For those unaware, New York-based guitarist and composer Mark Ciprut finds a sweet spot between electric blues, classic organ trio, and jazz-fusion sounds on Blue House, co-produced with bass legend Jimmy Haslip and drummer Tommi Rautiannen.

Both of them play on the record which also boasts notable names in bassist James Genus, keyboardist Jon Cowherd, Wurlitzer masters Jeremy Manaisa and Scott Kinsey, organist Etienne Lytle, and vocalist Steven Santoro.

Six of the nine are Ciprut originals with two vocal tracks co-written with Santoro, and “Cissy Strut,” the Meters tune. Ciprut forges a very unique sound, the “sweet spot” as his sound meshes the three elements of blues, classic jazz, and fusion jazz and does not lean heavily in any one direction although blues is the most prevalent.

The instrumentation is rather unique too as every track features both organ and Wurlitzer, sometimes played by two different musicians and at others by the same one. The names of Haslip and Genus alone suggest fusion and that’s another common thread on the album – thick, high-energy grooves.

1. Roll It Out
2. Jack Be Nimble
3. Shaggy
4. Closer
5. Smooth
6. Greasy Weasel
7. Take A Cip
8. Cissy Strut
9. Kiss You Again

This rhythmically alluring new recording opens on the low slung blues of the aptly-titled Roll It Out and the faster-paced, Wurlitzer rocking sounds within Jack Be Nimble, and then we get the more forthright, funky sounds of Shaggy, the soulful R&B of Closer (featuring vocals from Steven Santoro) and then comes the righteous slow burn of Smooth.

Up next is one of my own personal favorites, the flourishing jazz-rock fusion of Greasy Weasel, which is itself backed seamlessly by the two-step countrified, Wurlitzer rock sounds of Take A Cip, the album rounding out on the The Meters’ Hammond-driven Cissy Strut, coming to a close on the Gospel-hued, Santoro sung Kiss You Again.

www.marcciprut.com