Month: November 2010

On Groove Alchemy, drummer Stanton Moore, Robert Walter (organ) and Will Bernard (guitar) serve up groove after groove. Bernard’s solos show his versatility and chops, while his rhythm work is solid as a metronome. A lot of these tunes are funk, and while Bernard’s vamps vary from song to song, it’s obvious he’s into holding down the groove. The rock-funk of “Squash Blossom” is a perfect example.

There’s no showboating here. The three simply get in and groove. Bernard can be playing a single chord or a textbook of funk licks; either way he’s a master. His solos run the gamut from old-school jazz to rock to a quiet slightly wah’ed solo (on “Neeps and Tatties”) that would make John Tropea proud.
 
Moore is an incredibly soulful timekeeper with stunning chops that are highlighted on every song. And he’s got the taste, after 11 songs of groove and funk, to conclude the record with a wonderful cover of “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” It’s the perfect ending.

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

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French Gypsy jazz guitarist Dorado Schmitt reigns as one of the elder statesmen of the genre. He’s a regular on the Paris jazz scene, as well as touring far and wide – including a recent American tour in honor of Django’s centenary.

This new disc may just be his masterpiece… so far. He has released a number of winners stretching back several decades, highlighting his guitar work, singing, and violin playing.

But Family is special because Schmitt is joined by his children on guitar, including Amati, Bronson, and Samson (who has also released several albums of his own). In addition, his brother-in-law and master rhythm guitarist, Hono Winterstein, lends licks along with his son, Brady. That’s six guitarists, all in the family.

Amazingly, this family is in time with each other across generations, especially when it comes to music. Dorado’s leads are inventive and dashing, as always, played on a Selmer-style acoustic recorded warm and large in sound. The wall of rhythm behind him is spot-on, never overpowering, often creative – and always perfectly mixed.

Playing counterpoint to the guitars is accordionist Marcel Loeffler, himself a master of styles from Gypsy jazz to musette to nuevo tango. He may be at his best on slow tunes such as Dorado’s own “For Grappelli,” where he plays long, languorous lines. But on the quick-tempo swing tunes, his virtuous swing is infectious and stunning.

Almost half the songs here are by Dorado, including the gorgeous “Gozes Waltz,” penned for his wife, and the romping “Miro Django.” But the classics like Eddie Durham’s “Topsy” and “J’Attendrai” are also alive with a furious intensity.

Perhaps only a family of musicians could play so well together. Family proves the Schmitt clan is a Gypsy jazz force to be reckoned with.

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

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The biographer has a duty to get close to the subject in order to relay all the facts and get first-hand accounts of events while at the same time not getting so close that a story becomes sanitized and historically reinterpreted.

In this bio on bluesman Johnny Winter, author Mary Lou Sullivan gets close enough for Winter to feel comfortable recounting his sometimes-difficult past, but not so sympathetic that the difficult areas are glossed over. Winter is a bundle of contradictions; a white kid playing and singing the black man’s blues as though he endured years in the cotton field; going from playing stadiums and winning Grammy awards with Muddy Waters followed by 20 years of obscurity. The story is well-documented here with commentary from major players and recollections by Winter himself.

Growing up in very conservative 1950s Beaumont, Texas, as an albino, Winter was ostracized by peers. But as an emerging artist in the ’60s, his appearance was deemed hip and cool. But beyond his white hair and very pale skin, Winter was a walking blues encyclopedia. Combined with the fact he was an accomplished player, this earned him respect even among the true legends of the genre, many of whom he met, knew, and performed alongside. His only real downfall was that like so many before, he put his career in the hands of a manager who pushed his own agenda and fostered an “over-medicated” Winter who missed opportunities and released mediocre studio albums. There were exceptions, such as Winter’s performance at the Bob Dylan tribute concert in ’92, where Winter blew away some great guitar players on a scorching cover of Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited.”

