June 12, 2025 – Hoke's Jukebox

Review: Todd Nelson’s JazzAmericana at Jazz on Jay, Thursday, June 12, 2025

Everybody knows “Wichita Lineman,” but Jimmy Webb’s melancholy road song went all fresh in Todd Nelson’s hands Thursday.

We all knew what it was, but it was new.

JazzAmericana – From left: Todd Nelson, guitar; Justin Tracy, drums; Kyle Esposito, fretless electric bass

The longtime Albany guitarist and one-time rock star with Silver Chicken, the Units/Fear of Strangers and other past-decades crews, started it slow and meditative. Soon his imagination brought a new vision into focus. Adding complexity in chords and melody to the familiar tune, he added new twists and turns, plus effects from the pedals at his feet. All original, and all lovely.

Todd Nelson

Apart from “Lineman” and Dave Holland’s complex, episodic “The Backwoods Song,” JazzAmericana played Nelson originals (see setlist), reinventing each after initial melodic statements; though some of those flowed wild and oblique. Nelson’s inventions augmented without wandering too far outside; his clarity of tone and thought those of a thinking fans’ guitar hero.

The 90-minute set, standard at Jazz on Jay, mused thoughtfully from the vintage opener “Blacksmith,” then the similarly serene and more recent “Peregrine.” Both set a structure followed thereafter: Nelson led a trio intro, then soloed, then handed off to bassist Kyle Esposito whose contributions often sped things up or held the tempo but went more dense. Justin Tracy’s drums held the pulse, mostly, but also pushed and pulled some. Nelson usually brought things home in his second break.

Kyle Esposito

His ringing, chiming chords launched “Paper Machete” in circular motion, then went deep before coming back up in bluesy runs. Esposito made a bold grab, playing up high and fast, before Nelson held the mood with sustained echoing licks resolved in a melodic cascade.

Next, Esposito launched “Springland” with a bassline borrowed from the Allman Brothers’ anthemic “Whipping Post” before Nelson steered the whole thing into a sunny reggae waltz. They used a similar detour surprise in Holland’s “Backwoods Song,” the main melody emerging from repeating riffs that built momentum in one direction before taking another.

The slower, sweeter “Sophist Intrigue” (name of the band Nelson led at 11) pumped some Allmans spice in agile repetitions that broke out into hard-driving variations. Nelson acknowledged Tracy’s drumming afterwards; he was right.

Justin Tracy

They held this upbeat energy into “Space Jelly,” using repetition again to build momentum before they pumped the brakes with a hard stop. Then a mood and tempo change in “Dream Alibis” showed how well Nelson’s clarity fits ballads, with single (and sometimes bent) notes etching a pleasing melody. Esposito played in that same eloquent simplicity, high up in a short break before Nelson recapped with a shimmering delicacy.

Similar title but way different mood: “Dog Dreams” bounced all playful in energetic riff variations – before Nelson downshifted at the bridge into a more meditative mood; Esposito and Tracy perfectly matching the flow.

Then “Wichita Lineman,” Nelson’s discrete wah-wah and reverb taking its elegant pop purity into new directions. “In Stride” had the momentum its title suggests, but surprised as much as “Lineman” – as if twang master Duane Eddy (RIP) roamed around a shuffle until it carried him into higher registers, with discrete but effective echo.

In “Dune Buggy,” melodic playfulness set up repeating riffs, and Tracy got the only solo of the set, in its last song. Here, Nelson played further outside than usual, strumming behind the bridge in staccato treble scratches, ganging up on the tune with pedal effects.

Handing Off – Todd Nelson, center, hands off the solo spot to Kyle Esposito, right; as Justin Tracy, left, holds down the beat.

Although Nelson only formed JazzAmericana in January, he’d played with both Esposito and Tracy in previous bands, so the trio has already reached a fine-tuned, telepathic closeness that was serious fun to hear.

The weather behaved, mostly – though wind blew the sign on nearby Tara Kitchen so it swung as hard as the band.

SETLiST

Blacksmith

Peregrine

Paper Machete

Springland

The Backwoods Song

Sophist Intrigue

Space Jelly

Dream Alibis

Dog Dreams

Wichita Lineman

In Stride

Dune Buggy

Jazz on Jay continues Thursday, June 19 with the Steve Horowitz Quartet. Even sooner, crews half a block away were busy as Nelson, Esposito and Tracy wrapped up, erecting a stage where Da Schmooze would play at five p.m., another free show.