MWE3.COM
MUSIC NEWS & NOTES
AUGUST
2011 RECORD LABEL SPOTLIGHT
POP
& ROCK
BEECHWOOD
RECORDINGS - Hearing the music of California guitarist James
Lee Stanley back in the 90s, I was made aware of his latest CD
with musical cohort Cliff Eberhardt. The 2011 CD release of
All Wood And Doors is an acoustic based reconstruction
of the vintage rock music of The Doors. With the vocals shared by
a number of the key musicians here, the music is kind of flamenco
flavored with the accent on acoustic guitars and vocals, evoking the
sound Jose Feliciano got with the first Doors' hit “Light My
Fire” back in 1967, the same year it came out! Coming up on 45
years after Jim Morrison sang that track, Stanley joins forces with
vocalist Cliff Eberhardt and notable players like Wings guitar
maven Laurence Juber, Peter Tork of the Monkees and
a whole lot more. The acoustic guitar playing is superb throughout
and the mood may be down tempo and jazzy, yet overall, the 12 track
CD is a fine tribute to the golden era of rock. www.AllWoodAndDoors.com
DECCA
RECORDS - Looking like a retro flashback to the late ‘50s,
Irish pop firecracker Imelda May is currently making waves
with her 2011 CD Mayhem. Imelda turned heads
recently on the 
2010
CD / DVD tribute to guitar giant Les Paul, as recorded and filmed
live in NYC by Jeff Beck. Imelda’s second solo album is filled
with a very Beck-like rock edge on a CD that finds her composing her
own music. Backed by a tight group, featuring guitarist Darrel
Higham, Imelda sounds like the modern day rockabilly version of
Mary Ford and Wanda Jackson and her band masterfully backs her primal
‘50s rock ‘n’ roll edge. There’s some great insight
into the Mayhem recording on the Decca web page that basically
confirms what you already suspected. Imelda confesses, ‘my brother
was a mad Elvis fan and I found a tape in his room with Elvis, Eddie
Cochran and Gene Vincent. I thought the music was fantastic.’
Imelda’s songs click and not enough good things can be said about
Higham’s tasteful and very Cliff Gallup / Jeff Beck style electric
guitar work. www.ImeldaMay.com
DELTA
GROOVE - A vital source of new music in the blues realm, Delta
Groove Productions has a 2011 CD from Bay Area guitar great Elvin
Bishop called Elvin Bishop’s Raisin’ Hell Review.
Thanks to to huge success of his signature song, “I Fooled
Around And Fell In Love,” Bishop was big back in the early ‘70s
and it’s great to see him alive an well in a live 2010 concert
setting backed by a tight band including long time cohort Terry
Hanck as well vocalist John Nemeth. Bishop shares the vocal
spotlight with three other singers including Hanck, who also has 2011
CD of his own out on Delta Groove called Look Out! Back
in the early ‘70s, Bishop and groups like Cold Blood and Hot
Tuna drew on a similar vibe and the formula seems to carry on with
these fine blues albums. Guitar fans note that Bishop’s guitar
chops are in prime form and he tears up the rock terrain with some
blistering slide guitar solos. Also available on CD from Delta Groove
in 2011 is Almighty Dollar from Rod Piazza &
The All Mighty Flyers. After four decades of recording, Piazza
is back with a new blues album featuring his harmonica and vocal work
backed up by a solid band including Bay Area guitarist Rusty Zinn.
Blues fans will also want to give a listen to the 2011 Delta Groove
CD, Edge Of The World from singer-songwriter Shawn
Pittman. Backed up by sax man Jonathan Doyle, Pittman
forms a one man band while handling all guitars, vocals and drums
as well. The 13 track Edge Of The World is solid Texas style
blues with a dose of primordial rock ‘n’ roll, start to
finish. www.DeltaGrooveProductions.com
FANTASY RECORDS - I guess it’s been a dream of his for a
long time now, but in 2011 Paul McCartney gets closer to the
flame with the Fantasy / Concord / MPL CD release of Rave On
Buddy Holly—a modern day music tribute to the
genius from Lubbock who basically wrote the blueprint for the British
Invasion that led to groups like The Beatles, and even earlier with
The Shadows 
influencing
countless rockers and guitar groups for 50 years. He may have died
in a tragic plane crash in the corn fields of Iowa during the fateful
winter of 1959, but Buddy Holly’s legacy is still very much alive.
