|
NONO SODERBERG
on Goofin'
|
WILLIE AND LOBO
on Narada
|
MESHUGGA BEACH PARTY
on Halakahiki |
LABEL
SPOTLIGHT
APRIL
2003 MUSIC & RECORD LABEL SPOTLIGHT
BLUE
NOTE RECORDS -
One of the great American 6 & 12 string acoustic guitar legends,
Georgia-native Leo Kottke is further honored with two all-instrumental
CDs released in early 2003 on Blue Note Records. Leo
Kottke Instrumentals: The Best Of The Capitol Years features
18 tracks taken from six albums Kottke recorded on Capitol Records
between 1970-1975. Discovered and signed in 1969 to Takoma Records
by John Fahey, Kottke’s early genius at combining country, bluegrass,
ragtime, blues, Celtic, classical and flamenco guitar music is quite
apparent on The Best Of The Capitol Years. In 1976, Kottke
became the first American artist to sign with U.K.-based Chrysalis
Records, debuting that year with a self-titled release. Kottke
went on to record five albums for Chrysalis, the best of which provides
the contents of Leo Kottke Instrumentals: The Best Of The Chrysalis
Years. The eighteen track Chrysalis Years compilation—also
compiled by long time Kottke aficionado Jerry Roche—features
a number of Kottke’s late ‘70s favorites, including tracks
from 1983's T-Bone Burnett-produced Time Step, several unreleased
tracks from the 1977 Montreux International Jazz Festival and a Kottke
rendition of Duane Allman's "Little Martha" from the Time
Step sessions. During the late ‘80s Kottke went on
to record a number of albums on the now-defunct Private label, yet
as Roche points out in his liner notes, Kottke’s true legacy
as an acoustic guitar master still lives in the grooves of his early
recordings for Capitol and Chrysalis. Blue Note has done a great job
on both their Capitol and Chrysalis Best-of CDs, both
of which are vital reminders of Kottke’s amazing guitar skills.
www.bluenote.com
GOOFIN’ RECORDS - A legend from the ‘70s, Finnish guitarist
Nono Söderberg released an excellent guitar album in 2002.
Twisting Standards finds the jazz-rock ace in a playful mood
serving up a number guitar standards in a new surf-jazz style. Twangy
flavored instro raveups of classics like “Flamingo”, “Stranger
In Paradise”, John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”
and even “Sweet Georgia Brown” spring to life with Söderberg’s
right on instrumental guitar sounds. In the spirit of ‘60s guitar
heroes like Hank Marvin and Nokie Edwards, and jazz icons like Barney
Kessell as well as Spanish classical masters like Segovia, Twisting
Standards serves up a fresh new take on the legendary ‘60s
guitar instrumental sound. www.goofinrecords.com
HALAKAHIKI RECORDS - You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy
Meshugga Beach Party. Subtitled Sixteen Songs
Of The Chosen Surfers, the basic premise here is mixing the catchiest,
time-honored songs of the Jews with rockin’ surf guitar music.
The idea in itself is decades old and hundreds of guitar group’s
over the past 40 years have covered favorites like “Hava Nagila”.
Featuring guitarist Mel Waldorf, the CD takes the concept to
it’s logical conclusion and beyond, retrofitting certified Kosher
classics like “Shalom Alechem” and “Hatikvah”
(what, no “Adon Olam”?) A great idea taken to completion
by guitarist Waldorf and his meshugga beach buddies, the album is
a done deal with a cover art straight out of Mad magazine! www.meshuggabeachparty.com
KHAEON WORLD MUSIC - Having recorded 25 albums over the past 35
years, Brazilian guitar great Carlos Barbosa-Lima released
Natalia in 2003. The follow up to Mambo No. 5, his
first album on Khaeon World Music, Natalia features a fine
cross section of 20th Century Guitar music from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto
Rico, Brazil and even the U.K. Several fine players assist, but overall
the album is primarily centered around Barbosa-Lima’s near flawless
approach to nylon string guitar performance which combines a contemporary
twist of classical, Brazilian and jazz based guitar idioms. A protege
of Andres Segovia who resided and taught for many years in NYC, Barbosa-Lima
currently resides in Puerto Rico. www.khaeonworldmusic.com
LEVIATHAN RECORDS - Major league guitar shredder Michael Harris
released his fifth solo instrumental CD, Hurricane X
at the end of 2002 on the Georgia-based Leviathan Records.
With the drum and bass chores filled out by Mike Haid and David
T. Chastain respectively, the album is a high octane masterpiece
of hard rock guitar riffing. Harris once again proves himself a master
of the heavy metal guitar attack. Anyone who spins the guitar heavy
sounds of Trower, Page, Blackmore, Roth, Schenker and more will dig
where Harris & Co. are coming from on Hurricane X. Also
recent on Chastain’s Leviathan imprint is the second album
from Southern Gentlemen entitled Double Your Pleasure.
The powerful combination of Chastain and drummer Haid is intact
here with the other addition being Kevin Kekes on bass. With
Chastain on lead vocals and guitars, Double Your Pleasure keeps
the Southern blues rock tradition alive. www.leviathanrecords.com
NARADA RECORDS - One of the pioneering groups of the Gypsy
flamenco guitar sound so popular today, Willie And Lobo released
Mañana in early 2003. Described as “a travelscape
for the imagination”, Mañana finds the duo of Willie
Royal (violin) and Wolfgang “Lobo” Fink performing
a variety of tunes flavored with a wealth of indigenous musics from
Turkey, Brazil, Spain, Hawaii, Mexico and the Southern U.S. Assisted
by a number of fine players (including lap steel guitarist Jeff
Pevar), the duo’s elegant and pleasurable mixture of Gypsy
violin and acoustic flamenco guitar hits a new peak making Mañana
one of the best Willie & Lobo albums yet. www.willieandlobo.com
PSYRECORDS - Anyone who remembers the subliminal power and
musical majesty of those classic late ‘70s albums from Brian
Eno,—such as Music For Airports and Apollo—should
check out the CD from Mr. Soon entitled Places In Arizona.
