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John Heidt
San Francisco String Trio
May I Introduce to You
As the title may tell, here’s yet another collection of Beatles tunes – this one entirely from Sgt. Pepper – done mostly in the form of jazz instrumentals. The trio is Mimi Fox on guitar, Mads Tolling on violin, and Jeff Denson on double bass (along with vocals on three tracks), and it soars thanks…
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John Heidt
Lightnin’ Willie
No Black No White Just Blues
Guitar-based blues can become a blustery music that’s played too loud, too fast, and with little soul. That’s not a problem with a practitioner like William Hermes, a.k.a. Lightnin’ Willie. Every note is essential without his playing becoming a cliché that hits you over the head. There are various styles represented here. You get the…
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John Heidt
Jonny Lang
Signs
A long way from the days of “Kid” Jonny and four years since his last studio record, Lang’s latest is the second consecutive record to exhibit a maturity in writing, playing, and vocals. The songs cover a lot of ground. “Make It Move” and “Snakes” are stompers that open the record and showcase his stunning…
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John Heidt
Shane Theriot
Still Motion
Theriot’s day job is being the guitarist and musical director for Hall and Oates and Daryl Hall’s “Live From Daryl’s House.” With this new disc, he’s carving a spot in the instrumental jazz arena that hints to players like John Scofield and Bill Frisell but still creates a unique space for Theriot himself. The tunes…
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John Heidt
Shane Theriot
Out of the House
Shane Theriot’s new album, Still Motion, is more stripped-down funky “jazz trio” than the lush soul he helps create as musical director for Hall and Oates. And that’s exactly what he was looking to do. “There were multiple reasons. First, I like the space on those beautiful ECM records,” Theriot said, referencing the label Manfred…
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John Heidt
The Allman Brothers Band
Rocking The Fox
What an embarrassment of riches this boxed set offers. Recorded on three nights in September 2004 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, it showcases a band that surely will be remembered as one of the best rock outfits ever. This was part of their 35th-anniversary tour and the entire band is engaged and played amazingly…
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John Heidt
Allen Hinds
Finding His Spot
Allen Hinds has spent a considerable amount of his 60 years playing guitar, and has kept busy lately with two new releases while also teaching at Musicians Institute, doing session work, and touring Japan and/or Europe a time or two each year. All this came after years of gigging with various acts and a late-blooming…
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John Heidt
Paul Mehling
Fab Four Gypsy of Tone
One of the world’s foremost Djangophiles, Paul Mehling has for many years been at the forefront of Gypsy jazz in America. The new album by Hot Club of San Francisco exhibits his affinity for the Beatles. On the cleverly titled John, Paul, George & Django, HCSF plays Beatles tunes arranged Gypsy-jazz style. “When I was…
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John Heidt
Greg Martin
Elder Statesman
Albums by Kentucky Headhunters have a history of making guitar players shake their collective heads at the great sounds made by Greg Martin. The band’s latest, On Safari, is another collection of rock, country, soul, and other sounds that not only offer glorious tones, but songs that emit a sense of spontaneity. “It pretty much…
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John Heidt
Nels Cline
Lovers
Nels Cline has quite the musical resumé, and yet has always been hard to pin down. Whether doing some form of fusion, manning the lead-guitar chair in Wilco, or serving up dissonance and sound in various solo projects, he never can be pigeonholed. Now, there’s this latest – a very ambitious project that, according to…
