Month: December 2010

If a 22-minute slow blues strikes you as self-indulgent (which there’s no denying it is 90 percent of the time), you have to transport yourself back to the dawn of the Guitar Hero, ushered in by Winter, Clapton, Hendrix, et. al. – when faster, longer, and “more notey” were better. The albino from Texas delivered on all counts, along with the blues-roots credentials to back up the flash.

In no time, the guitarist went from playing Houston bars to a Columbia contract and the stages of Woodstock and both Fillmores. His self-titled, majorlabel debut – recorded with his original rhythm section (bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer John Turner), like the bare-boned, locally released Progressive Blues Experiment that preceded it – was a blues masterpiece. Second Winter (from late ’69) added little brother Edgar Winter on keyboards and saxophone and showed that Johnny could venture outside the genre, with the band’s versatility up to the task.

But in 1970, at the urging of his manager, Winter sacked the group and formed Johnny Winter And. Rick Derringer provided fresh material and a guitarist who could push Winter – not that he’d been holding much back prior. Interestingly, though, five of the seven songs in this hour-plus set pre-dated the band’s eponymous album, with the slide tour de force “Highway 61 Revisited,” from Second Winter, the clear highlight. Winter and Derringer mix things up on “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” and an extended “Mean Town Blues.”

The liner notes quote a New York Times review that felt the new lineup was “a considerable improvement” over the original band. That’s debatable, but this find is an exciting freeze-frame in the careers of two guitar greats.

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

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Founding member of the The Wailin’ Jennys, here, Ruth Moody asserts her musical individuality. Using a cast of 27 musicians, she embraces a breadth of musical genres – old timey, Celtic, and even sensual pop.

Moody wrote all the songs here. Though it’s not a concept album, most of the songs have a certain affinity, perhaps because they were formed during a summer in Manitoba where Moody and the album’s producer, David Travers-Smith, recorded demos. It’s a toss-up whether Moody’s voice or her songs are the principal stars. Travers-Smith’s arrangements, although dense at times, keep the focus on Moody’s vocals, and several of the tunes have a gossamer-like quality few vocalists could deliver successfully.

But Moody doesn’t merely sing the lead vocals and write the songs – that would be too easy. She also plays acoustic guitar, banjo, piano, ukulele, and accordion, and her chops – especially on guitar – are impressive. On “Valentine” she backs up

her vocals with elegant fingerpicking. Wailin’ Jennys fans certainly will like this, but even old rockers clutching Joni Mitchell and Fleetwood Mac vinyl will find it as musically enticing as a ripe, red pomegranate.

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

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The first wide release from Connecticut-born bluesman Peter Parcek appeal to fans of Savoy Brown and/or Peter Green. He should also draw an audience from beyond just blues or Brit-blues. Good is good and when it’s good enough, labels don’t matter.

Parcek kicks off with wicked overdriven slide in the Green-inspired “Showbiz Blues” and in “Lord Help The Poor and Needy” he’s chokin’ that neck like Muddy Waters, squeezing note after emotive note. He’s spot on with an inspired take on Ray Charles “Busted,” and in the title cut he goes at it John-Lee-Hooker-style. As a kid, he was a fixture at blues shows,studying the greats up close – Skip James, Muddy, Albert and B.B. King, even Jimi Hendrix. He learned to play well enough and record with blues piano great Pinetop Perkins.

It’s encouraging to see how many good blues players – especially guitarists – are coming along, with native New England being a hot spot; Duke Robillard, Mike Dinallo, and Samuel James have roots in the area. And Parcek has the touch – pure and simple; the components of The Mathematics Of Love add up to one mean mess of good blues.

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

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As front man of the 13th Floor Elevators, Erickson was one of the architects of ’60s psychedelic rock. The 63-year-old Texan’s battles with mental illness are chronicled in the documentary You’re Gonna Miss Me, which showed how far the singer/songwriter had deteriorated but ends on a hopeful note, with him getting the therapy and medication he needed.

In 2005, the film’s centerpiece began performing in public again. And, in a bit of synchronicity, the Explosives, the Austin trio who’d backed him from 1979 to ’81, had just reunited. After initial baby steps, they became a tight quartet by that fall’s Austin City Limits Festival, and in two years’ time were playing England, Scandinavia, and Lollapalooza.

There was talk of Billy Gibbons producing Roky’s comeback album, but by the end of that year members of alt/indy bands were added to the mix, watering down the well-oiled machine.

Okkerville River’s Will Sheff, who produced the CD, picked 12 tunes from tapes of old, never-released Erickson songs. He also wrote the liner notes and plays guitar, keyboards, drums, and jug. So much is going on, with 18 other musicians popping in and out, Erickson gets a bit lost. Which, if you’ve ever heard his spine-tingling voice, you know is no easy task. That Erickson plays guitar on only four songs hints that he’s not a real band member, even if this is ostensibly his CD.

