Andrew Hartman's The Heights

Formerly based in London and now in New York, Andrew Hartman is a passionate guitarist/composer whose sophomore album, Compass, comes out in May. This work was recorded with a tight quartet whose members include the much-admired saxophonist Chris Cheek, bassist Ike Sturm, and drummer Zach Harmon.
The compositions were written while Hartman was still in London and reflect a period of travels and moves between cities and countries.
“The Heights” opens the album with Hartman uttering a continuous melodic cadence on top of a steady bass-drums tandem. The trio was waiting for Cheek to join them for a well-delineated post-bop drive where guitar and sax mesh up with brightness, purpose, and instinctive intent.
Even with Harmon's active drum chops catching our attention, the unpretentious “Waiting” feels smooth and gentle, making room for Paul Simon’s “America”, the only cover of the recording. Tuneful sax melodies and assertive guitar strokes imbued of American folk and jazz idioms help to color a canvas whose origins are rooted in the pop/rock genre.
It rather spreads easygoing, bluesy vibes in a more swinging approach that ends up in lively trades between Hartman, Cheek, and Harmon, during the final section.
If Cheek’s improvisational ideas were particularly attractive in “Devices”, Hartman’s guitar gains preponderance in the Eastern-influenced “London Blues”, a meditative multi-cultural celebration that also features Harmon’s extraordinary percussion and Sturm’s intelligible bass