Julian Lage: Love hurts – Album review

Love does hurt, but this album will soothe your soul...

Dave King, above left, Julian Lage, and Jorge Roeder. Photo: Nathan West/Mack Avenue


A child prodigy performing at the Grammy awards at the age of 12 in 1996 and being a faculty member at Stanford university for the Stanford jazz workshop at just 15; Julian Lage (now 31) has continued on his path as a masterful jazz guitarist and creating a lasting legacy in doing so with his latest album release ‘Love Hurts’.

Being his third album released featuring a trio (his other two being Arclight and Modern lore), Love hurts promises to offer a graceful first taste into Julians repertoire for those unfamiliar with his sound. The album consists almost completely of covers with a contemporary jazz twist, also offering blissful satisfaction for those already acquainted with his work.

Recorded and produced by Lage in the Loft studio based in Chicago, the album was mainly done using first takes and recording finished in roughly 2 days. Despite the fast nature of the albums creation, there’s no perception upon listening that the album’s rushed, a testament to the talent to the musicians involved (featuring Jorge Roeder on double bass and Dave King of The Bad Plus on drums).

The album starts off with a tasteful rendition of In Heaven, originally written by Peter Ivers and featured on David Lynch’s cult film Eraserhead. Primarily quite a haunting, melancholic number, Lage successfully imbues his tone and character within the piece, starting the track with a calmful, yet mournful solo part. The listener is abruptly taken from a place of solitude to a smokey jazz club when the whole trio comes in with an unexpectedly fitting groove and bassline.

The album further compliments this jazz atmosphere through paying homage to past figures of jazz, with eclectic covers of Tomorrow is the question by Ornette Coleman, The Wind up and Encore (A) by Keith Jarrett, Trudging by Jimmy Giuffre and I’m getting sentimental over you by Ned Washington and George Bassman. It also references more rock/country influences through sympathetically chilling covers of the title track Love hurts by The Everly brothers and Roy Orbison’s 'Crying’.

Julian additionally showcases his fastidious artistry through his superlative original pieces ‘In circles’ and ‘Lullaby’. These combined with the fulfilling covers help create a wondrous and balanced aesthetic to the album which would be regrettable to miss.





(In the style of 'AllMusic')

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