One of the great Buddy Holly fans and the owner of the entire Buddy
Holly songbook, McCartney turns in his own startling cover of “It’s
So Easy” and it just gets better from there. Produced by noted
film music supervisor Randall Poster, this 19 track CD is pretty
much straight ahead rock ‘n’ pop with Macca summoning up
a mass of Holly mania 2011 alongside performances that feature a wide
range of classic rockers including Nick Lowe, Graham Nash,
Lou Reed and Patti Smith. Intriguing Holly covers by
lesser known artists—from My Morning Jacket and Fiona
Apple with Jon Brion for example, and to name a few, all
the way to a near set stealing version of “Crying, Waiting, Hoping”
by singer Karen Elson—helps to seal the deal on what surely
become one of the great Buddy Holly tribute albums. Elegant yet tasteful
cover art and packaging adds further luster to Buddy Holly Rave
On. www.RaveOnBuddyHolly.com
FESTIVAL MUSIC - One of the new musically innovative labels over
in the mother land that features up to date century 21 prog based
on the models of YES, Genesis and others, Festival and its F2 Music
imprint has a number of new CD releases by Moon Safari, Pendragon,
singer Annie Haslam, all this in addition to rising prog rock music
maker Sean Filkins with his 2011 CD War And Peace &
Other Short Stories. Filkins sounds impressed by the
works of Chris Squire and his voice is very Yes inspired in places.
There’s much experimenting with world music and even hard rock
in places yet there’s also some hefty musical imagination here
as well. Also sounding inspired by Ummagumma era Pink Floyd,
with a dash of Ron Geesin, two of the tracks clock in at twenty minutes
each while Filkins fills up the sound stage quite nicely while backed
up by a range of progressive rock musicians. Prog to metal to Pink
Floyd-ian prog madness, Filkins has it covered. www.progrock.co.uk
GONZO MULTIMEDIA - Ten years ago—in those fondly recalled
happy days before 9/11 and the long wars and terrorisim—YES released
Magnification during the summer of 2001. Hard to believe all
the upheavals in YES land these past ten years but ten years after,
Jon Anderson—the voice of YES and a guiding light responsible
for so much of the band’s mysticism and lengthy lyrical wonders—is
no longer in YES. Because of various illnesses that have plagued him
in recent years, in Jon’s place is now Benoit David, yet it will
never be the same. Another YES alumni, Rick Wakeman joins together
with Anderson on his long awaited solo album, The Living Tree,
released late in 2010 on the U.K. based Gonzo Multimedia company
started by Voiceprint founder Rob Ayling. One of the great impresarios
of U.K. prog-rock, Ayling is somewhat of a legend in the U.K. progressive
rock world, who has worked with just about every U.K. rock legend
over the past 20 years. So in 2011 it’s quite interesting to
note that Gonzo Multimedia has a number of YES related CD and DVD
releases, topped off by the late 2010 CD release of The Living
Tree. Similar in scope to some of Anderson’s fabled solo
works released through the years, The Living Tree is at once
a lyrical, yet meditational outing, pairing Anderson’s voice
and words with Wakeman’s orchestral grand piano and electronics.
Regarding The Living Tree, Anderson claims, ‘Listening
to the songs on this album, I realize how connected I am with Rick.
We have this natural singsong way of creating that seems to roll off
the tongue. It’s as though we have excluded ‘time and space’
to make this music.’ Performed so naturally, and filled with
a number of YES related musical signposts, it’s hard to believe
this is actually the first album they created as an duo / act together.
Either way, The Living Tree sounds better with each successive
spin and is essential listening for fans of classic YES. Released
in June 2011, Survival And Other Stories is Jon Anderson’s
latest solo album. Also released on Gonzo Multimedia—and featuring
Anderson backed by a variety of musicians—Survival And Other
Stories is filled with Anderson’s patented inspirational
messages of hope, healing and survival. Anderson nearly died from
his illnesses several years ago, so clearly he’s a real survivor
and he lives to tell the tales on Survival And Other Stories. www.JonAnderson.com
/ www.GonzoMultimedia.co.uk
GREENHOUSE RECORDS - For anyone just tuning in, the San Francisco
based group known as Tea Leaf Green released what some critics
contend is their big studio album breakthrough. For the Summer 2011
release of Radio Tragedy! TLG bring in 
producer
Jeremy Black, who worked wonders with psychedelic pop band
Apollo Sunshine back in 2008. Another unique comparison here might
be to the now sadly defunct jam band String Cheese Incident, as I
can see some of the SCI fans liking Radio Tragedy! (note that
exclamation point) Commenting on the album, Tea Leaf Green
guitarist and vocalist Josh Clark adds ‘TLG has been a
band for 13 years and I think we’ve made the record we always
thought we were capable of making.’ As is also pointed out on
their Facebook page, the big Tea Leaf Green influences like various
white album and big pink sounds come out to play at various points.
