Jon Geiger – Live at Harvelle’s
Self-produced CD
13 songs – 86 minutes
A New York native who was a longtime member of the Austin music community and who’s now based out Los Angeles, Jon Geiger’s guitar work is chockful of bluesy big-city grit, jazz influences and more. And he puts it all on display in this beefy set, which was captured live at Harvelle’s nightclub in Santa Monica, Calif.
As a teen, Jon was a protégé whose talents with recognized by two of the biggest stars in the field, Emily Remler and Hiram Bullock, both of whom took him under their wings. He was drawn to the blues after being enthralled by the soulful sounds of B.B. King on Live at the Regal, the intensity of Eric Clapton and the skill of John Scofield and Mike Stern, two former bandmates of Miles Davis.
Jon’s former student at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he received a full scholarship. He relocated to Southern California while still recovering from injuries sustained in an auto accident so severe that doctors feared he’d never walk again. Five years later, he’s recovered so well that he now enters marathons.
Geiger’s a songwriter whose productions are both passionate and original. His well-worn mid-range voice mirrors his play on this musical marathon. Captured at Harvelle’s, a watering hole and showroom that’s been featuring top acts since the end of Prohibition, Jon delivers a musical marathon here, mixing a traditional approach with improvisations, often in the same song.
The original, “Bullet,” sets the tone for this 13-song, 83-minute set. At almost six minutes in length, the blues-rocker is one of the shorter numbers you’ll hear. It’s a driving number that insists – like too many folks feel today – that there’s “nothin’ a bullet won’t cure.” The mood changes from the opening chords of “I Dream,” an extended slow blues with psychedelic lyrics and picks up intensity in “Desert of My Heart,” which plays off a lady’s enticing attraction with the coldness Jon feels inside.
Next up, Geiger reinvents the Bill Withers classic, “Ain’t No Sunshine,” maintaining the essence while imbuing it with passionate fretwork throughout its seven-plus minute run. Then he kicks up the funk with “The Voice,” an extended stop-time rocker with a heavy Bo Diddley beat. The jazzy “Feeling Good” projects a positive message: that each day is a new day and you’re able to overcome whatever’s happened before.
“Texas Flyer” was once one of the most popular tunes in Albert King’s setlist, but Jon reworks it with a much darker feel and a heavy blues-rock edge before he brightens the mood with “Guardian Angel” while maintaining the edge as he heaps love on the lady who’s watching over him.
“Prison of Love” – not the Frank Sinatra/James Brown love ballad but a driving blues – is up next before the rocker “Don’t Hang Me Out to Dry” turns up the heat as Geiger sings from the standpoint of a man ready to say goodbye to a difficult woman and knowing he’ll be a winner on the other side. The “Day to Day” keeps up the intensity, yields to the passionate ballad “These Blues” and gives way to the equally ardent “It’s Not My Cross to Bear” to close the set.
Jon Geiger certainly is a talented musician. He holds nothing back on this album, which might appeal to fans coming to the blues through heavy rock. Unfortunately, however, this set was recorded off of the club’s soundboard and flaws exist. Vocals are often lost in the mix, and the flatness of the arrangements give the unidentified sidemen no space to show their wares.
