Howe Gelb – Gathered

It's late night music with all of the edges polished off ...

I know the roadhouse featured on the cover art intimately, it’s the roadhouse I find myself deeply lost in from time to time, a hazy half memory that may or may not have any basis in truth, the kind of place old living legends like myself end up when they’re on the shallow side of the calendar, down to but a few loose tattered pages that are hanging on for dear life, just like Howe, playing to audiences whose names never crossed their lips.

Like some out of place dusty lounge singer, Gelb plays music that stands somewhere between hypnotic laid back jazz and heartfelt torch songs, the sort of songs you find yourself leaning into in order to catch each nuance, each inflection, each lingered gaze. Listening to Gathered is like eavesdropping on a romantic conversation through a cracked door, his music doesn’t filter through you, more, it hangs in the air like blue smoke, where you gently breath it in. Gelb’s music often feels out of place, almost like yellowed aged photographs charmingly momentarily ebbing to life. Gathered is a patchwork affair, a lovely collection of duets with a variety of women and an acoustic guitar, sounding both sly and shy, yet always sincere, a roots rocker from deep in the desert of Arizona … coming off like some sort of latter day indie Frank Sinatra who dropped a couple hits of acid, who’s life now revolves around the treasured happenstance of earthy rambles.

Gathered is a enigmatic cohesive assemblage of original and cover material, a collection of reflective future standards sung with a warm desert dryness, half whispers that come across as if Gelb is imparting some lost wisdom. And as soon as you tilt your head back to down that shot that’s been sitting in front of you, Howe Gelb is packed up and gone, a ghost of a memory from a street side bar in Tucson, Arizona, with a room full of other misplaced souls hoping the rains will come soon to cool the air.

*** Gathered is the twenty-fifth album from Mr. Gelb, delivered this time on a limited edition 180 gram gold vinyl record.

Review by Jenell Kesler