(Contemporary Jazz, Guitar) Julian Lage - Modern Lore (with Scott Colley, Kenny Wollesen) - 2018, MP3, 320 kbps

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/julian-lage-mn0000837229/biography
Artist Biography by Greg Prato
Jazz guitarist Julian Lage is somewhat of a child prodigy -- playing his instrument at the age of five and performing in public a year later. Shortly thereafter, Lage began playing with such renowned artists as Carlos Santana (when he was only eight years old!), Pat Metheny, Kenny Werner, Toots Thielemans, Martin Taylor, and David Grisman, among others, resulting in Lage being the subject of the 1997 Academy Award-nominated documentary film Jules at Eight. In addition to performing, Lage has recorded as a duo with Grisman (the 1999 release Dawg Duos), and contributed a fine cover of "In a Sentimental Mood" with Martin Taylor and David Grisman, to the 2000 compilation Acoustic Disc: 100% Handmade Music, Vol. 5. Lage has also appeared at numerous jazz concerts/festivals and performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards.
In 2009, Lage released his debut solo album, Sounding Point, on Emarcy. The album was widely celebrated as the arrival of a new and authoritative voice on the instrument. This was followed by the concept album Gladwell in 2011. He fronted a quintet that featured bassist Jorge Roeder, tenor saxophonist Dan Blake, cellist Aristides Rivas, and drummer/percussionist Tupac Mantilla. The guitarist switched labels for 2013's Free Flying. Issued on Palmetto Records, it was recorded in duet with pianist Fred Hersch.
The duo format apparently agreed with Lage, though its focus shifted a bit. In 2014, he issued two such albums. The first was Avalon with guitarist Chris Eldridge. Produced by the Milk Carton Kids' Kenneth Pattengale, it contained bluegrass, folk, jazz, and classic pop standards; the pair called it a "love letter to the acoustic guitar." Lage's second 2014 album, Room, with fellow jazz guitarist Nels Cline, appeared on Mack Avenue. It focused on a range of material, from intricately composed and complex works to free and spontaneous improvisations.
In 2016, Lage released the trio album Arclight with bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Produced by Grammy-winning guitarist/songwriter Jesse Harris (Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux), the album featured the single "Nocturne." A five-song EP, Live in Los Angeles, followed later that year, documenting concert versions of songs from Arclight. In early 2017, Lage reunited with Chris Eldridge for Mount Royal, a second volume of acoustic guitar duets. Later that year, he paired with Gyan Riley for Midsummer Moons, a duet album of ten John Zorn compositions. The following year Lage reassembled his trio with Colley and Wollesen for Modern Lore. Produced by Harris, this set flipped the script on Arclight. Where the previous set -- his first electric guitar trio date -- found the artist inspired by freewheeling, pre-bop jazz, the latter recording incorporated the rhythmic sensibility and persona of early rock & roll in improvisational settings.

