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| Ryan Blotnick: The Woods -Fishkill records |
The guitarist Ryan Blotnick has released his fifth album titled The Woods in April of this year released on Fishkill Records. Ryan attended at William Patterson University where he studied with Gene Bertoncini and Paul Meyers. He completed his degree for Jazz Studies there. His path took him to study for his Master's of Music Performance from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark between 2002-2006. His time at the Conservatory allowed him the unique opportunity to study as an exchange student back in New York as well as in Europe with such notable musicians as guitarists Steve Cardenas, Lionel Loueke, and Jakob Bro; saxophonist Lee Konitz, and bassist Ben Street.
Blotnick was originally from Southwest Harbor, Maine. After his education, he spent ten years in New York City and became a sideman performing and recording with saxophonists Pete Robbins and Michael Blake, as well as drummers Tyshawn Sorey and Jeff Williams. In 2015, Blotnick decided to return to his home state of Maine and has been there ever since.
Blotnick's latest album The Woods was recorded in a studio called The Woods in Woodstock, NY., but besides the obvious link to the studios name, it is Blotnick's relationship to the outdoors that is most important in regards to the album's title.
"The woods is a place where everything is deeply inter-connected-even if it appears disconnected on the surface." "...in music, there is a conscious level where musicians interact intentionally...at the same time, we are interacting on a subconscious level, adjusting dynamics, blending, and having each other's backs. This kind of deep listening and collectivism is what makes music such a powerful force."
Trying to achieve this state of being, where intuition allows collectiveness and creatively flows by being able to tap the ether, is what Blotnick has been working towards for years. To that purpose he assembled two old friends from the Hudson Valley area, pianist/organist Tyler G. Woods and drummer Otto Hauser. Together with bassist Adam Chilenski, who Blotnick enlisted, this group took ten of Bloknick's compositions into the studio for two days recording this album in April of 2024. From what I have listened to on The Woods, guitarist Ryan Blotnick has certainly raised his musical sights and elevated his playing to another level.
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| Ryan Blotnick (photo credit unknown) |
The music is minimalist, contemplative, insightful and perceptive. The opener "The Magic" explores space and time, creating a soft modal groove that finds Blotnick's guitar creating influential sounds that remind me of John Abercrombie's exploratory work.
"Pecao" is a composition that was inspired by a visit to the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico by the guitarist. Blotnick offers lush chords and deliberate single note lines as some swelling organ chords are deftly provided by Woods. Huaser and Chilenski provide the infectious clave rhythm to this beautiful piece.
"Cuyo" has a slow meditative feel. A deliberate cinematic feel that sets the stage for mystery or drama. Woods organ work here is again on point tonally. Blotnick's guitar is sparse, using space in a Jim Hall kind of way- delicate, wasting no extra notes to make the point.
"Neptuno 2000" was a improvised, exploratory, under two minute free form that have the band letting loose. This is a stylistic outlier on the album.
"Two Lights" was a highlight. Modulating guitar lines, sensitive and light. Piano work by Woods fits beautifully. These guys are in sync. Chilenski's bass line throb with authority and Hauser's trap work is complimentary. Blotnick credits guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel with the inspiration for this one. Hear it for yourself.
"Snowfields" is a reference to a killer ski slop that has is unforgiving to the unschooled. The music is energetic, jagged and perhaps frenetic, unpredictable in all directions. No one of my favorites.
"Subnivean" opens with sparse modulating guitar lines and responding piano lines, like two birds calling to each other in the darkness. Smooth, exploratory and cautious. Wood's piano adds beautiful crescendos of notes as the music ends in a whisper.
"The Woods" has a beautiful, Americana-like shuffle to it. Repetitive lines by Blotkin set the melody as the rhythm team make sure the direction and pulse are consistent. Blotnick's guitar borrows from the Frisell school for this one, and Wood's piano has elements of that recall Bruce Hornsby's style.
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| Ryan Blotnick Quartet (Tyler G. Wood, Otto Hauser, Ryan Blotnick and Adam Chilenski) (photo credit unknown) |
For those how can't get enough of the slow played, blues inspired guitar that was best represented by artists like Grant Green in the early nineteen sixties on Blue Note Records, then you will love Blotnick and band's take on "Smokey Corners." This one is like returning to those days when you could sit back in a dimly lit ( dare I say dingy), well- worn bar, where the drinks were cheap, the women were purportedly loose, and the band was jammed in a small sliver of a space in a corner, but the music was sublime. You can't ask more than that.
The closing composition has a folk-inspired feel. On "Lurvey Spring" Blotnick's slow, minimalist guitar work is all about feelings, tone and sincerity. I can see how Blotnick relates this to the kind of music Neil Young would sometimes play when he wasn't rocking out. "Old Man" had that kind of haunting feeling for me. The band plays takes this seriously, respectful, almost reverent. Blotnick's guitar sometimes has an almost lap steel kind of sustain on this one. Lurvey Spring is an actual natural spring in Blotnick's native Southwest Harbor, Maine. It is on the Mount Desert Island and part of Acadia National Park. I have been to the park many times, it a special place that is beautiful and inspiring. I have never heard of Lurvey Spring before, but no doubt the place has a special meaning to this guitarist and his music makes that clear.