| Jazz |
A Guitarist’s Dreamscape: Randy Napoleon’s Waking Dream Weaves Beauty, Cohesion, and a Subtle Farewell to Gregg Hill.
For discerning lovers of exquisite guitar work and eloquent musical storytelling, Waking Dream emerges as a masterstroke. The album stands not merely as a showcase of Randy Napoleon’s virtuosic touch, but also as a luminous collaboration between a cohort of deeply attuned artists. Together, they deliver a sonic journey that feels like a spiritual continuation, or perhaps even a coda, to Napoleon’s earlier project The Door is Open: The Music of Gregg Hill.
That 2023 release marked a turning point for the guitarist, a project steeped in the compositional world of Gregg Hill, with whom Napoleon seems to have found a profound creative affinity. A year on, Waking Dream suggests that Napoleon has yet to fully step out of that immersive experience, a sentiment not of limitation but of artistic resonance. From the carefully curated cover art to the intricate narrative arcs of the compositions, Waking Dream feels less like a sequel and more like a thoughtful epilogue to a deeply personal musical chapter.
Napoleon, whose career includes high-profile appearances on The Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman, The View, The Today Show, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, alongside performances at the Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, the Hollywood Bowl, and Lincoln Center, has nothing left to prove in terms of pedigree. And yet, this album finds him reaching for something even more intimate and refined. The compositions, many of which stretch comfortably past the eight-minute mark, allow musical narratives to breathe, evolve, and resolve with emotional clarity. There is no sense of haste here, only deep listening and thoughtful pacing, allowing each solo to blossom organically within the ensemble fabric.
That classical training which shaped Napoleon’s early years reveals itself in the way the music unfolds: structurally disciplined, yet emotionally unbound. One track in particular, “Two Thoughts,” exemplifies this fusion of form and feeling, hinting at the dialectic between his past in structured musical education and his current fluency in jazz’s more intuitive grammar.
What elevates Waking Dream further is Napoleon’s deft hand as an arranger. It is here that his true mastery is perhaps most evident, not only in what he plays, but in how he enables the collective voice of his ensemble to sing. His arrangements emphasize cohesion, balancing individuality with unity, and creating space for each of the fourteen musicians featured on the record, including several guest contributors—to leave their distinct imprint without ever overshadowing the group’s identity.
And what an ensemble it is. The playing is consistently sharp, nuanced, and expressive—clearly the result of a leader who understands both the intricacies of the guitar and the dynamics of collaboration. It is no wonder that Jazz Guitar Today has called him “one of the truly premier players on his instrument anywhere,” citing his “dexterity, fluid ideas and command of a tricky instrument,” while jazz critic Raul da Gama praises him as “one of the more admired guitarists today…a superb musician, much sought-after for his idiomatic interpretations.”
In Waking Dream, Napoleon pays homage to tradition while carving out new emotional and musical terrain. The album flows like a series of vignettes’ sometimes playful, sometimes dreamlike, occasionally even tinged with mystery, inviting the listener into a landscape shaped by reverie and reflection. It is not just Napoleon’s dream we hear, but ours too, gently woven into the musical fabric.
For those who yearn for a jazz album rooted in classicism but open to discovery, Waking Dream offers not only technical brilliance, but also a sense of closure and continuation, a rare kind of beauty that lingers long after the final note fades.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, July 27th 2025
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Musicians
Randy Napoleon – guitar
Luke Sittard – guitar
Chris Minami – guitar
Jocelyn Gould – guitar
Ben Turner – guitar
Rick Roe – piano
Rodney Whitaker – bass
Quincy Davis – drums
Guests :
Walter Blanding – tenor saxophone (10)
Michael Dease – trombone (8)
Anthony Stanco – trumpet (2)
Langston Kitchen – bass (6,7)
Michael J. Reed – drums (6,7)
Lynne Brown – guiro (2)
Tracking list :
1 Super Moon 7:35
2 The Speckled Frog 8:29
3 Waking Dream 7:05
4 Two Thoughts 7:28
5 Cafe Brasilia 5:31
6 The Singer 5:41
7 52 Pickup 5:27
8 Riverside Blossoms 8:07
9 Jo Jo Jo 7:57
10 Boom Boom 5:45
Compositions by:
Randy Napoleon (1, 4, 8, 10)
Gregg Hill (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9)
Production Info:
Produced by Gregg Hill & Randy Napoleon
Engineered, mixed and mastered by Corey DeRushia at Troubadour Recording Studios, Lansing, MI
Recorded November 18-19, 2024
Cover painting by Fay Kleinman
Photography & cover concept by Lynne Brown
Cover design & layout by John Bishop