Extra credits for the highly impressive Radio Tragedy! CD cover
art depicting (what other then?) the death of radio. www.TeaLeafGreen.com
GRIMBLE RECORDS - Back in 2010 Seth Swirsky released his
Watercolors CD and one year on he’s back with As
Far As Yesterday Goes, featuring a reunion of his group
The Red Button. On this 2011 CD Swirsky teams with Mike
Ruekberg and the pair are joined by a range of players including
drummer Peter Anderson. That says a lot because both Seth and
Mike come from the school of late 60s / early '70s era pop that witnessed
great breakthroughs when certain artists like Emitt Rhodes and Todd
Rundgren could record albums by themselves. Swirsky himself is a self-professed
Beatles expert who actually flew to England to meet and interview
the Beatles esteemed recording engineer Norman Smith, so he knows
from whence the classic sound came. Swirsky and Ruekberg come off
kind of like a 21st century Lennon & McCartney, or at least the
West Coast version of Forest Hills' own Tan
Sleeve. Conjuring up images of Badfinger, the Raspberries, Nazz
and more, the Red Button passes this pop history lesson with flying
colours. www.theredbutton.com
NINTH STREET OPUS - Mixing equal does of Heart and Fleetwood Mac
with Stevie Nicks, the 2011 CD release of Speeding Ticket And
A Valentine introduces the sound of the group known as Blame
Sally. Mixing Texas style rock ‘n’ roll with a breezy
West Coast mid ‘70s pop and roll, Blame Sally features four fine
singer songwriters—Monica Pasqual (keyboards), Jeri
Jones (guitar, bass), Renee Harcort (bass, guitar) and
Pam Delgado (drums). Inviting some modern Nashville folk-rock
roots into the mix takes the music in yet another direction. With
the 2011 release of Speeding Ticket And A Valentine clearly
Blame Sally has found a home with the Berkeley based Ninth Street
Opus. www.blamesally.com
PAZZO
RECORDS - In contrast to his work in Styx, on the 2011 CD release
of The Great Divide guitarist / vocalist Tommy
Shaw goes all country rock and bluegrass. There was even a spot
on the current Styx tour with Yes, where Shaw gets in a few tracks
from his album. Recorded in L.A. and Nashville, the eleven cut album
feature Shaw on vocals and all guitars with the accent mostly on his
resonator guitars, banjo and dobro. Backing him up are the best of
the current Nashville session men including Byron House (bass),
Alison Krauss (backing vocals), Sam Bush (mandolin),
Rob Ickes and Jerry Douglas (dobro) Brad Davis (guitar)
and many others. As with his work in Styx, the sound is slick and
commercial but in an appealing way. There’s even a tribute to
famed American President Harry Truman called “Give ‘Em Hell
Harry” which features Shaw singing an amusing tale of Truman’s
illustrious life as well as his piano playing. www.TommyShaw.com
PINK HEDGEHOG- Certainly one of the best of all the rising indie
U.K. labels, Pink Hedgehog Records have a splendid new album from
label head Simon Felton called Surrender Dorothy.
The Wizard Of Oz analogy notwithstanding, Surrender
Dorothy takes things out there on an album that blends Beatle-esque
rock circa the “white album” with the dreamier element of
say early ‘70s Lou Reed and Velvet Underground circa Loaded.
Felton has overseen some fine releases as the PH label chief and on
this 2011 album with Alan Strawbridge (guitarist and composer
of Schnauser) and California born / U.K. based cult-music favorite
Anton Barbeau, this fine trio of pop mavens blends some righteous
energy on the second solo album from Simon Felton. www.PinkHedgehog.com/shopdorothy.htm
RED HOUSE RECORDS - Zombies fans expecting a remake of
the 1968 Zombies album Odessey And Oracle will be in for a
jolt upon hearing the band’s 2011 comeback album Breathe
Out, Breathe In. More like the music made in their
pre-psychedelic era—when as The Zombies they scored several mainstream
pop hits including “She’s Not There”—on Breathe
In, Breathe Out, Zombies founders Rod Argent and Colin
Blunstone are joined by long time Argent founding bassist Jim
Rodford, and relative newcomer Tom Toomey (guitars). Jim’s
son Steve Rodford continues to hold the drum set in this post-modern
Zombies. Somewhat absent on this acclaimed comeback is Zombies song
co-writer Chris White, who—a key to the successes and,
both in The Zombies and Argent—served as a pop counterbalance
to Rod Argent’s more classical and blues compositional tendencies.
