Look Right, Jog Left

by Alex HendersonFrank Vignola's more commercial, NAC-oriented offerings haven't always been warmly received by jazz critics; Déjà Vu, for example, received one negative review after another. But while some of Vignola's recordings have been questionable, he's a talented player nonetheless. Not perfect but generally decent, Look Right, Jog Left is among the guitarist's more substantial recordings. This 1995 date finds Vignola wearing different hats; he acknowledges straight-ahead jazz on "Tuxedo Junction," but he has more of a fusion outlook on "Organized Confusion," "Jog Left," and the mysterious "Desert Moon Blues." And on the Brazilian-influenced "Jonathan's Wine," Vignola demonstrates that light pop-jazz doesn't have to be outright muzak. For this CD, Vignola leads a quartet he called Unit Four, which included Allen Farnham on keyboards, John Goldsby on electric and upright bass, and Joseph Ascione on drums. Déjà Vu isn't a gem, but it isn't anything to be ashamed of either.