PETRI KRZYWACKI makes his solo recording debut with ONE STEP OUT, a bold mainstream guitar trio release. Krzywacki, a 35-year-old guitar player from Finland, has been a visible figure in the Finnish jazz scene for over a decade now. He has demonstrated his versatility in many different settings, ranging from New Orleans style through swing bands and mainstream groups to electric jazz fusion. Of the players he’s played with, the most famous are the drumming legend Ed Thigpen and trumpet ace Leroy Jones. Krzywacki has been influenced by numerous players through recordings and live performances, most notably by such guitar players as Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Ed Bickert and Jonathan Kreisberg but also by other instrumentalists; a short list would include Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Phil Woods, Wayne Shorter and Joe Lovano. Krzywacki’s style, as generously demonstrated on the CD, is a mixture of all he’s absorbed through his constant study of the masters. The compositions (seven of the nine tracks on the album are originals) reflect this eclectism, balancing somewhere between the second-line flavor of “Elis (the Freestyler)”, the contemporary ballad style of “A.R.”, the bluesy swing of “Rootsey” and the swift even eights flight of “Constant”. While maintaining the idiomatic qualities of the guitar, Krzywacki brings to the table different flavors to expand on the usual guitaristic means of expression. The flurries of notes in some solos reach out for saxophonists’ expressive phrasing while there is definitely a tendency to imitate a pianistic sense of texture in the way Krzywacki comps his own melodies and solo lines. For his debut, Krzywacki has chosen bandmates that are very sympathetic to what he is doing. Drummer Thomas Rönnholm and bass player Teemu Keränen support the compositions and the performances in an understated way, aiming to generate a distinctive mood for each tune. A guitar trio can be very one-dimensional in terms of sound, but a great deal of thought has been put into building a set that has variety as well as continuity.