Jason Yates - Angeleno (2002)

...If sharing a name with his album makes Jason Yates a definition of the man, Jason himself is less interested in the minutiae of such a definition than in its underlying essence.

"There was always a certain way I wanted to play, no matter what band I was in," Jason explains. "It had to be natural, and have a strong groove to it. When I was writing the songs on the new album, that idea was at the front of my mind the whole time."

That groove traverses blues and rock, gospel and soul; it flirts with jazz and country. There's a sense of space here, whether that space resonates with impressionistic guitar licks and Jason's B3 on songs like "Nobody So Far" and "Paper Tents," or it's filled only with the melancholy of the bare and beautiful closing track "Sing For You."

Simply put, "I spent a long time thinking about this and trying to find a way to do what I wanted," says Jason. "And I finally did."