County Road X's big sky vibe /
by Dave Kirby, Boulder Weekly. May 2003
It will have been just about a year this Friday since County Road X, the locally based instrumental quintet, released their self-titled debut on Ken Kadonaga's Adventure Records label. In preparation for their opening gig in support of Ron Miles at the Boulder Theater, pianist and chief composer Erik Deutsch looked back at the past year, comfortable with the band's slowly evolving profile and prospects for the future.
"It was definitely a 'quiet' release, that CD," he says. "The past year has been pretty wild in some respectswe've gotten a steady string of gigs, but it's a subtle sound. We want to give people a chance to warm up to the music a little. It will take some time and patience, and we know that."
Deutsch, backed by Doug Anderson (bass), Glenn Taylor (pedal steel), James Hoskins (cello) and Tadd Vancil (drums), carves an intriguing and evocative course through jazz-informed Americana on this CD. While the music generally leans heavily on Deutsch's melodic and relaxed compositions, rendered in a piano voice suggestive of a Guaraldi-meets-Winston stylistic bias, the band drifts off into rich and lightly traveled territory. Hoskins' mournful and poignant cello lines wail and weep in the middle registers like a disembodied voice, and Taylor's pedal steel trades turns speaking the lead line with Deutsch. Straightforward jazzers like "Kith and Kin" and "Faute de Mieux" share space with meditative exercises like "Taddlib" and collaborative impressionism like the gorgeous closer "First Language."
It's a fusion of country, jazz and classical influences converging on a series of compositions that rarely seem to favor one instrument while treating the others as window dressing. Comparisons to Bill Frissell and Pat Metheny's heartland hymns are probably apt, though hints of Montreux's quieter moments occasionally surface as well.
"Art Lande, who was my piano teacher, called it 'trailer park jazz,'" Deutsch laughs, "but I like to call it 'Americana chamber ensemble' music."
"I'm always interested in writing music for different instruments, different harmonies," he continues. "And the guys in this band are among the most unique players on their respective instruments I've ever heard. Everyone in the band has an eclectic bent to what they do. We just want to explore the songs, with no pressure or limits."
For his part, Deutsch credits Lande, who for years was one of Manfred Eicher's in-house pianists on the ECM label and has a long resume of both solo and group recordings, with helping him develop a role as both a player and group leader.
"Musically, he always stressed the importance of melody and composition. Spiritually, he really described a path of the creative musician seeking success without ego. He taught me how best to organize and adapt to a group dynamic," he says.
The band continues to land opening gigs around the area and plans to take off this summer for a tour. Deutsch says he's working on getting just the right venues for presenting the music live and hopes to take the band back into the studio in the fall.
"The live thing is always subject to the constraints of the room. But there's an audience for this music out there.
"The first record was a really good document of how we sounded back then (November 2001). I think we're probably going to turn the thing a little upside down on the next one, get a lot more instruments and players on board," he continues. "The compositions will still have a strong Americana influence, but I think there will be more sounds on it, more experimentation."
The band is also featured on the recently released Boulder Couvée sampler, a promotional compilation CD sponsored by Adventure Records (and produced by Deutsch and Rachel Hamilton) to raise awareness for the Boulder-Dushanbe Sister City program.