Various

This CD is part three of a series of tributes to the music of the late Eric von Essen, a respected bass player, composer and multi-instrumentalist. Among the styles depicted on this recording are avant-folk, avant-flamenco and adult contemporary jazz. From the get-go, the first two tracks, "Blues for Me," with Nels Cline on Guitar and Ken Filiano on bass, as well as "Unresolved," with Jeff Gauthier (violin), Nels Cline (classical guitar), Michael Elizondo (bass) and Alex Cline (drums), are the best songs, since in addition to being thoroughly enjoyable they are a well-crafted and original blending of different styles of music. The rest of the CD is your standard garden-variety pseudo-jazz music, not as innovative and fresh as the first two songs, but still pleasing. For those who appreciate adult-contemporary jazz with some superb extra recordings as an added bonus, you should like this CD.