With collaborations between rappers and bro country artists setting the western charts ablaze, country, for once, and for better or for worse, has been seeing “innovation” stamped on it more and more often in the modern day setting. Never before, though, has it been altered and reinvented with psychedelic jazz as the basis, as it now has with Erik Deutsch’s Outlaw Jazz.
The New York native contemporary keyboardist reasserts himself as a masterclass composer worthy of a Herbie Hancock-esque level of glory with soaring jazz instrumentals set to a country melody, with guest vocal appearances by Shooter Jennings, Victoria Reed, and Jon Gray capping things off in suitably eclectic fashion. It’s a wild fusion just alien enough to work, and some of Deutsch’s best to date. For fans of an age where instrumental jams topped the pop charts, Outlaw Jazz fits perfectly snug into its dedicated niche.