Month: December 2012

Iranian-born Mehran has mastered flamenco guitar and here uses his skills on a concept album about events in his home country.

The music is a mix of jazz, new age, and Iranian. The songs include dazzling solos and a mix of instruments, along with ambient sounds, snippets of speech from Winston Churchill and crowds of people.

Mehran’s soloing covers a lot of ground, but even in the quickest passages, it’s melodic. The solo on “Korean Soup” mixes his flamenco skill with jazz harmony where he solos flawlessly over nice changes. Same can be said for “The Oblong Box,” which is a melding of styles. “Minds Eye” is a solo piece that shows masterful chordal work and single-line soloing.

The instrumentation on this album supplies a noteworthy, different feel. The cello of Alyson Burger and violin of Manoela Wunder are prominent, and serve as tremendous foils for Mehran’s soloing.

Mehran is using his gift to spotlight the plight of the Iranian people, and this record is dedicated to their efforts to overthrow tyranny. The closing piece has no instrumentation. Instead, it’s a recording from Iran of the reading of “Rooftop Poem.” His commitment to the people shines. So does his guitar playing.

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This article originally appeared in VG‘s Jan. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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Starting like a number of instrumental albums Ronnie Earl has produced over the past 15 years, this one opens with a mid-tempo (Albert Collinspenned) track, then slows for some blues and a cool cover (“Chitlins Con Carne” by Kenny Burrell).

But then, something amazing happens; reaching deep and from the heart, Earl works through four of the most moving tunes he has ever recorded, and taps into a wellspring of soulful guitar work that is intense, emotional, and uplifting. Earl has previously displayed a talent for putting heart and soul into his playing, and here he produced the recording and wrote or co-wrote nine of the 14 cuts, most of which are melodic and lyrical even though there are no vocals – just the soaring cry and moan of Earl’s amazing Fender Strat through a Super Reverb.

His choice of covers is no less inspiring, especially an interpretation of Duke Pearson’s “Cristo Redentor,” which captures the beautiful melody in an inspired way and is a perfect choice for Earl’s style. Aided by the Hammond B-3/piano (and songwriting) of Dave Limina, Earl’s playing is a tone-tonic for the soul.

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This article originally appeared in VG‘s Dec. ’08 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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African-American jazzman Eddie South was known as the Dark Angel of the Violin. His moody compositions and hot solos were influenced strongly by Eastern European Gypsies, with whom he studied. And it was thus little surprise that Django Reinhardt sought him out to play together before joining forces with Stéphane Grappelli.

The group Violinjazz seeks to revive South’s stature among the great jazz violinists – including the likes of Grappelli, Joe Venuti, Stuff Smith, Ray Nance, Svend Asmussen, and others. The acoustic quartet is led by violinist Jeremy Cohen with pianist and arranger Larry Dunlop, bassist Jim Kerwin on loan from the David Grisman Quartet, and guitarist Dix Bruce.

From the first notes, the swing is infectious; South’s Romany influences shine on songs such as “The Black Gypsy,” “Tzigane in Rhythm,” and “Zigeuner.” But he also played blues and swing with soulful abandon on “Eddie’s Blues” and “Rose Room.” Violinjazz breathes new life into the music, re-creating South’s famous tunes but adding their own signatures as well in their flowing improvisations.

Bruce’s guitar work rides a groove between Eddie Lang and Django, playing stylish lines as counterpoint to Cohen’s stellar violin. Throughout, Bruce swings effortlessly, his solos inspired and hot.

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This article originally appeared in VG‘s Nov. ’10 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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By 1996, when this album was originally released, the English guitar virtuoso had already been a member of Tony Williams’ groundbreaking Lifetime and Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew band, further melded jazz with rock as founder of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and then acoustic jazz with Indian music as leader of Shakti – not to mention collaborating with Carlos Santana, Elvin Jones, Joey DeFrancesco, and Al di Meola, and Paco de Lucia. With The Promise’s impressive cast, he revisited various stages of his stylistic past.

Opening with John Lewis’ “Django,” he follows Jeff Beck’s snarling whammy- bar pyrotechnics with an elegant solo. Next, he gets down to some bebop on the appropriately angular “Thelonius Melodius,” with DeFranceso on organ and Dennis Chambers on drums. For the robotic funk of “No Return,” McLaughlin handles the keyboards, with DeFrancesco switching to trumpet.

“El Ciego” reunites McLaughlin, de Lucia, and di Meola, while the equally trans-inducing “The Wish” features Shakti tabla master Zakir Hussain, with Nishat Khan on sitar. At the other end of the spectrum, Sting makes a brief (1:12) bass appearance on the cacophonous “English Jam.”

The album’s longest pieces feature identical rhythm sections backing McLaughlin with tenor saxophonist Michael Brecker (on the upbeat “Jazz Jungle”) and alto saxophonist David Sanbourn (on the slow pulse of “Shin Jin Rui”). McLaughlin gives both horn men (and Jim Beard on keyboards) plenty of room to stretch out before joining in. His fleet-fingered break backed only by drums on “Jungle” is especially impressive. Jimmy Rowles’ ballad “The Peacocks,” the set’s only other cover, closes with some beautiful acoustic guitar interplay courtesy McLaughlin and Philippe Loli.

Precisely because of his eclecticism, McLaughlin somehow maintains a level of cohesion throughout what would be a patchwork quilt in other hands.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Feb. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.