However, three of the songs—remakes of several early classics—here
do feature Argent-White song writing credits. Of course the innocent
genius of Odessey And Oracle would be darn near impossible
to recreate. Blunstone’s 2010 solo album The Ghost Of You
And Me had a cool, slick pop sheen and that same effect upon hearing
Breathe In, Breathe Out yields some interesting sonic results.
www.thezombies.net
SAGUARO
ROAD - Following the release of their critically acclaimed Duets
album (with Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Lou Reed and more) The
Blind Boys Of Alabama are back with 2011 CD release of Take
The High Road. Starting out as kids back in 1939, when
the members were just kids at the Alabama Institute For The Negro
Blind, the Blind Boys Of Alabama have been around for seventy years
and even still features founding member Jimmy Carter. Their
latest release for the Americana label Saguaro Road, the new Blind
Boys album features a rural, rootsy and gospel style country blues
that’ll send shivers up your spine. Co-produced by country music
icon Jamey Johnson and recorded in Nashville, Take The High
Road features the Blind Boys backed up by a fine band of musicians,
including guitarist Reggie Young, with the icing on the cake
including guest appearances from Vince Gill, Willie Nelson,
Lee Ann Womack and more. www.BlindBoys.com
SPACE
COWBOY RECORDS - Cut around the same time as 2010’s Bingo!
album, the 2011 CD release of Let Your Hair Down finds
‘60s rockers The Steve Miller Band in primo form.
A lot of musical waters under the bridge since the heyday of Sailor
and Your Saving Grace, yet the familiar Steve Miller vocal
and guitar sound is in primo form on the ten track Let Your Hair
Down. Two wild and crazy album covers later, (what's up with that
hare!) Miller has not mellowed out with age. He’s still rockin’
harder then ever and this all-blues tribute covers album features
Miller backed up by a top band including rhythm guitar ace Kenny
Lee Lewis and also featuring what turned out to be the final recording
of harmonica virtuoso Norton Buffalo. Like Bingo!, the
accent here is on Miller’s pure devotion to constantly working
with a merger of blues and rock topped off by his patentned pop music
finesse. It’s noticeable that even on a traditional blues cover—say
for instance track seven here, “Can’t Be Satisfied”
written by Muddy Waters—Miller makes the song his own. Call it
blue-eyed soul or call it traditional Steve Miller Band, Let Your
Hair Down will have you coming back for more. www.SteveMillerBand.com
SPARROW - Over the past 20+ years the lead singer-songwriter in
Australia’s big time Christian rockers The Newsboys, Peter
Furler has consistently released thought provoking anthemic rockers
that melded his love of Christian religion with a rock edge. All the
while uplifting, and spiritual enough, yet Furler’s voice is
strong and he really knows how to pair a hook with punchy pop arrangements.
Now paving a solo career, Furler’s 2011 solo album debut is called
On Fire. Playing guitar and backed up by some
top players, Furler brings out a platter of fat, hook heavy anthemic
rockers that sounds in the same vein as groups like Styx and even
late ‘80s YES. You can tell that Furler grew up listening also
to groups like Split Enz and Crowded House. Furler’s guitar work
is power chord punchy and the songs stick around long enough to qualify
for more spins. If you missed Furler’s Newsboy years, their ‘88
CD debut was appropriately entitled Read All About It—there’s
plenty of power pop rave ups to make up for lost time. www.PeterFurler.com
UNDERMOUNTAIN MUSIC - There’s been a hole lot of comparisons
of Henry Wolfe and his 2011 CD Linda Vista to
self styled pop artists such as Paul McCartney. The son of actress
Meryl Streep, Henry’s album is in fact pretty popped out in places,
although it’s a little low key here and there. Henry also cites
the Paul Simon album One Trick Pony as being similar in style
to the way he crafted Linda Vista, although some may also want
to cite the music of Harry Nilsson and maybe toss in a little Brian
Wilson. The ten track CD even features a cool kind of guitar instrumental—in
fact the title track, “Linda Vista”—with slight mariachi
type horns that sounds little like The Ventures in chill mode. Anyway,
it’s a cool song and an unusual title track on what ostensibly
comes off as a pretty straight ahead pop album. In addition to handling
all the vocals, song writing and the occasional guitars, Wolfe gets
solid support from his band which here includes guitarist Mark
Noseworthy, Joe Kennedy (keyboards) and Josh Collazo
(drums) among others. www.HenryWolfe.com
INSTRUMENTAL
BEAT
& TWANG RECORDS - I was very happy that Eero Pätäri
said some nice things about mwe3.com featuring articles and reviews
on Finland’s late great genius rock classicist Pekka Pohjola.
