Oz Noy - Twisted Blues Vol. 2 (2014) [FLAC]

Blues is the root, the foundation - the undercurrent churning beneath nearly all strains of popular music. ''It's a vocabulary you have to have in order to play really anything,'' explains guitarist and composer Oz Noy. ''If you don't understand the blues, I just don't think that what you're playing will sound as good.''

Available via Abstract Logix, Noy's latest album, Twisted Blues Volume 2 continues to mine the blues-tinted vein first tapped in the widely acclaimed first volume, which was released in 2011. By tapping into that elusive blues feeling and exploring its potential to inform and enrich a variety of musical settings, Noy - a native of Israel who moved to the U.S. in 1996 -has emerged as a compelling new voice in a crowded field.

To help realize his expansive vision of a blues-based music that still embodies the power of rock and the exploratory zeal of jazz, Noy has called upon an impressive roster of supporting musicians and fellow soloists. Special guests include jazz great Chick Corea, guitar icon Eric Johnson, Crescent City master Allen Toussaint, maverick organist John Medeski, and Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule, Allman Brothers. Among the featured rhythm section players are bassist Will Lee (of Late Show with David Letterman fame), drummer Chris Layton (of Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble), master contemporary jazz drummers Dave Weckl and Keith Carlock, and veteran blues-rock bassist Roscoe Beck. The universal yet infinitely malleable feeling of the blues provided instant common ground amongst the musicians, while Noy puts his own distinct stamp on the proceedings both via his searing fretwork and his deft touch as a composer.