Album Reviews
Movie Reviews
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Time Wasters
Contact Us

For those of you that have been looking for some sophisticated, bluesy, acoustic guitar-driven jazz with a distinctly Christian world-view, Ryan Post offers his debut effort, Nola. This project is a tribute from Post (who is a Louisiana-based youth pastor)  to New Orleans - hence, the acronym, “Nola.” 

Post obviously has a passion both for the musical heritage of New Orleans and the God that he knows holds the answer to the spiritual and physical needs of the people. This collection of songs include the overtly spiritual to the relational, sometimes asking hard questions  and sometimes encouraging social responsibility: there's also “Sittin' In a Tree,” which is a love song to Ryan's wife. All in all, Nola touches on many of the facets of life, as seen through this 25 year-olds' eyes, and translated through the smoky, blue jazz of his guitar and voice. 

The first track on the CD, “In the Nick of Time,” sets up the listener for what's in store from the rest of the album: sophisticated, acoustic-driven smooth, jazzy blues that would not be out of place in any number of small clubs you might walk into on a warm New Orleans evening. Post's vocals are delivered in a soft-raspy blue-eyed soul style and his soloing on the acoustic is succinct and tasty – so much so that you wish the track would have continued to cook for a while instead of fading out.  “One Good Reason” offers more excellent fretwork from Post, as well as rich, jazzy chords and compelling lyrics. The title track, “Nola,” is a slow, smoky tribute to New Orleans, featuring an impressive sax solo on the outro.

By the time you get a little more than half way through this project you might be waiting for Ryan to vary his vocal style a bit to break up the breathy intensity of his approach throughout the album's previous songs: one starts to wonder if a little full-voiced singing might be in order to break up the sameness of the vocal sound at some point. Certainly, the most notable improvement that could've been made to Nola would have been some variation in sound, or at least some more imaginative production to make the tracks 'come to life' a bit more.  I suppose that this is partly the reason why the 'remix' of “One Good Reason,” sounds particularly energetic and welcome as a 'bonus track' at the end of the CD: this re-working of the album's third track adds rapper Corey Hicks and some fresh production to really wake up your ears in a fresh and surprising way. Another nice surprise earlier in the album is a soulful piano and voice rendition of the Christian standard, “I'd Rather Have Jesus.” Breaking away from the original material seemed to free up Post to pour more into the vocal delivery.

This is a very good first effort from a talented artist in a genre that is not as well represented in 'Christian' music as it ought to be. Certainly, it's a pleasure to hear the sound of a real band, with real instruments, and real people playing them: there's a humanity here that's sadly missing in much of today's 'product' coming from the Big Music Machine. The last sentence might sound counter to my suggestion for better production, but there's a distinct difference between hiding the artists 'art' and helping to illuminate it, which is what I'd really like to see happen. With the guiding hand of the right producer and some extra vocal spice thrown in here and there, I can imagine very interesting work coming from Post in the future. As it stands, Nola features some well-played blue-eyed soul/jazz/blues/pop in the context of a good club-band that was recorded 'straight off the board,' with no frills.  Jambalaya without getting fancy.

Ryan Post has pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds from Nola to the New Orleans School of Urban Missions.
 

By Bert Saraco 
(www.myspace.com/expressimage 
http://expressimagephoto.tripod.com  )

  ...take off half a tock if you want hot & spicy. Add half a tock if you like it cool.