Example of good ol’ swinging guitar pickin’ spearheads the Amsterdam scene, while grabbing international attention with A Sinner Kissed An Angel by the Linus Eppinger / Sam Braysher Quartet.   

Something was in the air. Sparks, to be sure! It was Saturday, June 27 at indie haunt De Nieuwe Anita in Amsterdam. The Linus Eppinger / Sam Braysher Quartet totally burned Strouse/Adams’s Put On A Happy Face to the ground. The engine of super-swinging drum veteran Eric Ineke and beat-munching class act on bass Daryll Hall ripped and roared like Steve McQueen’s Porsche in Le Mans. Eppinger and Braysher kept up in a brand-new Lexus.

Broad smiles lifted up the stage. Afterwards, Hall fist-bumped his homie Ineke.

Happy Face. Not bad for a nickname. Eppinger wears a generous, eternal smile. On stage, the vivacious German globetrotter is having a ball, very contagious to say the least. Music, after all, is entertainment, isn’t it. Working in both straight-ahead jazz in various configurations and rhythm & blues with the hi-voltage The Hi-Stakes featuring singer and saxophonist Sam Ghezzi, Eppinger’s attractive, old-school style freshly carries into the 21th Century something of the vitality of both classic hard bop and the chitlin’ circuit of clubs that spawned black rock & roll.

Eppinger: “That’s the music I love and listen to. Actually, my tastes have never really changed that much since I was about fifteen. My heroes still are Wes Montgomery, Ray Charles and Little Richard. Coming close to their level of soulfulness is something to aspire to. If I can only get there for a tiny bit, that would make me extremely satisfied.”

Eppinger was born in Los Angeles. His father, a pediatrist and amateur trombonist and his mother, who taught piano, went back to Freiburg when the little Venice Beach-aficionado was six-years-old. He delved into the record cabinet of his parents. The Cannonball Adderley Quintet’s In New York was his favorite record. Via Basel, the burgeoning guitarist ended up at Amsterdam Conservatory. Random, but good choice.

Eppinger: “It’s not too bad, isn’t it? I’m in a good place. The quality and quantity of venues far exceeds what we had in Basel. There are plenty excellent straightforward musicians. But actually though, there’s still a lack of exposure for these players. That’s why me and some friends founded a label, Jazz In Amsterdam, to record these talented musicians. We recorded four sessions already in De Kring. You can’t expect to solve this thing in one big sweep, we’re taking small steps.”

With the same mixture of common sense and ambition, Eppinger organizes Friday Night Live at Contra and New York Jazz Club in De Nieuwe Anita (“Nobody’s gonna fix A-locations like Bimhuis or A-Train just like that, it’s best to be realistic and get things going on a more off-track level yourself, though I have to say things keep happening to me in spite of setting goals, I just can’t help it!”) or gets his records in store. A Sinner Kissed An Angel is no exception and an exceptionally tasteful fix at that. It’s his first record with London saxophonist Sam Braysher.

(A Sinner Kissed An Angel, Fresh Sound Records; The Linus Eppinger / Sam Braysher Quartet featuring Eric Ineke and Daryll Hall; The Hi-Stakes)

Eppinger. “Sam and I met about ten years ago and we played in a band called Rebop with (drummer, FM) Jorge Rossy on vibraphone. We have a very good rapport. The current quartet played a few gigs a year and a half ago and then we thought it was time to record and do a little tour. It’s a blessing to play with these heavyweights on bass and drums. Linking in with their sound and feel gives you the kick of playing things you’d never think you was able to play.”

Eppinger is delighted with how Sinner Kissed An Angel turned out. Small wonder. It swings smoothly like the knife of a sushi chef, notes shine from brilliantine, drip with hot sauce; a collection of seldom-played tunes, among those Goodman/Christian’s A Smooth One and the gorgeous ballad by Duke/Nash, Roundabout. Not to mention the title track, which goes back to Sinatra and the Dorsey band.

Eppinger: “There’s a funny story to A Sinner Kissed An Angel. A couple of years ago, Sam and I were playing in England. Veteran promoter Susan May organized a couple of gigs in the London region. She’s quite a character. She was married to the great American saxophonist Spike Robinson, who’d migrated to England. Susan organized big events back in the day. She has strong opinions and hates guitarists!”

“All the while, she talked about songs her husband played, among those A Sinner Kissed An Angel, complaining that nobody played those songs anymore. So, Sam and I thought, well, let’s give it a try, see what the guitar hater thinks. Beautiful piece. To our delight, she rather liked our version.” 

A man of roots. For all the usual theory, it’s seemingly digging deep into the records and the heroes like George Benson (“I used to be an ‘early Benson purist’ but I eventually found out late career Benson was badass as well in its own way!”) and many others that defines Eppinger’s sassy style. Eppinger: “I remember writing an essay on guitar trios during Covid. Playing chords and melody at the same time is quite a challenge. The chords tend to be in the way of the melody. They tend to take away layers of details, phrasing, vibrato and somehow make a lot of what you, and even the heroes, do a bit square. Metheny found a great solution, Jim Hall as well.” 

“In the end, Grant Green is the ultimate hero. He decided to do away with chords and just play the melody, give it all the attention it needs, as beautifully as possible. I’ve noticed that the longer guitarists listen to Grant Green, the more they appreciate him. Me too. The real deal!”

Level-headed: “I’m just not cut out for the supercomplex stuff that you hear these days. I like to play as much as possible and straight-ahead is a perfect bag.”