Arizona native Joe Jakob has fashioned a captivating, mesmerizing
instrumental album that tastefully mixes chill-out electronica and
restrained trance-inducing hip-hop sounds. Described as “an audio
road trip through the land that the Hopi Indians regard as the spiritual
center of North America”, Places In Arizona takes Eno’s
vision of ambient instrumental sounds to the next level. The album
has some really interesting textures and according to the album’s
executive producer Jim Goetsch, “alot of the atmospheric
sounds are electric or acoustic guitar run through some heavy effects
processing. So there's plenty of guitar, although it may not be obvious.”
In addition, the prominent colorful CD artwork perfectly reflects
the CD’s sublime, powerful sound.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/mrsoon
THRESHOLD / UMG -What can mere mortals do these days to uphold
the magic of the music created some 37 years ago when The Moody
Blues released their first music with the fabled ‘Classic
7’ lineup. When group founder and Mellotron master Mike Pinder
left the band some 25 years ago, a pivotal piece of the puzzle was
taken away from the whole and from this writer’s standpoint it’s
never been the same since. Judging from the crowd who were there the
night they recorded of A Night At Red Rocks, the
Moodies are still one of the truly revered musical institutions from
the heyday of the ‘60s. Filmed and recorded in the Summer of
‘92 the CD and DVD of Red Rocks bravely attempts a number
of early Pinder-driven classics although without ruffling too many
beaks, much better here are the more authentic sounding post-Pinder
Moodies tracks mostly written and recorded by Justin Hayward
and John Lodge. If anything, the DVD demonstrates the band’s
timeless pop appeal that still works so well in concert. www.moodyblues.co.uk
THURSDAY MORNING RECORDS - For their fourth album since 1995,
The Dent arrive their 2003 album, Farewell.
The anthemic torch songs are really great especially “Lost Alone”
but the Connecticut power pop group—produced by bassist D.Rauh
and featuring guitarist Jeff Norberg—can really pop
out and convinces with their updated pop twist in the spirit of ‘60s
greats like The Left Banke, The Cyrkle and Badfinger. www.dentmusic.com
VINCE MENDOZA -The field of guitar-based instrumental fusion albums
is getting pretty interesting a third into 2003 and high on the list
of outstanding new artists is California-based Vince Mendoza, who
released his debut CD Highway 154. Performing all the guitars,
synths and keyboards—Mendoza is ably assisted by Frank Reina
(drums) and Brad Cummings (bass). It’s amazing how
expressive an electric guitar can sound in Mendoza’s hands and
his compositional edge puts the album over the top. Masterful at combining
the right guitar tone and melodic approach, Mendoza doesn’t bowl
you over, instead he adroitly lures you in with a sound that’s
somewhere between Jan Hammer’s made for TV soundtrack sound and
a full-bodied guitar tone somewhere between Jan Akkerman and Steve
Morse. Excellent stuff. www.vincemendoza.com
VANGUARD RECORDS - Back in 1969 Vanguard, a label best known for
it’s folk-rock catalog of artists like Joan Baez, released one
the best solid rock/pop albums of the year. The album, Frost Music,
featured several radio friendly tracks such as “Black As
Night”, but as quickly as they came, The Frost would disappear
after their 1970 album Through The Eyes Of Love. The Frost
introduced the talents of singer Dan Hartman and guitar icon
Dick Wagner, who went on to work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper
and a host of others. Vanguard’s 2003 CD release of The
Best Of Frost is actually a live album recorded in
their native Detroit and presents a good snapshot of an unheralded
rock legend who were hot live but still better in the studio. www.vanguardrecords.com
WANNADU - Taking the Nuevo Flamenco sound to it’s loftiest
peak yet, the 2003 release of Canciones del Alma (Songs
From The Soul) from New Mexico guitarist Wayne Wesley Johnson
is a real revelation for guitar fans. Wayne Wesley Johnson’s
played with guitar legends including Les Paul and former Ventures
guitarist Nokie Edwards and his wealth of guitar experience and influences
comes shining through on Canciones del Alma. The Spanish title
underscores Johnson’s affinity for uptempo, lushly recorded Latin-flavored
instrumental music. The album features a number of skillful players
and percussionists, including masterful drumming from K.C. Morris
and right at the center of the soundstage is Johnson’s ever inventive
guitar work. Legendary guitarist Nokie Edwards appears on a
new Latin rhythm version of “Walk Don’t Run” called
“Camina No Corras”. Another highlight is a remake of the
‘60s surf-rock classic “Pipeline” again featuring Edwards
on electric lead with Johnson carrying that supple ‘Jazzamenco’
rhythm on nylon string flamenco guitar. The skilled fretboard practitioner
that he is, Johnson often spices up the sound with rare, exotic instruments
like the Chinese pipa, skillfully played by Gao Hong, and Bolivian
pan flutes & charango of Mario Reynolds. Topped off by
inventive label artwork and superbly detailed CD booklet, Canciones
del Alma is a splendid sonic joyride filled with a wealth of dazzling
instrumental guitar music. http://www.wannadu.com
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
