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 WILLIAM TAYLOR PRICHARD |
 FOUR PIECE SUIT |
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NETOBAND Lua's Dance (Lovely Lua Productions)
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STEVE
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WILLIAM
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FOUR PIECE SUIT
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VARIOUS
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SCOTT
MORRIS
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
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There’s
a good reason why Steve Winwood keeps guitarist Jose Neto in
his band. Neto’s unique brand of mellow Brazilian jazz really hits
the spot on the 2005 CD with his group, Netoband entitled Lua’s
Dance. Like a modern Jobim, Neto lets his guitar do most
of the talking. Assisted by the fine players in the Netoband, Jose is
also joined by Steve Winwood on synth and background vocals along
with percussionist Café, who adds in some fine Milton
Nascimento flavored wordless vocals. Neto recently lost his daughter
tragically and some of the tracks on Lua’s Dance exhibit
a melancholy, meditative feel played within the framework of Neto’s
brilliantly executed progressive instrumental Brazilian / World Beat
jazz-rock. 
The
long awaited DVD of Steve Howe’s Remedy was released in 2005 on
the U.K. based Classic Pictures. Captured live on their 2004
European tour the 2+ hour DVD features live versions of Steve and company
performing tracks from his 2003 Remedy Elements CD, Howe’s
2002 Skyline album (both Inside Out Music releases) along with
live versions of ‘70s Howe solo classics, a version of “My
White Bicycle” from his Tomorrow days and a pair of instrumental
excerpts from his early Yes years, “Close To The Edge” and
“Wurm.” Howe and his sons—Dylan Howe (drums) and
Virgil Howe (keyboards)—are further complimented here with
Derrick Taylor (bass) and guitar great Ray Fenwick (on
rhythm). A rockin’ performance from a guitar legend, Howe’s
DVD also includes bonus footage of Steve performing solo acoustic live
in 2004 boosted with a documentary on the making of the Remedy tour,
in depth interviews with all the players, backstage footage and further
live footage. 
Just
check out William Taylor Prichard’s imaginative web site and you
can get a good indication of where this versatile guitarist is coming
from on his fifth solo album, Calling Forth The Stars. Masterful
at non-invasive smooth jazz, new age, instrumental rock and all forms
of progressive guitar sounds, the San Francisco-based guitarist studied
with jazz icons John Abercrombie and Joe Pass and he’s accurately
been described as a modern day mixture of Michael Hedges meets Pat Metheny.
You can also get a good idea of Prichard’s subtle imagination
by the CD cover art, which, resembling a Dali painting compliments the
music within as well. Save for a couple guest players on the occasional
soprano sax and bass clarinet—and the excellent drums and tabla
work by Bob Blankenship—Prichard handles most of the instrumentation
here, turning in a remarkable job on electric / acoustic guitars, guitar
synths, deering banjo and electronic percussion. Also spotlighting Prichard’s
composing, arranging, production and engineering work, Calling Forth
The Stars is essential listening for all fans of adventurous instrumental
guitar music. 
A
wild mix of Ventures / Shadows style guitar instros, Ricky Ricardo inspired
cha-cha and bossa nova kitsch and late ‘50s film noir soundtracks
laced with some mean sax, the 2005 CD from Boston-based Four Piece Suit
really swings. Guitarist Milt Reder has lost none of his knack
to bowl you over with a guitar instrumental sound that refuses categorization.
Much like that freaky camel on the cover, this music out there, but
this noctet gleefully embraces a number of instrumental music forms
with open arms. Although the name is Four Piece Suit, Spirito
finds eight additional players abetting Reder’s meritorious guitar
vision. 
Based
over in Italy, OmOm Music have been releasing some great tribute
albums including their great double disc tributes American Graffiti
Revisited, That's New Pussycat!- A surf tribute to Burt Bacharach and
one of their recent 2005 releases, a tribute to Biker / Surf rock king
Davie Allan called Evil Fuzz. Now the label reaches another milestone
with their 2005 release of Hair - A Surf Tribal
Love-Rock Musical. With fantastic music written by Galt
McDermott, Hair spawned a number of classic pop melodies
such as the title track, “Aquarius” and “Good Morning
Starshine.” For their rockin’ Hair tribute, OmOm have
assembled some of today’s top guitar instrumental groups to perform
on this mostly instrumental 24 track CD. Kicking off the The Atlantics
serving up a surf-rock treatment of “Aquarius,” the CD
moves on with fine performances from notable groups like The Weisstronauts,
The Atomic Mosquitoes, Urban Surf Kings, Seks Bomba
and much more. A cool deal for surf-rock fans and those who enjoyed
all the great music of Hair, OmOm’s surf-musical version
of Hair also features some way-cool psychedelic ‘60s
cover art! 
Recorded
in May 2005, Danza features classical guitarist Scott Morris
in the studio with noted rock producer Niko Bolas. Morris was
masterful on his last solo outing Invocation, and on the ten
track 54 minute Danza Morris furthers his stellar reputation
performing a challenging five part classical suite by Heitor Villa-Lobos,
the three part “Grand Sonata In A Major” by Niccolo Paganini
and a pair classical guitar arrangements by Jorge Morel including
“El Condor Pasa”. Currently the director of guitar studies
at California State University in Dominguez Hills, Morris waxes on the
significance of these timeless guitar treasures in the lengthy Danza
liner notes. Featuring a top performance by Morris on his Thomas Humphrey
Millennium and Jack Sanders (19th c. guitar), Danza is a worthy
addition to his repertoire. Commenting on working with Niko Bolas in
the studio Morris adds, ““Having a producer like Niko Bolas
really allowed me to just focus on playing rather than engineering or
production. Also, he had these custom Yamaha NS10’s that he has
glued the guitar picks of musicians he has recorded that should be in
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of something. Since I play fingerstyle,
he glued my nail file up there right between Keith Richards and Robert
Cray. I think that’s pretty cool!” Unobtrusive production
by Bolas and Erich Gobel allows Morris to clearly focus on his
expressive guitar methodology. 
