Jay Graydon with Sherwood Ball "Crank Sinatra"
James Ingram "Stand (in the light)"

Tollak Ollestad's new album "Across the Rubicon"

Tollak2 

An astonishing piece of work, Tollak once again shows there is no end to his brilliance and ambitious reach as a writer, and his phenomenal singing voice has only gotten more expressive as his creative gifts continue to grow. 
There is still plenty of his beautiful and unique mixture of soul-ambient-pop-jazz to satisfy those who were fans of his previous outing "Walk the Earth", but the artistic growth he shows in tracks like "Undertow" and "Paper doll" show an inspired creator at the top of his game still incorporating new influences but in such a sincere unaffected way that to this listener it feels like a very natural outgrowth of what he's already done. 
He chose a Beatles tune for the one cover song on the album, "Come together", what a refreshing and incredibly soulful take on this classic. And a first rate supporting cast backing him up, featuring legendary players like Vinnie Colaiuta and Jimmy Haslip among others. A wonderful banquet of auditory pleasures from this unusually gifted artist, at once surprising and yet familiar, but always inspiring. 

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