featuring Ross Stanley on Hammond C-3 ‘Big Bertha’, Steve Brown on drums and Dave Pattman on conga
“Cool-school jazz from emerging guitar talent Zaitz, whose John Scofield-ish sound takes in some loping New Orleans shuffles and moody cinematic theme originals.” — Time Out
Artie Zaitz is considered one of the most exciting and talented guitarists on the UK jazz scene today. The Regulator follows his critically acclaimed album Back To Back, released in 2022 with trumpeter/composer/label boss Mark Kavuma, and is Zaitz’s debut recording as a leader.
Fresh and fun, yet full of blues and grit and infused with trademark humour, The Regulator features six compositions, tracked live in the studio and recorded in full analogue glory. Though the album is in essence a homage to the classic organ recordings of the mid-60s Chitlin Circuit in New York, Zaitz has added percussion to reflect his love of Afro-Cuban and Latin American sounds. “We were booked to do the Late Show at Ronnie Scott’s following one of the hottest Hammond Trios around – Goldings, Bernstein & Stewart,” explains Zaitz. “So I decided to augment mine with another instrument; the conga flavours the sound of this combo giving it an appealing character.”
The Regulator opens with ‘Some Extent’, a blues written by Zaitz when he was seventeen followed by Dizzy Gillespie’s ‘Con Alma’ and ‘A Nod To The High Priest’, long time collaborator Ruben Fox’s tribute to Monk. Side B opens with the open chord jam ‘Boogaloo Ga Goo’ composed by Zaitz’s father Jake, which nods to Eddie Harris, Grant Green, B.B. King and John Scofield. ‘Our Miss Brooks’ is by the underrated American tenor saxophonist Harold Vick and Kavuma’s ‘The Regulator’ closes the album, featuring a moving spoken word introduction by Fausta Joly. “Mark called me the Regulator because of the role I had in the The Banger Factory as a chordal player and provider, always regulating the groove.”
