It’s encouraging to read the bio of a young musician who was influenced by the classic sounds of the Hammond B3, right in my wheelhouse. Gusmano is a Five-time winner of the Long Island Reflections for the Arts Program & NY Award of Merit winner for his original compositions, and now has his debut album released on March 1st titled Forever Alive.
The album opens with a solo instrumental piece with some cool synth work and launches into the title track featuring Australian Saxophonist Hugo Lee. You get that big beefy Hammond playing unison lines with the sax on the main melody. A pretty piano motif guides “Love Never Ends” a mellow track with a lot of strings added. My favorite track; “Closer Past” features guitarist Rob Balducci who is absolutely shredding, and bassist Tony Franklin’s fretless cuts through the mix nicely, while Gusmano adds his keyboard flourishes. Gusmano’s music is highly melodic, usually a synth lead carries the melodies, and it’s pretty cool that he gets to play with his dad on guitar for most of the album. I also want to make note of the strings used that add a nice touch to tracks like “Midnight Lament” which has some great piano and synth playing. I’d also like to call out “Starlit Horizon”, the guitar / keyboard combination is done very well here.
I want to hear these songs with a live drummer, it would add punch and feel where the programmed drums can be a bit stiff. In addition, it would also make the intros and outros to these songs more interesting. We’ve got a talented kid with a good ear for melody. It’s inspiring to hear all the writing and recording that he has done at such a young age, I expect to hear more from him in the future.
Track List:
1. Lost in the Mesosphere
2. Forever Alive
3. Love Never Ends
4. Closer Past
5. Midnight Lament
6. Starlit Horizon
7. Ascension
8. Those Dang Blues (They Got My Soul Again)
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