NEXUS is a reissue on cd of the first release by Paul Serrato @ Co. on the indie jazz label, Graffiti Productions. It was created in 1990 specifically for this debut project. Originally in cassette format, (such were the times!), its availability on cd hasn't been until now. Why this reissue now? Primarily the music. NEXUS was on the cutting edge when first released independently in 1990. This was music where jazz met pop met blues met experimental. It has retained its sharpness years later, thanks to all the bright talent, ("@ Co,"), Paul Serrato- composer, musician and producer- assembled for the project. Indeed, there's a kind of first project exhuberance that pervades the record, a kind of "Let's go for it!" attitude delivered by the musicians, chock full of talent that's quickly recognizable. NEXUS presents a series of portraits in words and music of a gallery of characters, quirky, romantic, disturbed and often outside society's acceptance. Graffiti Artist and Graffiti Blues were both inspired by Michael Stewart, the N.Y.C. graffiti artist who died violently at the hands of police after being apprehended practicing that outsider art in the subway. The pieces had been performed in a concert at which dj Lee Lowenfish from N.Y.'s WBAI heard them and invited the band to record them at the station, thus in effect, initiating the NEXUS project. Commenting on NEXUS in 1991 on WDHA-fm, (New Jersey), Tom Mongelli described it as " a thought process laid out on a human landscape. The music is gritty and the topics from the gut with no cutting at the edges. The album is very bright, not glossy. All this and a mighty groove. A sharp band!" Through subsequent jazz releases of original music, Graffiti Productions has succeeded in garnering new venturesome fans in adhereing to the label's motto: "Urban Jazz Not By The Rules".