An up and coming Finnish guitar figure—albeit, a little younger
and
fronting an instrumental band in a new century, Eero heads up the
Finnish surf-rock instrumental quartet, The Silhouettes, who
lead the 21st century surf-rock charge with The Ocean Of Sunken
Dreams, released on Surf &Twang Records in 2011.
Like The Hypnomen, Laika & The Cosmonauts and The Charades, The
Silhouettes draw inspiration from the great instrumental bands of
the ‘60s—from The Ventures and The Shadows to Davie Allan
to any of the great modern guitar bands. The CD really stokes the
surf-rock fires, maybe a little too much, as the CD sizzles and burns
its way to instro rock nirvana. Much like the guitarist posed on the
beach with the sharks not too far off in the distance, The Silhouettes
may evoke a kinder and gentler era in music history, but under the
waters lurk hidden dangers. www.TheSilhouettes.fi
BOMBORA
- The preeminent early ‘60s surf-rock instrumental band in
Australia, The Atlantics returned to the music world ten or
so years ago with a slightly younger guitarist named Martin Cilia.
As a 13 year old Cilia dreamed of playing in a Shadows type band and
now as the lead guitarist in The Atlantics, Cilia also has an impressive
solo career that reaches a new height with his 16 track 2011 solo
album Surfersaurus on the Bombora label. As if he’s
paying back the mentors who inspired that 13 year old in the early
‘60s, Cilia covers original instrumental classics such as “Endless
Summer”, “Apache”, “Telstar” and many others.
The reverence handed down to John Blakeley’s hypnotic guitar
groove in the original “Endless Summer” theme is quite riveting
and I’m sure Blakeley would approve of Martin’s version.
Also, to coincide with the new Martin Cilia CD, Surfersaurus, Bombora
also has released a new 2011 compilation from The Atlantics entitled
Collectibles. A few tracks on the 14 cut CD are
actually vocal cuts that date back to 1967 with the original Atlantics
lineup, while the rest with guitarist Martin Cilia date back to the
nineties and the past decade. In addition to the vintage cuts, there’s
also a new 2010 Atlantics recording here featuring other Atlantics
guitarist Jim Skiathitis. Collectibles is a fine look
back at Australia’s most legendary surf-rock group. www.TheAtlantics.com
/ www.MartinCilia.com
/ www.Bombora.net.au
DEUTSCHE
GRAMMOPHON - Back in the ‘70s, when I started to really discover
the classical masters, I turned to the famous German label Deutsche
Grammophon for inspiration while learning about the great classical
masters like Richard Strauss and Gustav Holst, for example. That label
also had a solid dedication to classical guitar music and following
in their own tradition, in 2011 Deutsche Grammophon released a new
album, recorded in London, from classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic
entitled Mediterráneo. Hailing out
of Montenegro, a small country on the Adriatic sea which was once
a part of Yugoslavia, the 28 year old Karadaglic has the chops and
the musical acumen to take him far in the world of classical guitar
music while his youth and stamina should stand him in good stead with
those younger listeners aspiring towards a greater understanding of
the time honored classical guitar repertoire. www.DeccaRecords-US.com
ELLER
SOUL RECORDS - When I first started spinning Blue And Instrumental
by guitarist Ivan Appelrouth, I thought right away
of that amazing 1968 album from Fleetwood Mac, English Rose. Mac’s
dedication to great blues guitar greats like Elmore James, T-Bone
Walker and Albert Collins comes into focus on this CD yet, I could
also see fans of Chet Atkins picking up on a few of Appelrouth’s
tracks. Echoes of Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer, fabled rock ‘n’
roll icons of the original Fleetwood Mac come around even though Appelrouth’s
entire 16 track album is entirely instrumental. It has a vintage sound
and the recording sound is at once retro yet always up to date. Throughout,
Appelrouth is backed up by a noteworthy band of musicians including
performances from ‘Big’ Joe Maher (drums) and John
Cocuzzi (piano). A prominent quote from guitar hero Duke Robillard
graces the cover and puts the guitar seal of approval within plain
site of guitar fans. www.EllerSoulRecords.com
GSP
GUITAR - For guitar fans, the fabled repertoire of the classical
guitar remains a constant source of inspiration. Case in point is
a 2011 CD release on the California based GSP Records 
entitled
Dreams by guitar soloist Cristina Azuma.
