Word For Word is the latest breath-taking arrangement to be shared from the jazz virtuoso's upcoming studio album, View With a Room, which is out September 16 via Blue Note
(Image credit: Shervin Lainez)
Julien Lage has dropped Word For Word, the second single from his upcoming studio album, View With a Room.
The track follows the effort’s lead single, Auditorium, which arrived last month along with the news that the follow-up to 2021’s Squint will be arriving September 16.
As for Word For Word, though, Lage revealed via social media that it “has been in the works for years”, and is actually a reworked version of an unreleased track called Runabout that was initially written for his 2018 album, Modern Lore.
“I’ve been tweaking this tune since then,” Lage revealed. “As we started touring the music from Squint last year, it became clear that this song, with a few edits and additions, was a member of the current constellation of songs for View With a Room, specifically because of how it features the interplay within the trio.”
Safe to say, it’s another blinder. With his Collings 470 JLsignature guitar in hand, Lage once again taps his tried-and-trusted trio setup – comprising drummer Dave King and bassist Jorge Roeder – for three-minutes of jazz bliss.
The chemistry between Lage and his fellow players is palpable, with the jazzman diving into his usual bag of tricks for tasty turnarounds and impossible-sounding lead flurries aplenty.
View With a Room will be Lage’s second for prestigious US jazz label Blue Note. It will also see the electric guitar virtuoso partner with the legendary Bill Frisell, who joins the fold as a secondary guitarist.
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As such, it will be the first time Lage has expanded his core trio – which have been with him since 2019’s Love Hurts – to include a secondary guitar player after Modern Lore.
“There’s no one I would trust more than Bill Frisell to come into our trio ecosystem and be able to expand it while totally embracing it,” Lage said of his new bandmate. “It became a beautiful collaboration that achieved the Technicolor experience that I’ve been searching for.”
Going into more depth about View With a Room on social media, Lage offered, “This album represents a body of songs I’ve been thinking about for many years. The dream was to feature the interplay of the trio while expanding the sonic range of the guitar.
(Image credit: Press)
“Furthermore, it features the interplay with Bill Frisell that I cherish so dearly, but rather than in a duo context, this time it is featured as an extension of the trio orchestration. These are my favorite musicians and people in the world and I am so excited to share this with you.”
View With a Room was produced by Lage’s wife and singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy at Brooklyn’s Bridge Studios with the help of engineer Mark Goodell. Armand Hirsch was tapped by Lage to add some additional post-production sheen.
Matt is a Senior Staff Writer, writing for Guitar World, Guitarist and Total Guitar. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 16 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. When he’s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt records for a number of UK-based bands and songwriters as a session musician.