https://www.mackavenue.com/store/mac1131
Modern Lore finds Lage playfully flipping the script he followed on his acclaimed 2016 Mack Avenue debut, Arclight. That album — produced, like Modern Lore, by Lage’s friend and collaborator, the singer-songwriter Jesse Harris — was his first trio set on electric guitar and found Lage inspired by the sounds and the attitude of the freewheeling, pre-bebop jazz era, when, as he puts it, “country music and jazz and swing were in this weird wild-west period.” This time he incorporates the sensibility, if not the outright sound, of early rock and roll, a similarly hybrid form driven by rhythm, personality and a passion for the electric guitar.
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/modern-lore-julian-lage-mack-avenue-records-review-b...eth-thompson.php
As a young guitar prodigy, Julian Lage often went to gigs at the Bay Area jazz club Yoshi's. There he would sit up front, put his head on stage and watch admiringly. Backing his early heroes at Yoshi's were two musicians who now form a trio with Lage. Double bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen performed on Lage's 2016 album Arclight (Mack Avenue Records) to wide acclaim. The threesome reunites here for Modern Lore, with Lage's friend and collaborator Jesse Harris involved again.
Nowadays it's others who lean close to the stage and gaze enrapt at Lage. Collusions with the likes of Chris Eldridge and Nels Cline have seen him mixing bluegrass, pop and jazz, with a hint of classical, even avant-garde. But whereas Arclight found Lage delving into early twentieth century tunes, Modern Lore seeks out the very foundations of rock music and digs deep.
The acoustic guitar having been his early tool of choice, Lage indulges a love of the Telecaster here, like he did on Arclight. The sound has an unfussy clarity, as if Lage is playing your living room with his Fender and a home-made amp. The work of Chicago-based Bill MacKay often comes to mind when Lage finds a similar purity of melody. The two also share a style of lucid strumming, where each crotchet or quaver really counts for something.
So to the album's title, Modern Lore. This more than hints at the present-day mixing with a sense of learning. Opening cut "The Ramble" bears this out, when a strutting bass intro and rattling rhythm sticks give way to Lage in B.B. King mode. Catchy bluesy chords lead to a pinging solo, with notes so sparkling they might be freshly dew-dropped. You also get a hint of fuzzed-up Jimmy Page and John Abercrombie's pure picking. Retro this is not, refined it certainly is. Julian Lage is the ultimate jazz curator, with history in his fingertips. He conjures bygone eras, shakes off their dust, then hands you them anew.
"Atlantic Limited" escorts you down a sultry sidewalk, before "General Thunder" kicks in with a straight 4/4 solid rhythm. Despite this unvaried upbeat, Lage offers something close to what John McLaughlin once called a 'sadjoy' state of being, via a series of pensive refrains.
Each cut brings something new to the party. "Roger The Dodger" mixes funky chords and refined solos, "Wordsmith" rumbles into true rock 'n' roll and "Revelry" is like the air of a folk ballad. More revelations come on "Earth Science" when Lage seems to drill his fretboard into your very core with metallic rigour.
Tagging this collection as some kind of 'jazz-rock' outing would be simplistic and gruff. For sure it moves Lage into new arenas, but when did he ever remain static? Modern Lore is a perfect paean to the electric guitar and all its sensual traditions.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/modern-lore-mw0003133568
AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek
The more things stay the same the more they change. On 2016's Arclight, Julian Lage's first electric date, the guitarist led a trio with bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen to justifiable acclaim. Singer, songwriter, and producer Jesse Harris, an old pal of the guitarist, helmed those sessions as they wove through jazz history from ragtime through bop and beyond, threaded with enough homespun feel that the album sounded instantly familiar. That trio and Harris reunite for Modern Lore. Lage keeps his electric guitar, too. The music here is an effortless turn from rephrasing jazz through the sound of a Telecaster to engaging rock & roll's circular rhythmic and dynamic possibilities -- which is not to say that Modern Lore is a jazz-rock fusion record. Nope. It's simply instrumental, Americana-tinged rock with a a smattering of jazz improvisation and other exotic touches woven in. Surf and flamenco are threaded into the delightful "General Thunder." First single "Roger the Dodger" offers an angular intro and Steely Dan-esque melody line. Lage's breezy technique combined with Wollesen's drums and vibraphone alternate that sound in a sultry waltz rhythm as Colley's woody bassline adds an edgier danceable strut to the proceedings. "Splendor Riot" has just enough country in it to add a pastoral air, but its bright, gospel-tinged chords and fleet yet repetitive runs offer a delightful twist. The interplay between Colley and Lage in the bridge is simultaneously earthy and elegant. "Look Book" is the only nod to bop, albeit through the combined gazes of mutant sophisticates such as Jimmy Bryant, Speedy West, and Les Paul. Likewise, the wonderfully chaotic "Earth Science," with its razor-sharp arpeggios, decentered rhythms, and knotty exchanges, walks the line between modern jazz and prog. Closer "Pantheon" is a ballad that underscores the relaxed, uncluttered feel that is at the groove-laden core of Modern Lore. This is Lage and his trio playing for themselves and obviously enjoying it; they create an easy intimacy and offer a warm welcome for listeners. The music here is not only solid, but attractive and clever to boot.

Julian Lage: guitars;
Scott Colley: bass;
Kenny Wollesen: drums, vibraphone