The 19 track, 54 minute CD is filled with highly accessible solo
classical guitar performances that—with the exception of one
track here—consists mostly of covers composed by noted modern
day classical masters like Marco Pereira and Segio Assad, to
name just a couple. Perhaps the light hearted innocence of the overall
album is attributable to, as Ms. Azuma points out in her liner notes,
‘the different moods we experience when we become parents and
also the games and the nursery songs which become part of our daily
existence and in this case, this album, a source of musical inspiration.’
Produced and recorded in San Francisco by GSP guitar maven Dean
Kamei—and featuring illuminating liner notes by the guitarist—Cristina
Azuma’s Dreams brings the timeless spirit of solo classical
guitar performance to yet a new level of musical perfection. www.gspguitar.com
JAZZAND
- Smooth and with a deft touch, NYC based guitarist Rick Stone
returns with his first album in five years with the 2011 CD release
of Fractals. The twelve track disc merges Stone
originals with covers of jazz standards. On Fractals, Stone
clearly demonstrates an affinity for jazz guitar legends such as Jim
Hall and Kenny Burrell and he gets tasteful support here from Marco
Panascia (bass) and Tom Pollard (drums). Obviously a big
fan of John Coltrane, Stone is a masterful improviser and even makes
these covers his own. www.jazzand.com
PAMA RECORDS - Back in the late ‘70s and for much of the
1980’s I was a fan of the Swedish progressive instrumental band
Ragnarök. Two of that band’s founding members, Peter Bryngelsson
and Peder Nabo both released solo albums in 2010 and now in 
2011
one of Peder Nabo’s musical cohorts, Niclas Höglind
released a fine album by his group Unit Jazz & World. The
sound of the ten track Unit Jazz & World CD is very much jazz
but with hip-hop and various electronic music tendencies. Very different
from the instrumental prog romanticism of Ragnarök, Högland’s
Unit Jazz & World features a much more open air of improvisation
in contrast to the highly structured melodic intent of Ragnarök.
On this 2011 Unit Jazz & World release, Höglind is joined
by Anders Hagberg (sax, flute) and Kristofer Johansson (drums).
In the CD liner notes by Hagberg, Niclas is described as a “sound
freak” and a versatile, brilliant guitarist who is very much
aware of different timbres. Featured on eight string guitar, laptop
and looping, Höglind and company delivers an engaging album filled
with sonic, progressive type instrumental delights that is bound to
find a home among fans of both Ragnarök and lucky listeners who
enjoyed Peder Nabo’s recent solo album. www.blekingejazzandworld.se
/ www.andershagberg.se
MYTHOLOGY RECORDS - Jazz has always been a huge deal in the U.K.
Those jazz-loving English musicians who weren’t fortunate enough
to move to the U.S. to live closer to their American jazz mentors,
were always free to roam all over the map while espousing their love
of all things jazz and sometimes yes, (at the risk of offending purists)
even jazz-rock. One U.K. jazzer who packed things up and moved to
distant shores is New York-based, British-expat, jazz keyboard virtuoso
John Escreet, who really seems to be thinking about where jazz
can go next on his 2011 CD The Age We Live In. Sounding
more like a frozen in time snapshot of the musical ages we’ve
been living in for the past 50 years, the twelve track, all instrumental,
mainstream jazz sound of The Age We Live In finds Escreet in
the fine company of classic jazzers, including NYC guitar hero Wayne
Krantz, drummer Marcus Gilmore and many more. Sounding
remarkably seasoned for an artist still yet in his twenties, Escreet
adds, ‘The music on this recording is the most accurate reflection
to date of who I am musically. I still tried to make it compositionally
very involved in places, still retaining my own voice, yet at the
same time I wanted the music to be very open, allowing each member
of the group a lot of space to really play.’ Guitarist Krantz,
in fine form throughout this CD, bounces some vital musical ideas
off of Escreet’s fleet fingered piano / Fender Rhodes based instrumental
jazz, while the whole CD gels to the point of complete originality.
