Jimmie Leslie, Surfin’ the Swamp (Concurrent)

San Francisco guitarist Jimmy Leslie’s music has a jazzy hippie aesthetic on top and a funky New Orleans heart underneath, so it’s only natural that he record the rhythm tracks here with Galactic’s backbeat of Stanton Moore and Robert Mercurio, and then lays his own classic-rock inspired songcraft over the top back home. The dozen more-or-less originals here show Leslie playing like Carlos Santana, singing like Robert Plant in thoughtful solo mode, and writing like he’s got one eye on the charts and the other on the jazz hall (Leslie regularly gigs across from the Fillmore). The resultant clash of cultures makes for a tight little disc, catchy yet experimental, the kind of endless comeback album Santana himself would make if he had more wit and didn’t burden himself with so many pricey guest stars. (Indeed, Leslie got some personal inspiration back from Carlos while writing for Guitar Player.) It would be ironic if the modern New Orleans funk backbeat made national radio through its musical sister city, but stranger things have happened—and one listen to “Wash it Out,” which would tickle Sublime and Galactic fans, bears that out.