I’ve long been a big fan of Fareed Haque, from his beautiful, acoustic, classical jazziness to his wild rantings and supercharged funk with Garaj Mahal, but since that band’s demise I’ve had few opportunities to catch the Chicago based guitarist live. I was very pleased, then, to see a soundboard matrix of a recent show by Fareed’s current trio MathGames surface.
The show actually features a full jazz reading of CSNY’s Deja Vu in the first set – a recreation of the guitarist’s 1997 release of the same name for Blue Note – but this week’s Stormy Monday mix comes from the more open-ended second set, which is also loaded with covers, including a beautiful Fearless. There are also two very nice pairings: a deep, sprawling Slippery Magi > Grant Green’s Flood in Franklin Park, and Our House > a distinctly Fareed composition, Punjabi Soul. The music is full of funky beats courtesy of Greg Fundis on drums and Alex Austin on bass, and blisteringly fast guitar licks and slick grooves from Fareed himself; a real joy to listen to. As always, enjoy!
