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July / August 2003
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 ARMIK |
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BERNIE WILLIAMS The Journey Within (GRP)
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PAT
METHENY
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ARMIK
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LES SABLER
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BILL
FRISELL
Attention Artists and Record Companies: Have your CD reviewed
in mwe3.com and 20th Century Guitar. Send to P.O. Box 630249, Little
Neck, N.Y. 11363-0249 e-mail: info@mwe3.com
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Once
in a while the music business throws you a curve and in this case it’s
the debut CD by New York Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams. Armed
with some noteworthy guitar chops and an album’s worth of diverse
instrumental, Latin-flavored jazz-rock songs that leaves a favorable
and lasting impression, Williams hits that curve ball out of the park
on The Journey Within. One listen confirms that as good as Williams
is with the Yankees he’s equally in his element as a guitarist
and composer on The Journey Within. Growing up in Puerto Rico
and being exposed to salsa and blues as well as his classical training
primed Williams for music early in his life. Bernie split his time between
music and baseball and he partly credits his musicianship to his career
success as a ball player adding, “"music gives you rhythm,
makes things flow, a lot of things you can utilize in baseball having
a musical mind". Interestingly, Paul McCartney—who
contributes liner notes to the album—states, "I was just blown
away by his talent, It's a home run." McCartney signed Williams
to his MPL publishing company to which Bernie says, "Working with
Paul McCartney...is a dream come true, it brings the whole album project
full circle." Some incredible players assist Bernie on his CD including
NYC session guitar great David Spinoza, keyboard legend David
Sancious, Bernie’s brother Hiram Williams (cello) and
drummers Kenny Aronoff and Shawn Pelton to name a few.
Also contributing are Panamanian salsa king Ruben Blades, jazz
banjo master Bela Fleck, Puerto Rican salsa star Gilberto
Santa Rosa as well as such top support players as bass ace Leland
Sklar. The CD features seven original Williams compositions plus
versions of Billy Joel's "And So It Goes," Kansas' "Dust
in the Wind" and Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell's "Samba
Novo." There’s even Bernie’s tribute to those great James
Bond soundtracks, “Enter The Bond” and the moving set-closer,
“The Williams Kids” featuring contributions from Bernie's
children. Recorded in NYC, The Journey Within is truly one of
the 'ear-opening' guitar instrumental albums of 2003. 
Discussing
his 2003 album on Warner Bros. guitar legend Pat Metheny states,
“This record is about essentially one sound, basically one mood,
and taking the time to go deep inside that single world. Unlike most
of our recordings that have involved lots of planning and sophisticated
recording studios, this one started and ended with just a single guitar
and a mic.” Metheny is at his most guitar-centric and atmospheric
on One Quiet Night. Like a late night drive on a long stretch
of highway, the musical spirit here is nocturnal and comforting. Recorded
by Pat in NYC on his Linda Manzer baritone guitar, the 12 track
CD has that classic Metheny signature guitar sound written all over
it. Just like the flashback cover art, One Quiet Night is evocative
solo guitar music at it’s best. Filled with a number of originals
and covers, the album highlight has got to be Pat’s truly sensitive
rendition of the Gerry Marsden British invasion classic “Ferry
Cross The Mersey”. 
In
the words of guitar master Armik, “With Amor De Guitarra I
discovered my true love for the guitar.” Drawing upon Armik’s
personal collection of over 45 hand-made Flamenco guitars, his 2003
CD on Bolero Records is clearly his best yet while his incredible
fretboard mastery reaches new heights. With it’s skillful mixture
of Spanish folk melodies, Latin flamenco, bossa nova, rhumba, cha-cha
and gypsy jazz influences, the eleven track Amor De Guitarra
will intrigue those who thought they’d heard it all. 
Teaming
with keyboardist / programmer Allon Sams and several other players,
Les Sabler’s 2003 release Bridge The Gap is an instrumental
guitar album that crosses several genres yet fits quite comfortably
into the George Benson / Wes Montgomery smooth jazz guitar realm. Sabler’s
‘90s albums, Hidden Treasure and Time For Love earned
him critical acclaim and he’s really hit his stride with his 2003
album Bridge The Gap. Sabler exhibits some fine fretboard finesse
on his Gibson and Martin guitars and with Sams handling all the keyboards
and programming, Bridge The Gap positively glows. Influences
such as Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour and Acoustic Alchemy are in there
yet there’s something quite original about Sabler’s elegant
approach to instrumental guitar jazz. 
One
of the best of the current Shadows-style instrumental guitar bands from
Spain, Los Jets put out their 40 Aniversario CD in 2003. With
a history of recordings dating back to their first big hit, “Zorongo”
in 1961, it’s great to be able to report Los Jets are still going
strong. Featuring the talents of their drummer of 22 years, Eduardo
Bartrina and original Los 4 Jets guitarist Santiago Gonzales—who
formed the band in 1958 with his brother Jose Maria—40
Aniversario may very well be their best album yet. Filled with intriguing
originals, new covers of fabled Shadows classics (“The Miracle”,
“Peace Pipe”) and new reworkings of guitar-based classics
like “Fly Me To The Moon”, “Ain’t No Sunshine”
and “How Deep Is Your Love”, 40 Aniversario is a mature,
compelling work by expert musicmakers. 
Releasing
an album with possibly the coolest cover art of 2003, guitar ace Bill
Frisell returns with a solid set by his group The Intercontinentals.
The 2003 CD is also called The Intercontinentals and with players
from Brazil, Macedonia and Mali on board, you best believe Frisell means
business. That said, there’s nothing more sublime than hearing
Frisell’s sinuous electric guitar backed up by the sonic seasonings
of Intercontinentals’ ace pedal steel and slide guitarist Greg
Leisz, who also appears on Frisell’s albums Blues Dream
and Good Dog, Happy Man. Several tropical-flavored Brazilian
vocal tracks by guitarist / singer Vinicius Cantuaria also adds
quite a bit to the global vibe at work on The Intercontinentals,
while some spine tingling violin work of Jenny Scheinman brings
further scope to Frisell’s far out vision of a cosmic, instrumental
world-beat bluegrass group. A master of ambient Americana music—from
instrumental jazz to country roots—Frisell has always thrived on
uncanny diversity. After all, he’s worked with everybody from Elvis
Costello and Burt Bacharach to Ginger Baker and William S. Burroughs.
Bill Frisell is at his best on his latest unique amalgamation of American
roots music mixed up with the exotic musical sounds of Brazilian, Greek
and Malian sounds. And you’ve got to check out that cool CD packaging.