“Unknown Inmate” is credited for guitar on two tunes – recorded during Erickson’s stint in a hospital for the criminally insane – and the white noise of the radios and TV sets Roky used to simultaneously blare (to block out the voices in his head) are blended with Sheff’s dissonant orchestrations. It smacks of exploitation and places Erickson as a character in some sort of performance art, instead of capturing a true rock original in a setting that would let him shine.

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

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Nora Jane Struthers knows how to twist a murder ballad. On the opening cut on her debut album she whisks us to the banks of the Ohio, where we experience

the song from the victim’s point of view rather than from the traditional omniscient narrator. On the surface, Struthers’ songs bear resemblance to work from Gillian Welch and Adrienne Young, but her tunes have less of an old-time vibe.

All 11 originals contain a great story, but it takes melodies to turn words into music. How this ex-high-school English teacher created such affecting melody lines is a wonder. Having sidemen such as Bryan Sutton on guitar, Scott Vestal on banjo, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, and Rob Ickes on dobro certainly adds to the musical appeal, but despite being surrounded by high-power players, Struthers’ songs stand out.

Instead of a vocal tour-de-force, her voice – direct and free of artifice – points the listener back to the essence of each song. She is, first and foremost, a songwriter. But unlike many songwriters who aren’t performers, Struthers’ singing is as polished as any Opry pro. On the Jimmy-Rodgersinspired “Cowgirl Yodel #3” Struthers even displays a nicely controlled yodel.

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

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One of the best fusion bands around today, Garaj Mahal is rife with virtuoso players who care only about a loose, funky groove.

Here, the playing of guitarist Fareed Haque is just sick – whether he’s playing electric or one of his sitar-acoustics, he can lay back with a tasty melody, or drop in a deadly bop run that would make Miles or ’Trane grin ear to ear. Listen to “Witch Doctor” to hear his effortless amalgam of jazz, Middle Eastern, jamband funk, and even simple pop phrases. He can play slow or fast – it doesn’t matter when you have Haque’s command. Listen to “More Mr. Nice Guy,” with its edgy, jagged approach to improvisation that keeps the listener guessing what’s around the corner. And it doesn’t hurt when your rhythm section is composed of groove-machine drummer Sean Rickman and bassist Kai Eckhardt, who can play fusion-fast or laid back, as on the gorgeous “Alison’s Pony.”

The band’s ’70s funk/fusion vibe is all over “Faster Than the Speed of Time” and “Tachyonics” – their sound is part Pat Martino, part early Return to Forever with Bill Connors, and maybe a dash of Aquarium Rescue Unit. The band’s organic chemistry defies description, but suffice to say, if you like master musicians playing at the peak of their game, you won’t go wrong here. This is jazz to shout about.

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

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In his 40-year recording career, Jackson Browne has used a battalion of guitar greats, from Clarence White to Mark Goldenberg. But from ’71 to ’81, his guitarist (and fiddler and steel player and, sometimes, his whole band) was David Lindley. In the 19 years since Lindley launched his solo career with the classic El Rayo X, he and Browne have reunited for various projects and causes, and it’s always been a reminder that, no matter who else comes and goes, he is Jackson’s accompanist – in fact, even when he’s not there, he’s part of Browne’s sound.

In 2006, Browne and Lindley toured Spain – initially with percussionist Tino di Geraldo rounding out the acoustic trio (hence the CD’s subtitle “En Vivo Con Tino” or “Live With Tino”). The promoter of the Barcelona Guitar Festival suggested inviting some guests, so various musician friends sat in there and at other remaining dates.

With songs already re-imagined – Lindley sometimes choosing a different instrument than he played on the original recording, as well as finding a space in material that post-dated his tenure with Browne – and Javier Mas’ “rehearsing is for cowards” philosophy, the results are fascinating.

Lindley did for lap steel what Los Lobos did for accordion; he made it a rock instrument (look around and note the propensity of such previously obscure makes and models as Weissenborns and Rickenbacker Bakelite lap steels). Not surprisingly, he plays acoustic Hawaiian slide on eight of the double-disc set’s 17 songs – beginning with a more pensive rendition of 1993’s “I’m Alive” and including Lindley’s signature “Mercury Blues” (with Browne on baritone guitar).

On “Call It A Loan” and “Looking East,” Lindley plays bouzouki and oud, respectively – the latter aided by di Geraldo’s tablas. Lindley plays haunting fiddle on “The Crow On The Cradle,” as he did when Browne performed it at 1979’s No Nukes concert in Madison Square Garden – this time with Carlos Nunez on whistle. “Take It Easy” has proven a perfect bluegrass fiddle hoedown in pared down, unplugged contexts over the years, and this is no exception. Later in the program, Kiko Veneno sings a syncopated Spanish translation of the song, “Tu Tranquilo.” “Late For The Sky” (with a reserved, lyrical guitar solo courtesy Lindley) is the only song on which Browne plays piano; everything else is strings and percussion.

