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Sherman, set the Wayback Machine! Back to a lost decade that hasn't happened yet, the time Matt Munisteri conjures up with sweet, dusty allure on "Love Story" (Old Cow Music). Two years ago, Munisteri, a veteran guitar sideman in New York City, formed the band Brock Mumford. Its first CD demonstrates how right he was to want to gather these elements: Jon-Erik Kellso's jazzy, often muted trumpet, Will Holshouser's nimble work on the accordion and solid bass and drums by Jim Whitney and Quincy Davis. To that, Munisteri adds his voice and guitar to create a cabaret sound that bridges old and new worlds, city and country and jazz and pop. The CD contains originals and songs by people with styles as different as Hoagy Carmichael, Bob Dylan, Willard Robinson and Van Dyke Parks. Eight of the disc's 14 tracks are by Munisteri - and they are among its best. In "Johnny," a lush, lazy and mournful tale, Munisteri shows his terrific mastery of the jazz guitar, but in a way that crosses a threshold into a new genre. Up next is the old gem "Cry Cry Cry." The song is so bright and bouncing, just the sort of tune my grandfather would have loved - just as my children do. Eventually, Holshouser gets many chances to pump up that squeezebox. By giving an accordionist such a splendid opportunity to shine, Brock Mumford takes a noble stand for the good of music. The band does the Dylan here (his song "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right") in heart-pounding double time. The musicians take terrific solos. One by one, that trumpet, that accordion and that guitar kick it up and extract a pulsing good feeling of possibility from the song, not the usual husks of remorse. As a vocalist, Munisteri is capable of layering in depth and beauty as easily as the comedy that comes naturally to him - and is reflected in the entire enterprise here. This is fun, fun music that arrives as drifting fairy dust but proves itself through peerless instrumental work. Munisteri and company score from the opening track, "Lonely Acres in the West," in which that rascally trumpet seems to guffaw, the accordion stutters out features of a sprawling landscape and Munisteri plucks a fetching giddyap on his guitar. In "Sign Me Up," Munisteri sings with coy solemnity, in a tune that reminds me of the ballad the animated character named Jack sings in Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." "Love Story" is glorious all the long way through. Munisteri lamented in a note to the Gazette that the disc is ready "at long last." The wait is so clearly worth it. Make your day by hearing these guys - and then someone else's by giving away a copy of "Love Story," which will be available at the show.
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“Love
Story” Review by Larry Parnass in