Combo Westside

I strongly recommend this album at any time, but especially for those days when musical remedy is absolutely crucial. The beauty of Full Bloom is its power to sonically right your bent when life has you cranked at a difficult and random 278 degree angle.

Combo Westside, a five-piece ensemble of masterful musicians, takes listeners on an auditory journey -  mostly (but not solely) addressing the romantic aspects of life - through a melding of jazz, bossa nova, bolero, disco and funk originals and covers on its sophomore release.

Vocalist/keyboardist Sara Gascho, guitarist Aaron Graham, bassist Phil Anderson, percussionist Carolina Reisenman and drummer Jonathan Crowe recorded in Duncan Hudson’s Tortuga Records studio. The album was also produced by Hudson (KXCI’s music director) along with the band; Jim Blackwood mastered the fantastic 12-song album.

Opening track It Takes Time is a funky, upbeat and uplifting jazz tune about honoring friendships that adroitly transitions into a dreamy break midway through the song; following is Bart Howard’s, Fly Me to the Moon, featuring a Latin stance on the jazz standard.

Waiting for the Rain, penned by the band’s guitarist Aaron Graham, has Gascho vocally conveying the romantic longing of unrequited love, through sensual and mellow jazz, with lyrics: “All the miracle cures and all the magic pills, it’s a world gone mad, and I’m just too critically sane. All dried up and waiting for the rain. 32 flavors and none will do, ‘cause is all I want is you.”

On title track Full Bloom, Gascho’s singing washes all away all of life’s pain with motherly goddess tenderness in a transcendent ballad that refocuses our consciousness on what is important. “I’m in full bloom and I don’t wanna get picked by no passerby. Well, life is just too short, it can be plucked away. Gotta live life with open eyes. Soak up the sunshine day after blessed day, feel the moonbeam as it lights your face.”

The mood changes with a cover of Sonny Bono’s dark Bang Bang – and it is haunting, creepy-cool. The last three minutes of the tune features a fabulously percussive instrumental that also highlights Graham’s adept guitar soloing with Gascho’s ethereal wailing.

An entrancing funky, jazzy, dance-y almost club tune again changes the mood. Between is a sexual titillating song of a “committed” woman teasing a man she is clearly attracted to. “I’d love to have you read between the lines. I’m taken, baby I’m not free, you’re shaking the wrong tree. A head rush, is your crush on me. I thank you for the fantasy. Love comes in so many ways, like clouds on a summer day, some last long, some just float away. I’m a cloud, baby, that just can’t stay.”

The last six tracks are also peppered with originals and covers, all professionally rendered and well worth the listen. Overall, the album is richly textured with beautiful layering; featuring Gascho’s vocal punctuations dancing gorgeously with the instrumentation.

The CD release is at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St.,on Fri., Sept. 16. It kicks off with Combo Westside at 7pm, followed by Kate Becker & The Zodiacs. Visit ComboWestside.com for more information.