After Lindley reprises his memorable falsetto on a medley of the title tune and “Stay,” “The Next Voice You Hear” segues into a hypnotic jam – Mas’ archelaud trading solos with Raul Rodriguez’ tres – to close this 100- minute master class in songwriting and the art of accompaniment.

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

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In honor of the centenary of Django Reinhardt’s 1910 birth, the tribute albums are being released as quickly as Django ever played a two-fingered arpeggio. This one from France may be the most exciting, with yet another new generation of Gypsy jazz phenoms and tracks from Django’s kin, David Reinhardt and Levis Adel- Reinhardt.

The disc title translates roughly as “A Living History.” With seemingly more CDs of Gypsy jazz released last year than ever before, it’s certainly a thriving genre. And as this album proves, there’s third and fourth generation of Romany guitarists strutting their stuff.

David Reinhardt is Django’s grandson and the son of Babik Reinhardt, who was himself a stylish jazz guitarist. David is 20-something and adept at both Gypsy jazz and modern jazz, acoustic and electric. He’s been a name on the Paris jazz scene for almost a decade, playing in traditional Hot Club groups as well as leading an organ trio.

Levis Adel-Reinhardt is the grandson of Django’s brother, Joseph Reinhardt, who married into the equally famous Romany musical clan of the Adels. Just in his early teens, this marks Levis’ first commercial recording. Together, the cousins trade solos on Django’s bebop-influenced “Blues for Ike” and “Vamp.”

Other standouts here are the Reinhardt’s cousin Noé Reinhardt, who plays impressive versions of “Dinette” and “Hungaria.”

The duo of Mundine and Rocky Garcia perform with one foot keeping time in tradition, the other leaping into the future. They are grandsons of Mondine Garcia, patriarch of the famous Manouche duet that’s played at the Parisian Gypsy jazz mecca in the Clignancourt flea market for decades, La Chope des Puces. And Rocky is none other than Ninine Garcia’s son.

Others here include traditionalist Béro Landauer, Matcho Winterstein, Samy Daussat, Fred de Charco, and newcomer youngster Swan Berger. The history is indeed alive and well.

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

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This Brit’s career has been nothing if not varied. He has backed vocalists from Teresa Brewer to Alison Burns (as the latter’s sole accompaniment on 1 AM); recorded small-group bebop (Freternity), “new acoustic”/Dawg music (with David Grisman), and rockin’ rhythm and blues (with Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings); and dueted with guitar greats from Chet Atkins to Steve Howe to himself (on the double-tracked Double Standards). And of course, he has rewritten what was thought possible for jazz guitar as a solo instrument.

Still, the 53-year-old may forever be best known for playing alongside Django Reinhardt’s partner in the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, violinist Stephane Grappelli. But Taylor never aped the Gypsy genius. After recording several solo albums, he formed an acoustic ensemble that got its name when Grappelli heard a track and said, “You’ve really captured the spirit of Django, but in your own style.”

Indeed, the group has no violin (a requirement in most Gypsy swing outfits) and includes percussion (Martin’s son James), clarinet, and accordion. Jack Emblow – the only accordionist to play with both the Beatles (“All You Need Is Love”) and Grace Jones – shows his dexterity (soloing and doubling some lines with Martin) on Marcel Azzola’s waltz, “Double Scotch.”

Taylor’s astonishing technique is, by now, no surprise. His solo on “Le Mer” – the French version of “Beyond The Sea,” sung with effortless swing by the aforementioned Burns – features occasional bends, perfectly placed vibrato, octaves, and a dazzling run that stretches over five bars.

But he really flexes his composing muscles here, writing 10 of the CD’s 13 tunes. His “Madame Haricot” has a simple but memorable melody and warm groove (very Ellington-esque) and features Alan Barnes’ lilting clarinet. And “Mirette” finds Taylor soloing over a bossa nova with just a hint of Django – or, rather, Django’s spirit.

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

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To some, Peter Frampton will always be the good-looking ’70s guitar guy with the live double-album. To others he is a dynamic guitarist, full of great licks that still, 35 years later, makes really good albums.

Thank You Mr. Churchill is unique as both a showcase for his fine guitar playing and songwriting skills. The title cut, which thanks one of history’s greatest heroes for bringing his father home from the war, is a good example of the great story song that dominates this album. “Vaudeville Nanna and the Banjolele” recalls his youth, and several (“I’m Due a You”) reference his life before he stopped drinking seven years ago. All have memorable, melodic hooks.

The title cut also offers a big, full solo that’s loud and nasty even as it tips into jazz. The instrumental “Suite Liberte’ A. Megumi” shifts smoothly from acoustic to electric, while “Invisible Man” serves as Frampton’s tribute to Motown (and features some of the Funk Brothers) with a great feel and guitar darting in and out until a nasty solo out wraps things up. Thank You Mr. Churchill has a great sound. Frampton and co-producer Chris Kimsey wrapped the songs in the perfect sonic sandwich, making a real treat for fans and any rock-guitar lover.

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

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