometimes swinging hard, sometimes deep in the pocket, sometimes smooth, sultry, or quietly sensual-much like a night in a New Orleans club where the music shifts with the room and the energy in the air. Clement is joined by Tris Duncan on Hammond B3 organ and Gerald Watkins Jr. On drums, as well as guests Julian Lee, Miles Berry, Connor Stewart, and Leroy Jones.