A few years ago, Winter started getting proper medical care. Sullivan befriended him, and though Winter doesn’t have a good memory of many things, Sullivan fills in details using information gathered from interviews with bandmates, producers, promoters, and family. The story that emerges is poignant – and all too common. However, this one has a happy ending, as Winter continues to tour and record. His performance at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads festival in 2007 showed he still has the chops.

An appendix at the end of the book discusses Winter’s guitar choices over the years, and period photos document his development.

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

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When faced with the task of creating a retrospective album, Patty Larkin took a novel approach. Instead of creating a “best of” album, she re-recorded her favorite 25 love songs while enlisting 25 of her favorite musicians as collaborators.

Unlike many songwriters, whose guitar chops are mediocre at best, Larkin ranks as a supremely good fingerstyle player. She attended Berklee College of Music to study jazz guitar, and 25 serves as an excellent showcase for her skills. Every cut features her on acoustic guitar as principal backing instrument. 25 also showcases Larkin’s solo vocals. Though a collection of duets, all of the cuts start with Larkin as a solo act – just lead vocals and guitar – no overdubs or other studio additions. This is a radical departure, as many of her studio albums employ complex orchestrations and studio effects.

Although every selection on 25 is a duet by definition, most of the cuts are more 75 percent Larkin and 25 percent guest, rather than 50/50. Instead of a partnership, this music has a leader and a follower. On one of the few cuts where another musician plays guitar, Italian flatpicking guitarist Beppe Gambetta’s guitar parts are mixed well into the background.

In the end, 25 proves that Patti Larkin is one heck of a great solo act.

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

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Bounce Back is Creed Bratton’s third solo album, and the former singer/ composer/ guitarist for the Grass Roots has come up with a winner.

Bratton’s music has a Southwestern/semi-country flavor that brings to mind Michael Nesmith’s solo work. The understated, out-of-left-field humor of Bratton’s character on TV’s “The Office” is part of the makeup, though he is no Weird Al Yankovic and this isn’t parody; it’s first-rate pop laced with brainy wit. Bratton, tongue occasionally in cheek, means it.

Bounce Back has substance (“Matters Like This”) and musical cool (“Love Me Like You Dance”), and Bratton has an unforced, unaffected delivery.

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

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Dick 50 is Delbert McClinton’s touring band. Guitarist Rob McNelley handles most of the lead vocals and brings the same soulful feel he did to his two solo albums. His guitar is the basis for most of the tunes such as “Like You Did,” which starts with a great old-sounding soul riff and blends into a mix of rock and soul. Its lyric compares lost love to new love, and the Leslie’d solo teams with McNelley’s soulful vocal to convey the feel. The guitar-through-Leslie sound is key to a number of tunes, including the groove of “Flyin’ Now.” You know you’re dealing with guys who get it when the band locks in, plays in a way that proves they’re in no hurry to get anywhere, and by the time McNelley’s solo pops up with its middle-eastern feel, the song matches its title.

While this disc is dominated by a soul feel, classic rockers will love the Stonesy crunch of “Goldilocks” and its blistering slide solo. The disc ends with the clever “Theme from Dick 50,” which, as you might expect, sounds like a misplaced spy-movie theme from a different era. There are enough surf and mystery licks here to make any veteran guitarist smile.

This group of veterans knows how to make a record, and they play with intensity and feel many younger bands never capture.

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

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Along with the Kilborn Alley Blues Band, Gerry Hundt, and others on his Blue Bella label, Nick Moss is one of the most consistent current blues/blues-influenced artists from Chicago.

Moss’ music is not always strict blues; there’s a lot of P-Funk, Robin Trower, and Cream in the mix. Moss serves up a smoking version of Cream’s “Politician” (a thematic companion to “Born Leader”) along with a George-Clinton-inspired/heavy-on-the-wah take on Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” to go along with more traditional fare like a high-energy reading of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Louise.”

Moss’ style is a heavy blues with grit and sweaty grind, as purveyed in “You’re Love’s A Lie.” With the snappy jazz-funk of “Bolognious Funk” featuring Hundt on rhythm guitar and John Kattke on organ, and the thunderous drive typified by “Why Should I Care.”

