Bolivian Blues Bar

A work of quiet sophistication and subtle pleasures (including a jazz-tinged take on a cartoon character's theme music, off all things), guitarist Alex de Grassi's Bolivian Blues Bar is another collection of understated excellence from a fingerstyle specialist admired for his inquisitive musical nature. The album's title is a touch misleading; you'll find little "Bolivian" here other than a note explaining how de Grassi first tinkered with these vintage tunes with a friend from that country. Most of its 13 tracks are jazz standards (Monk's "'Round Midnight" and "Little Rootie Tootie"; a trio of selections from George and Ira Gershwin; plus three songs associated with Billie Holliday), which de Grassi, working strictly as an acoustic soloist, arranged with hopes of coaxing a vocalist's expressiveness from his six strings. He succeeds most effectively with the late-night coziness of "You Go to My Head" (Holliday), a handsome rendering of Charles Mingus's "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," and the concluding Monk selection. A subdued recording, but not entirely a sleepy one. --Terry Wood