The Age We Live In is a worthy find for fans of traditional,
yet modern mainstream jazz. www.JohnEscreet.com
REAL MUSIC -During the early '70s Europeans were greatly influenced
by geniuses like Mike Oldfield. Up in Sweden, espousng the instrumental
"eurock" sound there you had Bo Hansson, Ralph Lundsten
and Bjorn J-Son Lindh. One artist from Austria called Gandalf
started out on record back in 1981 and just about year after year
since he’s released numerous albums and soundtracks. Real Music
in California has released a number of Gandalf albums on CD including
a 2011 album called Earthsong And Stardance. In
addition to Gandalf’s electronics and guitar work, which is here
in abundance, the album also features a collaboration with the orchestra
Corso Wien. There’s some highly atmospheric musical interplay
of Gandalf with the orchestra which occasionally is enhanced by Sanskrit
chanting from a male choir. Gandalf is turning out to be the New Age
version of Tangerine Dream for the 21st century. Back in the ‘60s
some people would have bought this for the cover art alone. www.RealMusic.com
RIP CAT RECORDS - Mixing instrumental guitar-based blues with
all kinds of rock ‘n’ roll is at the central core of the
2011, 15 cut CD release of The Late Show, by
California guitarist Barry Levenson. A fresh, fifty-fifty toss
up of early Fleetwood Mac style instrumental rave-ups (circa the constantly
being referred to English Rose album) with vocals from a number
of guest singers, The Late Show—also produced by Levenson—finds
the guitarist joined by the solid rhythm section of Blake Watson
(bass) and Dave Kida (drums). Along with a wide variety
of singers, the album reaches a fever pitch, at times evoking the
sound and vision of Levenson’s guitar heroes such as Buddy Guy
and Albert King as well as instrumental blues guitarists like Freddie
King and Albert Collins. Even though Levenson is foremost a blues-based
guitarist, he’s always quick to point out his jazz influences,
also heard here, including but not limited to Bill Frisell, The Meters
along with Les Paul, Kenny Burrell and Grant Green. The crossroads
where blues, rock and jazz meet head to head is where you’ll
find Barry Levenson smokin’ the blues at The Late Show. www.BarryLevenson.com
SEQUOIA RECORDS - Back in the ‘90s the Gordon brothers—David
Gordon and Steve Gordon—helped forge the then pioneering
New Age electronic music spirit and 30 years after they entered the
music world, they’re going strong as ever with their Sequoia
Records label. Back in ‘94, I can remember the brothers releasing
Sacred Earth Drums, and although it seems like a different
world, now in 2011 their new album is called Nirvana Groove.
That’s just what it is as the entire album is geared for
downtime instrumental music to relax with for chill-out purposes and
also for use in spas and neat stuff like that. With it’s futuristic
pulse driven World Beat trip-hop groove, featuring song titles like,
“Ibiza Drift,” “Ultra Lounge” and “Ambient
Spa”, the CD features a constant beat throughout making it a
great work out soundtrack too. Featuring David Gordon on keyboards
and Steve Gordon on all guitars, on Nirvana Groove the brothers
are joined by other players adding in bass, keyboards, drum loops
and all manners of percussion enhancing the experience. There’s
even the occasional exotic female voice carried on the sound waves
to give the music an even more other worldly sound. In addition to
the Nirvana Groove CD, Sequoia also has another classic Gordon
brothers collection called Drum Cargo: Rhythms Of Water,
which is accompanied by two other companion CDs called Drum
Cargo: Rhythms Of Wind and Drum Cargo: Rhythms Of Earth
(2010). There’s also a neat series on Sequoia Records called
Buddha Lounge that compiles down tempo chill out electronica
from artists all around the world. Sequoia released Buddha Lounge
7 in 2010. When it comes to the art of music as therapy and healing
music sounds, few labels do it better than Sequoia Records. www.SequoiaRecords.com
TELARC - Among the greatest living classical guitar virtuosos
recording today, David Russell returns in 2011 with a tribute
to the great Isaac Albéniz entitled Spanish Music
For Classical Guitar. Renowned for his many fine CD
releases on the eclectic jazz-based Telarc label, Russell sounds quite
at home here, delving into the repertoire of one of the most illustrious
Spanish classical guitar masters. Commenting on the Isaac Albéniz
legacy, Russell explains, ‘The magic of his Spanish melodies
is unsurpassed. Many of his pieces sound so good on the guitar that
it is amazing that they were not written for our instrument. I am
sure that Albéniz had the sound of the guitar in the back of
his mind while he was writing them.’ The timeless factor comes
into play on Russell’s Isaac Albéniz tribute, especially
when you consider the fact that, among the 15 tracks covered here,
Albéniz composed the seven musical postcards of his Recuerdos
de Viaje (“Souvenirs Of A Journey”) in Madrid in 1886-1887.
