James Zito - Zito's Jump! (Vinyl)

With story, blues, and swing at the forefront, rising jazz guitarist James Zito leaps onto the scene and into the rich, soulful, and ever-swinging legacy of jazz guitar with his debut record, Zito’s Jump. Recorded at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, the album plays like a story told over dinner. Wielding a Benedetto Bambino Deluxe and a Les Paul Custom as his brushes, James Zito masterfully crafts a sonic mural that walks us through the last ten years of his life.

Zito’s Jump features five standards: “Ready and Able,” “The Nearness of You,” “End of a Love Affair,” “After You’ve Gone,” “It Could Happen to You,” and six original compositions: “Zito’s Jump,” “Bird in the Wind,” “Island Girl,” “Time Zone,” “Pense Nisso,” and “Minor Lies,” debuting his compositional prowess.

We walk out of the gates swinging with the electrifying boogaloo Zito’s Jump. Zito recalls listening to “Got My Mojo Working” by the famed blues guitarist Muddy Waters and being inspired to “create my own version of a song that made me feel like my best self.”

A love note to Wes Montgomery and Charlie Parker, Bird in the Wind fuses Wes Montgomery’s version of “Gone With the Wind” and Charlie Parker’s virtuosic and sophisticated harmonic expression. Chris Lewis’ tenor sax soars in perfect unison with the tone of Zito’s guitar, like two hearts so intertwined they sound like one voice.

On the matter of intertwined hearts, we peek into a more vulnerable side of Zito’s artistry with Island Girl, a romantic bossa inspired by a deep and long-lasting love. This track features pianist Luther Allison and the harmonically captivating yet lilting stylings of Chris Lewis on flute.

Time Zone brings us out of the blissful haze of falling in love and into the unnerving reality of communication breakdowns. The rhythmic lock between Joe Farnsworth and Rodney Whitaker lays the foundation for Lewis and Zito to share the melody, mirroring an attempt at a conversation that only seems to escalate and derail into a heated and unresolved argument.

Tension is synthesized into action as we take a recipe from The George Benson Cookbook. The first of two tracks arranged for nonet, Ready and Able, provides an invigorating take on the Jimmy Smith composition and tips the proverbial hat to one of Zito’s biggest inspirations: George Benson. The melodies and solos on both nonet arrangements (Minor Lies being the second and appearing later) are supported by Jarien Jamanila, Joseph Miller, Chris Lewis, Nick Dimaria, and Jack Kotze - a formidable and trustworthy frontline. With the burners on high, Zito confidently declares, “I’m ready and able to emerge as an artist and show the world what I’m about.”

Pleasure is juxtaposed with pain as we are pulled back down to earth by the seductive and contemplative Pense Nisso, a composition born from the melodies of Luis Bonfá and João Gilberto. Translated from Portuguese, it means “think about it”—an uncomfortable yet necessary duty when confronted with changes and growing pains.

Hiding behind the doubts, insecurities, time zones, and miscommunications lies the root of all the strife: the universal craving for love from the people we care for most. The voices of Tyreek McDole and Georgia Heers gather for an intimate, playful, and harmonious dance; the harmony we seek in moments of dissonance. The Nearness of You smothers the flames of the Minor Lies we told ourselves just moments ago.

It is an unsettling and uncomfortable truth that our yearning is sometimes in vain. For no matter how much we may love someone, we cannot control how long their season in our lives lasts. The love we’ve nurtured has ruptured, bringing us to The End of a Love Affair. This track and After You’ve Gone capture the impassioned and fiery stage of grieving a love lost.

It Could Happen to You is a warning. All of the aforementioned could very well happen to you: victory, defeat, self-love and self-doubt, triumphs and tribulations. This album is a microcosm of the human experience, and whether you are a jazz guitar scholar or a listener giving swing a chance, there is a song for every crevice of our shared human experience.

Stanley Crouch writes of the “responsibility passed on to the more ambitious artists of each generation,” which “is to learn how to redefine the fundamentals while maintaining the essences that give the art its scope and its grandeur.” James Zito gives us a fresh perspective on timeless standards and shares his story while exalting the names of the musical giants whose shoulders he stands on. Sit back, enjoy Zito’s Jump, and rejoice in the undeniable fact that, in the year 2025, through the hunger and conviction of a burgeoning young artist, jazz guitar lives.