| Jazz |
For nearly two decades, guitarist and composer Shawn Purcell served in military music ensembles, an experience that almost certainly shaped his meticulous sense of orchestration and his instinct for placing instruments in the precise order and hierarchy needed to evoke a particular mood. In Purcell’s hands, it is always about beauty and elegance: music that is at once intricate and painstakingly crafted, where the arrangements themselves seem imbued with the same sense of refinement.
With a fluid, virtuoso command of his instrument and an ever-shifting palette of influences, the Washington, D.C.–based guitarist shapes Oblivity into a cohesive, finely wrought journey. His playing marries clarity with complexity, offering passages that feel warmly familiar before suddenly slipping into unexpected territory, a musical sleight of hand that disorients just enough to draw the listener deeper into his world.
It’s a world built on extraordinary breadth of experience. Purcell has recorded and/or toured with an impressive roster: Walt Weiskopf, Pat Bianchi, Regina Carter, Steve Fidyk, Chip McNeill, Sean Jones, Steve Allee, Brian Charette, Terell Stafford, Tim Warfield, Lucas Pino, Peter Erskine, the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, the Javier Nero Jazz Orchestra, Eddie Daniels, the National Symphony Orchestra, and many others. His performances have graced stages and jazz festivals across the globe, from the Kennedy Center to Blues Alley, from Smalls in New York to the Chris’ Jazz Café in Philadelphia, from São Paulo’s JazzB to Luxembourg’s Aalt Stadhaus. He has been heard at major festivals including Umbria Jazz, Ancona, DC Jazz Fest, Indy Jazz Fest, and the Savannah Jazz Festival.
With close to forty albums to his credit, Purcell’s experience shows, not as an exercise in display, but as a quiet confidence woven into every note. There is delicacy at every level, yet over the course of the album, he gradually reveals a more abstract landscape, one that recalls the literary universe of Marguerite Yourcenar: a deep well of culture and imagination, freely offered to those willing to drink from it.
Dr. Shawn Purcell currently serves as Assistant Professor of Jazz Guitar, Jazz Studies, and Jazz Arranging at George Mason University. His academic résumé is no less impressive: he has taught jazz at West Virginia University, Towson University, and Middle Tennessee State University, and served as a visiting lecturer in jazz studies at Indiana University Bloomington under the legendary David Baker.
For his students, past and present, the opportunity to learn from such a musician and composer is no small privilege. As with his teaching, everything in Purcell’s music is carefully considered, right down to the tonal coloration of his guitar, which deepens and amplifies his artistic vision. On Oblivity, the voice itself is treated as an instrument, given space, tenderness, and an almost tactile delicacy. That quality, more than anything else, is the album’s quiet triumph: an unwavering commitment to elegance.
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, August 13th 2025
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Musicians:
Shawn Purcell – guitar, guitar synth (2, 10)
Walt Weiskopf – tenor saxophone (except 5)
Darden Purcell – voice (2, 3, 6, 7)
Ben Patterson – trombone (2, 6)
Chris Ziemba – piano, Fender Rhodes (4)
Jeff Reed – acoustic bass
Steve Fidyk – drums & cymbals, percussion (4, 7)
Track Listing:
1 Oblivity 5:34
2 Quiet the Chaos 8:20
3 Verdigris 9:53
4 Primaries and Spares 5:57
5 Gentle Giant 6:26
6 Lazy Day Reverie 7:03
7 Meu Amor 6:35
8 Sunday Best 6:08
9 Move the Needle 8:24
10 Flow 6:04
All Compositions by Shawn Purcell – Shawn Purcell Music (BMI)
Production Info:
Produced by Shawn Purcell, Darden Purcell, Rich Sigler
Recorded March 11-13, 2025 by Charlie Pilzer at Tonal Park Studio, Takoma Park, MD
Edited by Rich Sigler, Sigler Music Productions
Mixed & mastered by Dave Darlington at Bass Hit Recording, New York, NY
Band photo by Suzette Niess Photography
Cover design & layout by John Bishop