Privileged has broad appeal, and should especially strike the fancy of those who think ZZ Top got off track when someone welded the compressor knob on 11.

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

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The beehive-haired soul diva of the “Saturday Night Live” band offers a collection of mostly original soul and country songs (often mixed together, as in “Girl Growing Up”) that hit the sweet spot, straight and true.

Ohlman and her band, Rebel Montez, get it right just about every time; from the honey-sweet sensuousness of “The Gone Of You” to the Steve Cropper/Booker T. Jones inspired “Everybody Got A Heartache” which gives “SNL” band alumnus G.E. Smith a chance to strut his stuff. The title cut, meanwhile, features guest guitar from Al Anderson. Ohlman is a fine player, too, though she confines herself to acoustic while handing over lead to guests like Smith, Anderson, Marshall Crenshaw, Cliff Goodwin, and co-producer Andy York.

Ohlman, Goodwin, and York have all contingencies covered on guitar – the best examples being “The Gone Of You (After Hours)” and “Like Honey.” And as a singer, Ohlman, a Bronx-born musicologist and session veteran, makes each song sound like a prime cut on a jukebox in a Memphis barbecue joint.

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

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Nearly four decades on, the reviled fathers of punk continue to inspire the underground masses. With the reissue of their seminal ’73 release, Raw Power, offers a lot of Iggy to enjoy.

Reissued in two versions – one the original David Bowie mixes of the album, the other a live mixing board recording from that year – this boxed set adds in a third CD of audio out-takes plus a documentary DVD, 48-page book, 45-rpm single, and photos.

With James Williamson on guitar and the late Ron Asheton on bass, Raw Power, is pure proto-punk, a mix of psychedelia, nasty garage rock, and that blip on the horizon called “punk rock.” Though many point to this album as the set that introduced the genre (it was actually one of many), there are too many guitar solos for this to be true punk; Williamson solos his butt off through many of the songs. Of course, the classic is “Search and Destroy,” a track that even today can create a sense of urgency and danger. “Penetration” is more dark catharsis, with a crunchy guitar riff and menacing vocals, while “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell” is a wild six-string meltdown with great rhythm work and more skittering, post-psychedelic leads from Williamson. Even if you never liked punk or new wave, it’s hard not to respect the sound of Raw Power. It speaks to the legacy of Steppenwolf, MC5, Blue Cheer, Velvet Underground, and early Grand Funk Railroad, yet melds those influences into something powerful and new.

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

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Bluegrass bands are often male-only affairs. But the women in Bearfoot Bluegrass are in a majority position. Annalisa Tornfelt plays fiddle, sings lead, and is responsible for seven of the songs. Kate Hamre plays bass and sings tenor vocals, while Angela Oudean plays fiddle and handles baritone vocal parts. The men in the band are Jason Norris (guitar and vocals) and Mike Mickelson (guitar and vocals). From the opening song, a Tornfelt original called “Molasses,” the band’s tight three-part harmonies and intertwined twin-fiddle leads make their sound infectiously unique. The second song, a Western swing-influenced original, “Go On Home,” displays the band’s musical breadth. Tornfelt’s powerful vocals coupled with the tasteful guitar, mandolin, and bass solos make this song special.

All the band members hail from Alaska, where they met at music camps. It would be presumptuous to say Bearfoot sounds “Alaskan,” but they do have an approach that is markedly different from Southern or New England bluegrass bands; more old-timey and Celtic, with a greater emphasis on folky euphony. Bearfoot isn’t about hard-driving rhythm. Instead their versions of traditional songs, such as Alton Delmore’s “Deep River Blues,” lean on the swing and shuffle side of the tune.

Produced by Nashville Bluegrass Band alumni Gene Libbea, recorded in Denver at Notably Fine Audio, and mixed by veteran location engineer James Tuttle, Follow Me retains the feeling of a live performance rather than a studio effort. Bearfoot Bluegrass has a refreshing approach to bluegrass that should appeal to young and old alike.

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

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