Fabrizio Ciccarelli – jazzitalia.net , February, 2007

Composer and guitarist, Jack Gates published a solo guitar CD : five of them are
his original compositions, a sixth one was written with his wife Sharyl (a painter of refined
sensitivity) and eight pieces are by other artists which are primarily in the contemporary
genre..
Without resorting to any special effects of any kind, the listener is invited into an
atmosphere which is almost “live,” full of harmonies, marked by melodic journeys which,
coherently travel from Brazilian to Latin, to Spanish to Jazz and even to Pop (intensely,
in the song “Yesterday), thanks to a stylistic knowledge, which, with great agility passes
from the melodic to the elegiac (sad), crossing extraordinary ranges (“Naima” from
Coltrane, “Nardis” from Miles Davis, “Night and Day” from Cole Porter), with surprising
expertise, which reveals an uncommon mastery of the instrument, creating emotionally
intense and original instances, floating casually and with intelligence, in the colors and
tones.
His path is that of a virtuoso and is strongly expressive – maybe at times stylistically
patinated – but always elegant and kind, serene and pleasing. Jack is an artist of
undoubted conceptual sensitivity, of noteworthy talent, courageous in his attempt to
tackle pieces such as “Naima” (a really interesting philological re-reading of the master
piece from Coltrane!) or “Berimbau” (magnificent Evergreen from Baden Powell) in a
light and explemplerary way, even more so if you take into account that it is done with
an acoustic nylon string guitar and that’s all…..
The works which are more strictly and stylistically jazz, are produced with soft
“savoir faire” across a sonic landscape of pastel colors, one could say, a velvet
atmosphere and wisely balanced stylistically, because Jack is a profound expert of
traditional “jazz guitar” and, at the same time, a lover and singer of the Samba and of the
Bossa Nova, by virtue of his eclectic and pure musical language, distinct because of his
natural inclination towards “a knowledge of the world.”