Years before Sam Gendel was one among the principal fixtures of Los Angeles’ bubbling ambient jazz scene, he was the frontman of a quiet little outfit called Inga. Though the group barely had any releases to its name, Inga’s performances were twisting and spontaneous, as Gendel wove his way through lopsided bossa-nova patterns together with his understated, fluttering guitar technique. To observe them play was like watching a hunched caterpillar sneaking its way through the grass, each modal jump as oddly angled because it was delicately naturalistic. Since then, Gendel has primarily focused on his solo output, constructing his kooky sound world around mellowed out hip-hop beats and his psychedelic, Jon Hassell-indebted approach to saxophone. But on Blueblue, Gendel returns...
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