Named in 2009 an honorary member of the “Amigos de la Guitarra”
(the oldest guitar society in Spain), Russell currently lives in Spain,
in the town of Nigrán. www.ConcordMusicGroup.com
T.D.
CLARK PRODUCTIONS - If classical composers like Niccolo Paganini
were reincarnated rock as metal guitar gods in the 21st century, they
might sound like T.D. Clark. Among the heaviest of all the
new hard rock / metal guitarists, Clark cuts loose on his latest instrumental
rock outing appropriately entitled Shreddtime Stories.
The Illinois guitarist gets solid backup from his band but the
focus is right on Clark’s daredevil electric guitar tactics.
Much like the horrific / hilarious cover art, T.D. Clark’s
Shreddtime Stories will leave you breathless. The 11 cut CD is
mostly hard rock instrumental with no vocals, yet Clark stretches
out on a couple acoustic tracks that gives further indication of his
well-rounded guitar work (check out track four and the belly dancing
guitar vibe of “Moroccan Bedtime Story”). With his hard
hitting sonic roller coaster approach to instrumental metal guitar,
Clark is recommended listening for fans of guitar legends such as
Steve Vai and Tony MacAlpine, as well as up and coming instrumental
rockers like Hrant Bedoyan and Bill Lonero. www.tdclark.com
REISSUES & RETROSPECTIVES
EAGLE
VISION / EAGLE RECORDS - Fans of the late, great blues
rock guitar icon Rory Gallagher continue praising the late
hero with the 2011 DVD release of Rory Gallagher: Irish Tour
‘74. Although released on CD earlier in 2011,
the DVD is clearly the best way to experience Gallagher’s one
of a kind in concert experience. The DVD package also features a memorable
watercolor poster depicting Rory in a myriad of settings. The DVD
features a wealth of bonus footage and is available in Blu-ray and,
as mentioned, a soundtrack on CD. Recorded way back in 1980 and released
by Eagle on CD in 2011, ZZ Top Live In Germany 1980 features
Billy F.Gibbons, Frank Beard and Dusty Hill performing
16 tracks live rave-ups including cuts from their 1979 Deguello
album. Opening with the title cut “El Deguello” and
ending with their huge hit “Tush”, this particular concert
was filmed by the Rockpalast TV show and was first released on DVD
in 2009 with the title Double Down Live. Rock vocalist Sheryl
Crow is featured on the 2011 CD and Blue-Ray of Miles From
Memphis: Live At The Pantages Theater. Filmed and recorded
at Hollywood’s beautiful art deco Pantages Theater, this 2010
filmed DVD concert highlights Crow and company performing 18 songs
including covers of Marvin Gaye and Michael Jackson as well as adding
in a sound check as a DVD bonus feature. Also on CD from Eagle is
The Jeff Healey Band: Live At Grossman’s 1994.
For this CD Healey returned to his early roots reappearing at one
of his early haunts and performing a number of tracks, including Dylan
and Beatles covers. Eagle also has a CD and DVD release from rock
legends The Doobie Brothers entitled Live At The Greek
Theatre 1982. Caught live on the final date of their
1982 farewell tour, the show combines classic Doobie Brothers with
numerous band members on hand. The DVD combines five bonus cuts plus
a variety of interviews. Another 2011 release from Eagle is WhoCares,
from Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan
& Friends. The two track CD features a 1983 reunion with the
metal gods, in an effort to benefit Armenia earthquake victims. Also
included on the enhanced CD is a 30 minute documentary on the history
of the project including additional music featuring Deep Purple’s
John Lord along with members of Iron Maiden and Metallica. www.EagleRockEnt.com
REPRISE
RECORDS - Yet another amazing CD collection from Neil Young,
A Treasure collects the best of live music from the
1984-85 period that featured the International Harvesters band with
Neil and his pedal steel guitar ace Ben “Long Grain”
Keith. The sound, however countrified during that 1985 Old
Ways period, is awesome sounding and lush in this setting. A dignified
cover here of Young’s long lost Buffalo Springfield rarity, “Flying
On The Ground Is Wrong” captures the essence of Young’s
incredible ‘60s sound perfectly, complete with some just retro-fying
pedal steel work by Ben that will send shivers up your spine. Overall,
A Treasure is a fitting tribute to Ben Keith, who tragically
passed away in 2010 and it looks like this was Ben’s parting
shot at rock greatness, co-producing and naming this volume nine in
Young’s archive series and the sixth to be released. Ironically,
the title was conceived by Ben, who after finding the tapes after
25 years said ‘this is a treasure.’ www.NeilYoung.com
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