What do a couple of in-demand, top-tier, touring musicians do when the world is suddenly locked down? Well, lucky for us, when they’re Chuck Lamb and Jorge Gomez and they find themselves in close proximity in Saratoga Springs, NY, they take out their frustrations and combine their quarantined talents to create eight delightful pieces, cheekily titled Take 2. The result, something that will require a new Billboard genre, (I suggest, Latazzical), to cover all of the bases rounded, squared, sliced and diced by these close friends, is a journey filled with virtuosic musicianship and no-net imagination. I began my due diligence review by attempting to parse each composition and found myself trapped in a redundantly gushing loop of superlatives. So, instead, in the ‘thumbs up/down’ world, that would be all the thumbs, all the way up with my guarantee that if you put yourself into your most happy listening space, start with Unclassical Cubana and listen straight through Girl from Massapequa you will thank me later.

Joel Moss, Producer, Engineer