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PROJECT
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Back
when mwe3.com was in its early years, we reviewed a CD by a group
called Project 7 titled Birth/Death/Infinity. That was back
in May 2001 and lo and behold in May 2010 theres a new Project
7 CD out in 2009 called Paradigm Shift. In fact, the nine cut
CD features the same lineup of players from the first CD, including
guitarist Dan Begelman, John DeCesare (bass) and Tony
Gallino (drums). Now like then, these guys represent some of the
finest musical intelligence on Long Island these days. The all instrumental
CD still features P7s modern approach to instrumental jazz-rock
fusion, with the emphasis on rock. Clearly, guitar fans into Beck
and McLaughlin will still get a buzz off of Begelmans sonic
guitar interplay between his two Project 7 band mates. That first
Project 7 CD that mwe3.com reviewed way back when featured a great
rave up instrumental cover version of the Yardbirds classic
For Your Love and fittingly, this new Project 7 features
a dynamic instro cover of the famous 1970 Mountain classic Theme
For An Imaginary Western that will impress fans of Leslie West
and Mountain as well as Jack Bruce and Cream. All in all, Paradigm
Shift offers a fantastic listening experience for guitar fans
into high quality instrumental fusion. www.Project7.net
/ www.Guitar9.com I've
been playing guitar for over 40 years, starting out by fooling around
on my father's nylon string guitar. He studied classical and flamenco
guitar as a hobby, so I was exposed to that type of music early on.
My interest quickly became an obsession and my parents found a guitar
teacher who came to my home. An hour lesson for $3.50, playing on
a five dollar guitar that my parents bought for me from the dry cleaning
man who came by weekly to drop off and pick up the laundry. I learned
from the Mel Bay Guitar Method, going through, if my memory serves
me correctly, volumes I through VII. Although it gave me a good foundation
in technique, basic theory and reading skills, it wasn't helping me
play what I wanted to play, so I would pick off songs and guitar licks
from records (those plastic discs that spun at 33 1/3 RPM on a Hi-Fi).
Remember back then there was no such thing as Guitar World magazine
or the internet, so there were not as many sources to go to as there
are today. You either learned from a teacher or learned by yourself.
I had a good ear so I was able to pick things off records pretty quickly,
playing all the rock tunes of the day, Beatles, Stones, Doors, Jefferson
Airplane, etc. I was also a big Ventures fan playing all that instrumental
surf music which is interesting, as my passion is composing and performing
instrumental music. Throughout my career I've done (and continue to
do) almost everything a musician can do to earn a living in the music
business. I've been a Broadway pit musician, done countless recording
sessions, played clubs of all sizes to major venues such as Madison
Square Garden and everything in between. I've taught guitar both privately
and in seminars and have done product demos at the NAMM show in California
for the AXON guitar synthesizer. I've also been music director and
arranger for 50's rock 'n' roll shows playing with just about every
artist from the 50's doo wop, rock 'n' roll era including the Shirelles,
Coasters, Bo Diddley, Chantels, Chuck Berry, etc. At present, my main
gig is working for Alfred Music publishing company as a guitar arranger
and engraver, doing those note for note guitar and bass transcriptions.
I also do freelance arranging work for Guitar World magazine. Lastly,
I play electric bass in a club date band (weddings, parties, etc.).
All the aforementioned are ways of earning a living, but Project 7,
which this is really about, is my musical vision and my musical playground.
My new
CD, Paradigm Shift was recorded in Farmingdale, Long Island
at The Loft Recording Studios. The Loft was built by my partner and
drummer, Tony Gallino. We spent about three years developing the material,
arranging and recording the album. My first two CD's, Lost For
Words and Birth/Death/Infinity were recorded in more traditional
studios in a more traditional fashion. We recorded to two inch tape
with basic tracks performed live as a trio with myself on guitar,
John DeCesare on electric bass, and Tony Gallino on drums. We recorded
at Cove Sound Studios in Long Island, Media Sound Studios in New York,
and some other studios in Connecticut and New Jersey. But Paradigm
Shift was recorded more as a studio project album than a band
album, and was recorded digitally on a PC using
Nuendo as the main program with assorted plug ins and software. Once
we had the arrangements worked out, we put down a click track and
I recorded some scratch guitar tracks to use as place holders and
show the form. Then Tony Gallino laid down his drum tracks. Next,
I added electric bass, with John DeCesare performing additional bass
tracks. After that came rhythm guitar tracks, heads, solos, etc. And
then Tony added keyboard overdubs. So the album was pieced together
as opposed to performed together as my first two CD's were. Being
that I was only twenty minutes from the studio, we could find assorted
hours during the week, evenings, weekends, whenever we could squeeze
in two, three, four hours and move ahead. That accounted for the taking
almost three years to complete, but with families, children, work,
you do the best you can. The reason I named this CD and the title
track "Paradigm Shift" is that I see it as a shift back
towards my rock roots. My first CD, Lost For Words is a pretty
straight ahead rock/fusion type outing, and my second CD, Birth/Death/Infinity
continues in that vein with darker, more cerebral compositions. Paradigm
Shift has elements of Cream, Led Zep, Pink Floyd, etc., sounding
more rock influenced than my two preceding CD's, though not necessarily
by intent. When I compose music I never have a target or style in
mind. I just fiddle around with my guitar searching for something,
and a new chord voicing, a new riff, a new slant on an old idea could
become the genesis of a composition. The name "Paradigm Shift"
was floating around in my head and it just seemed to gel when I was
looking for a title, something to describe the feel and intent of
the record. I'm very pleased with the CD, both in terms of content
and production. Of course, there's always something you hear that
you wish you could re-record, remix, etc. but you have to shut it
down after a while and say, "that's it, we're done". I feel
the CD is a good representation of me as a guitarist and composer
as it captures a lot of moods, themes, and guitar sounds and styles.
