Tim Jago, Time Shift Review

by Jeff Becker

Tim Jago’s Time Shift is his first album released under his own name after years of collaborations, pedagogical work, and high-level sideman commitments. But perhaps more importantly, it presents a guitarist-composer working at the intersection of jazz lineage, global groove systems, and deeply musical narrative. This record offers a wide range of tonal architecture, motivic development, rhythm-section integration, and the contemporary concept of global jazz as a compositional influence.

The quintet is Mark Small (saxophone), Martin Bejerano (keyboards), Dion Kerr (bass), and David Chiverton (drums). They function as a highly attuned organism. Jago’s writing builds on their shared vocabulary developed over years of steady performance, and that history shows in the phrasing, time feel, and internal responsiveness of this ensemble. While each player brings an impressive individual pedigree, the record’s success hinges on their collective sensibility to create a project that is musical and groove-driven.

The record opens with an engaging rhythmic composition called “Time Shift.”  A straight-eighth groove with a weighted backbeat, built around a cyclic rhythmic cell in the rhythm section. Jago’s expansive jazz language is immediately established in his aesthetic contemporary linear phrasing, shaped by clean rhythmic articulation and logical contours during his solo.

As the title suggests, “Calypso’ish” merges elements of funk, calypso, and modern fusion into a hybrid groove that reflects Jago’s earthy world jazz style. The bass and drums establish a danceable foundation, with Jago adding a ringing, harmonically rich guitar tone. Guitarists will especially appreciate Jago’s tone on his solo with a lightly overdriven semi-hollow sound with warm bloom, expressive sustain, and a modern articulation approach mixing legato and percussive attack. Bejerano’s solo keeps the momentum cresting, while Chiverton’s concluding drum feature builds the contemporary global-groove.

“Soil to Sky” is one of the album’s conceptual pillars. Jago begins with volume swells over the tribal nu-jazz groove. The effect is striking and a demonstration of how tone engagement is involved. Small’s saxophone solo is built on ascending motifs and clear rhythmic articulation. Jago’s solo is lyrical, warm-toned, and saturated with contemporary guitar color (full reverb, rounded sustain, harmonically rich delays). Jago is all about tone design; this track stands out as a model of changing tone within form to reflect each section’s emotional meaning.

The segue into “Major” deepens the album’s sonic flow. Jago’s arpeggiated voicings establish a landscape colored by passing tensions that resolve gently, an elegant evocation of Australian folk-jazz lineage. Jago and Small perform a wonderful tutti melody. Jago’s solo explores the world jazz colors embedded within the framework. Again, his guitar tone supports the composition’s tonal and color qualities.

Jago’s arrangement of “Bernie’s Tune” is a thoughtful update without sacrificing the jazz lineage. The rhythmic hits in the head create contour. Jago’s solo is an exciting merging of bebop articulation with contemporary hues inside swing-oriented phrasing. Small’s solo carries the momentum forward, showing the ensemble’s ability to listen deeply and navigate idiomatic jazz language with authentic fluency.

“Body and Soul” is Jago’s exploration of a jazz standard, which is a fine moment on the album to get to hear his creativity. This arrangement reimagines the standard using a slow 5/4 groove inspired by Vernel Fournier’s “Poinciana” pulse. Chiverton’s handling of the groove is outstanding, with a natural, relaxed, and layered pattern. Jago presents the melody with a combination of single-note lines and chordal punctuations. This hybrid melodic approach is ideal for hearing how to reinterpret standards without losing their melodic backbone. Jago gives jazz fans a performance of a jazz standard as a melodic canon and stylish turnaround that shows Jago’s musical instincts at their most playful and identifiable..

For Jago’s opening statement as a leader, Time Shift is a compelling study in tone design, multi-tonal phrasing, motivic improvisation, and compositional architecture. These performances are players integrating global rhythmic ideas, narrative sequencing, and ensemble cohesion within a contemporary jazz framework. And for the broader jazz community, it marks Tim Jago as a fully realized artist. Jago is one whose voice resonates across traditions while remaining unmistakably his own.