A favorite photograph of Django Reinhardt pictures him standing alongside Stéphane Grappelli, the duo looking suave and sophisticated in white tuxedos. The photograph is steeped in the aura of 1930s Paris (the home of Quintette du Hot Club de France): charming, cool, classy. Grappelli – Django’s musical partner, foil, rival and co-composer – holds his […]
Monthly Archives: January 2003
Tim Sparks – One String Leads to Another and Neshamah
Tim Sparks is not a mere guitarist; he’s a musician. In fact, at times on these two new releases, he seems to transcend mere music to become a magician. Sparks began playing guitar as a kid in Winston/Salem, North Carolina, picking out melodies by ear on an ancient Stella flat-top. He received his first guitar […]
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Gibson Super Goldtone GA-30RV
Contemporary Classic
Gibson returned to the ampli-fier business in the late ’90s with its Goldtone amps, de-rived from the ’50s-era Trace Elliot/Vellocette line. The original models – the GA-15, GA-15RV, and GA-30RVS – were all covered in brown tolex. Then, taking things a step further, Gibson developed the Super Goldtone amps, which are a totally new design […]
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Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler
The Masters of Reality Return
In the late ’60s, in Birm-ingham, England, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and drummer Bill Ward first united as a group, calling themselves Earth. By ’69 the band changed its name to Black Sabbath and its mystical stage antics and dark, tuned-down heavy rock music played at ear-splitting volume, soon became […]
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Johnny A. – Sometime Tuesday Morning
I say it three or four times a year. Every so often, a CD arrives from an artist I’ve never heard of, and it blows me away. Here’s one of those. This is easily one of my favorite records of the year. Johnny’s a Boston guy who’s spent some time on the road with Peter […]
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Gibson’s First Cherry Red 335
It came from the Books
Gibson introduced the ES-335T in the spring of 1958 as the progenitor to its double-cutaway,semi-hollow body “thinline” series of guitars. Characterized by the maple block running down their centers, most of the guitars in the series – the ES-335 (and its many variations), the 340, 345, 347, 355, 320, 325, and later Artist, B.B. King, […]
Posted in Classic Instruments
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Gibson’s First Cherry Red 335
It came from the Books
Gibson introduced the ES-335T in the spring of 1958 as the progenitor to its double-cutaway,semi-hollow body “thinline” series of guitars. Characterized by the maple block running down their centers, most of the guitars in the series – the ES-335 (and its many variations), the 340, 345, 347, 355, 320, 325, and later Artist, B.B. King, […]
Posted in Classic Instruments
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Kid Ramos – Kid Ramos
If you can call his ongoing stint with the Fabulous Thunderbirds “woodshedding,” then guitarist David “Kid” Ramos has definitely paid his dues. He replaced Jimmie Vaughan – Texas-sized shoes to fill, if ever there was – in the quintessential blues combo in 1995 after playing with James Harman, the Blasters, Roomful of Blues, and others. […]
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Rodney Jones – Soul Manifesto
Okay, it’s not like Rodney Jones doesn’t have the pedigree. He spent lots of time on the road with Maceo Parker, so it’s not like funk would be foreign to him. But on his previous solo work, the funk/soul element was there, but not strong – certainly not strong enough to prepare the listener for […]
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Pierre Bensusan – Intuite
There are guitarists, and then there are guitarists’ guitarists. Pierre Benusan is the sort of musician who inspires awe among even other musical luminaries. Leo Kotke admits that, “Pierre’s music gives me the shakes. No other guitarist shares his strange gifts of sophistication, accessibility, and downright joy.” Since his first album, Pres de Paris in […]
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