For those of you that haven't heard of him, Tony is the current bassist with jazz pianist Hiromi's trio. He's a Brit living in NYC and a Berklee graduate.
Managed to locate a copy of his solo album '…Moving' in HMV yesterday and have had time to give it a couple of complete listens.
I am really impressed by this guy. He has the four-finger-plucking technique down cold and his playing shows the influence of Matthew Garrison and Dominique di Piazza. Although he is a strong soloist, he's quite happy on many of the album's tracks to lay down some deep sub-bass grooves.
Many of the tracks utilise drum n' bass and other electronic elements, combined with some definite "world music" influences, particularly through the involvement of Asian guitarist Prasanna and vocalist Falguni Shah on one track each. I suppose the closest albums I can relate it to (from my collection) are Joe Zawinul's recent albums (particularly parts of 'Faces and Places') and some of Matt Garrison's stuff.
One of Talkbass's favourite guitarists, David Fiuczynski, plays on three tracks. (Tony and Fuze have played together quite a bit in recent years.)
Overall, it's a promising debut and worth checking out.
www.tonygrey.com
