Joel Harrison & Anupam Shobhakar: Multiplicity: Leave the Door Open

American guitarist Joel Harrison isn't too fond of categories. Jazz may be at the root of his musical language, but the tales he spins with it embrace American folk and country, traditional African, rock and popular music in ways that connect with their origins while sounding utterly new-fangled. His latest collaboration, with classical Indian sarode player Anupam Shobhakar, sounds like an exploration of the deepest roots of all guitar-like instruments. In among these fascinatingly dense joint compositions (with help from similarly intrepid explorers such as drummer Dan Weiss and saxophonist David Binney), the most revealing track on Multiplicity is a loose-limbed version of the blues classic Spoonful, which seems to uncover a common ancestry rooted in pure feeling. joelharrison.com