Denver-based singer/songwriter OTIS TAYLOR has been expanding the boundaries of the blues for over a decade now. Every time I think he’s taken the country blues as far as he can go (cf. prior albums like White African, The Truth is Not Fiction and Definition of a Circle), he surprises me once again. So it is with Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs. Taylor’s tunes stay their regular aesthetic course, with mantra-like melodies and lyrics reflecting the constant struggle of humans with love (“I’m Not Mysterious,” “Mama’s Best Friend”), lust (“Young Girl Down the Street,” “Country Boy, Girl”), death (“Dagger By My Side,” “Lost My Guitar”) and all of the above (the ghost story “If You Hope”). But the music here is both lighter on its feet and more lush in its textures, due in large part to the presence of so many jazz musicians in the ranks. Cornetist RON MILES has long been a fixture of Taylor albums, but here he’s joined by famed rhythm section TARUS MATEEN and NASHEET WAITS and monster pianist JASON MORAN, who makes the most significant contributions outside of Taylor himself. (Witness the interplay between Moran’s fingerings and Taylor’s banjo on “Country Boy, Girl.”) Add a couple of string players (cello being another longstanding element in Taylor’s sound) and African percussionists, ethereal contributions from his daughter CASSIE and a couple of guest turns by guitarist GARY MOORE and you have a warmer, more luscious stew than ever before, Which, of course, just makes the stark, often doom-infused lyrics even more starkly effective. Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs is late night blues of very fine vintage and high quality, which will have you reaching for both a guitar and the bottle as the grooves spin.
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