Album Review // Frank Marzano and Friends // Stone Soup

Self-released

4/5 stars

Chill the wine and turn down the lights, because locals Frank Marzano and Friends are setting the mood on their debut release Stone Soup. The smooth jazz guitar work of Frank Marzano comes through on his first release with the "Friends" title. It's an instrumental album that features cover songs like the campfire sing-along, "You Are My Sunshine," the old standard "My Funny Valentine," Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene," Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," and Bill Withers' "Just The Two of Us."

The original composition "The Night They Invented The Blues" has a 1950s doo-wop feel, mixed with surf rock guitars. Stone Soup consists of Frank Marzano on lead guitar, mandolin, lap steel, and ukulele. Joshua Karickhoff, from The High Life and Sacred 13, plays bass and drums, and they both supplement with various keyboards and percussion. This may be Marzano's first release under this title but he is no stranger to the music scene — having played in the Chicago band Childhood's End during the '80s and '90s, releasing the solo albums But Enough About Me (2007), The Boy Who Always Got Picked Last (2012), and American Proust (2015). He has plenty of experience with the guitar and that is apparent upon listening to Stone Soup.