For those unaware, Chris Mondak’s new CD BLANK WITH COLOUR will be released October 6th, 2023 on Summit Records.

The ten jazz-funk tracks include eight of Chris’s original compositions, plus covers of Cruel to Be Kind and Affirmation.

The CD was recorded on analog at Nashville’s Welcome to 1979 studio, and features Dan Hitchcock (sax), Gabe Feldman (keys), Jack Macklin (guitar) and Ryan Brasley (drums).

1. Skunk Funk
2. Cruel To Be Kind
3. Begetting
4. LowFi
5. Wake Up
6. Walking In Sunshine
7. Affirmation
8. Complicated
9. With You
10. Everybody Knows

One what is a most lively collection of jazz-funk tunes, inclusive of eight of Chris’s original compositions, he opens on the aptly-named, groove-laden Skunk Funk and a very tamed down, late night club-hued rendition of Nick Lowe’s brilliant Cruel To Be Kind, and then we get the funky, slap bass guitar work within Begetting, the lush LowFi and the foot-tapper Wake Up.

Along next is the upbeat, Caribbean-imbibed flow of Walking In Sunshine and the smoothly-sculpted Affirmation (composed by Jose Feliciano and made famous by George Benson) and they are in turn backed by the gently fervent, drum and guitar-fed Complicated, the album rounding out on the veritably hypnotic With You, coming to a close on the decidedly delightful piano balladry of Everybody Knows.

Bassist and composer Chris Mondak has lived in Nashville since 2020. Chris studied with bass legends Cecil McBee and Dave Holland at the New England Conservatory (B.M., 2020). Prior to that, Chris was active in the Champaign Central HS music program, where he was a three-time Illinois all-state musician, receiving commendations from Essentially Ellington, Music for All, the Brubeck Institute, YoungArts, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Chris has played with Wycliffe Gordon, Dave Douglas, Wayne Escoffery, Melanie Charles, Shelly Berg, Marvin Stamm, Jesus Molina, Jeff Hamilton, and Matt Savage. Chris has toured in the U.S., and has played in Australia, Mexico and Panama, and toured twice in China. Chris has performed at venues such as Birdland, Bop Stop, Jazz at Lincoln Center-Shanghai, Carnegie Hall, Rudy’s, and Breezy’s.

Musicians:
Chris Mondak, Bass
Dan Hitchcock, Sax
Gabe Feldman, Piano
Jack Macklin, Guitar
Ryan Brasley, Drums

Official Purchase Link

www.chrismondak.com