In Roads

The Neil Kelly / Robby Elfman quartet started as a meeting of minds at the Playa Jazz Café, a jazz based theme camp that appears annually at the Burning Man Festival in Black Rock City Nevada. This camp entails a collective of SF Bay area and LA based jazz musicians who come together to perform concerts, host jam sessions, and provide educational workshops throughout the week of the Burning man Festival. Kelly and Elfman were encouraged to forge collaboration when sound man/producer Ken Deloria saw them perform on the playa. Robby originally from LA relocated to North Bay San Francisco and he and Neil began co-writing the album “In Roads”. What transpired was a mixture of Elfman’s edgy punk style jazz (his first record project Smashups recorded with the Jazz Punks bears witness to this aesthetic), with the modern Jazz lush harmonies witnessed on Kelly’s premier album Rivers Converge. Both musicians approach jazz from a composer’s perspective. Elfman holds a degree in Film Score Compositon from USC and Kelly a Master’s Degree from SJSU in Jazz composition and arranging. Teaming up with bay area all star rhythm section of Lukas Vesely and Joe Derose a unique sound and approach to music was created and is now being unveiled. Rare moments of musical genius emerge when an ensemble finds that certain magic, that willingness to reach for the stars with nothing held back, no fears, just pouring out pure music. Moving, powerful, delightful, soothing, captivatingly pure music! When you hear it, you know you’ve experienced a profound difference when music comes from the core of a players’ being. This album is precisely that: pure music and pure heart from the deepest possible source. Neal Kelly on guitar and Robby Elfman on sax are players of the highest caliber. They possess the technical chops, to be sure, but far beyond that they have something to say, musically speaking. The fluidity and ease with which they command their instruments must be heard, and heard again, and heard again. Their creative rhythms and instrumental harmonies reveal greater and greater depth with each new listen. This is an album to be played often; this is an album to be cherished. Supported by Lucas ??? on upright bass and Joe ??? on drums, the ensemble hits high gear on these (audiophile grade) recordings1. Performed in an intimate studio setting in Silicon Valley, the tracks have the unmistakable feel of four master jazzmen who love working together...and do so seamlessly to the delight of the listener. Lucas’ occasional use of sound effects on the bass give some up-tempo tracks a distinct ‘fusion’ quality that eggs on the guitar and sax to match his intensity. And that’s exactly what they do. Joe’s drumming forms the groove that incite the others to bond together under his rhythmic mastery. He skillfully takes the listener from a ‘lazy’ beat, such as Moon River and Julia, to driving, exciting percussive motion on the original compositions. Joe listens and complements the other three, especially while they’re soloing, fitting in where there’s space, and laying back when there’s not. This album represents a major milestone in today’s world of contemporary ensemble jazz. It will transport you to a new plane of rhythmic and melodic enjoyment. March, 2015 - Ken DeLoria, Session Producer