But most important to me is that it's a music record, not necessarily
a guitar record. There's many guitar records out there with some magnificent
players but the music falls short. I'm trying to create art, not make
a shredding record. That's cool for some, but for me it's about the
music, it's about the composition.
I'm one
of those vintage guys, old Les Pauls, old Strats and Tele's, old Marshalls
and Fender amps. As for strings, I have an endorsement with GHS and
use their guitar strings exclusively. I use standard "9"
and "10" gauge sets and medium (45 to 105) for electric
bass. All instruments are in standard tuning except for using drop
D tuning on "Kaleidoscope". I won't break down track by
track, but here is a list of instruments I used on Paradigm Shift.
1957 Les Paul Custom, 1953 Les Paul Standard, 1961 Les Paul SG
standard, 1966 ES 335, 1957 ES 175, 1963 Stratocaster, 1968 Telecaster,
1957 reissue Stratocaster, and some assorted Frankenstein Stratocasters
(random parts put together). Also, an Epiphone 7 string Les Paul,
a Takamine acoustic guitar, a 1962 Precision Bass and a 1969 Jazz
Bass. All electric guitars were played through a 1969 100 watt Marshall
1/2 stack (4x12" speakers) using a THD hot plate (allowing you
to turn up the amp to get overdrive while keeping the overall sound
output low), a Marshall Lead 20 with 1x10" speaker and a 1968
Fender Super Reverb. All bass guitars were recorded direct. As for
pedals, when I play live I use some old Boss pedals; overdrive, chorus,
delay, octave pedal and wah. But on the recording no pedals were used.
We went for as clean a signal going in as we could get, except of
course when we wanted overdrive and used the Marshall head with the
hot plate so we could turn it way up without blowing out the windows
or our ears. The small Marshall was used for some parts that needed
more distortion as it has two volume controls so you could crank the
gain and overdrive the amp. The Fender Super Reverb was used for some
cleaner guitar tracks. All delays, chorus and reverb were added after
so the input signal was not only clean but unaffected. This way you
can control the effects during mixing. If you record with effects
you're stuck with them, so it's always better to record without them
and have that control during mixing.
As
for musical influences, the usual suspects, I imagine. Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, John McLaughlin, Duane Allman.
Then there's Andres Segovia, Joe Pass, Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Nokie
Edwards and The Ventures. Let's not forget Herbie Hancock, Billy Cobham,
Bach, Mozart, where do I stop? Point being, as a guitarist, of course
I'm influenced by the guitarists just mentioned and more. But as a
musician, I'm influenced by anyone creating great music on any instrument.
It's more than being a guitarist, it's being a musician, an artist,
and it just happens to be that guitar is my instrument. As for most
influential albums I'd have to say Jeff Beck's Blow By Blow
and all of his subsequent albums, Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin
and the Allman Brothers Live At The Fillmore East. These artists
and their records gave me the courage and motivation to compose and
record my own music. They allowed me to see that there was a way to
incorporate so many musical styles that I was interested in and morph
them together into a viable, commercial product. They were ground
breaking records and continue to amaze and entertain me.
At present,
I'm promoting my CD's and have recently signed with a small company
in Japan, One Up Music, who will represent me in Japan and the surrounding
areas. They will be doing a big launch of my CD's in June and hopefully
will
get a good response. If things go well, maybe plans to perform over
in Japan can be worked out. Project 7 has been dormant as a performing
band over the last few years as we've been focused on recording. Now,
we're back in rehearsals again and expect to be playing out in the
late summer or fall of this year. I'm always working on new ideas
for future CD's, recording demos on a 4 track Tascam cassette recorder.
Not state of the art by any means, but all of my three CD's were conceived
on that machine so I continue to work that way. It's got charm, notwithstanding
a little tape hiss.
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