Joe Deninzon
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Review of "Electric Blue"
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lectrification of instruments is hardly unusual, although not many play the electric 6-string violin as Joe Deninzon does. His album Electric Blue (Wilbert's Blues records) is a mixture of jazz, rock, fusion, and numerous other styles, although there is ample improvisation to tilt the scale towards jazz. His duet to sextet groupings revolve around Joe Hunter, keyboard; Mark Gonder, drums; Jeremy Bleich, bass; Dallas Coffey, bass; Ricardo Flores, percussion; Kenny Anderson, tenor sax; Winton Reynolds, piano, Erik Unsworth, bass; Ryan Brown, drums, Tony Pulizzi, guitar. With the exception of a Monk piece, Deninzon wrote all the selections, and all are amplified and spirited tunes (Shock Therapy/In Stride/Well You Needn't/Bluzak/Acid Rabbits/The Dark Frontier/ An Evening Nap in the Afternoon Sun/Oasis. 51:55). Hunter appears on almost all selections. His keyboard romps are typically wild and wooly, which is just the ticket to keep up with Deninzon. Together, they fan most of the flames of these hotly played tunes. The music touches all bases, infusing swing, Gypsy, Latin, and several Jazz periods with rock-based riffs. It truly is a fusion of multiple music types. Although Zappa and Hendrix made Deninzon's hero list, so did Beethoven, Coltrane, Grappelli, and Stuff Smith. You will hear the influences of all these guys, so you see why his music is a quilt of many colors. He is not suffering from an identity crisis. He simply wants to be different.
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Cadence Magazine
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