Month: June 2011

Jazz guitarist Jeff Richman’s latest is full of great songs that leave ample room for chops, and he enlists A-list help (including drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and bassists Neil Stubenhaus and Dean Taba) to purvey the 10 excellent tunes.

The title cut is a laid-back funk with chord changes that call to mind Steely Dan at its jazziest; Richman effortlessly navigates the changes and gets a little nasty as the solo wraps. Colaiuta adds syncopated genius to “In Spirited” and “Awful Pretty,” the latter a ’70s-style fusion piece that sounds fresh, with Richman contributing a surprising solo. The former adds a bit of rock to the proceedings.

The sound of “In Flux” matches its title, starting as a swinger with Richman rippin’ before it morphs into a funky march, then back to swinging jazz dominated by a head-spinning solo. “Touch and Go” has a bluesy rock feel and a solo with pinched notes, soaring/gliding runs, and a middleeastern feel. And the ballad “The Endless In Between” lets him show off a soulful, melodic side while Deron  Johnson serves up a lovely solo on the Fender Rhodes.

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.

Ben Woolman follows in the footsteps of great acoustic guitarists who need no accompaniment. He supplies clear, concise bass notes mixed with lovely melodies and chord changes to form songs that sound like two or three guitars.

Many Moods uses no overdubs, and the majority of its 11 cuts here were composed by Woolman. All offer great playing and memorable moments; “One Afternoon” is a sprightly tune that perfectly shows his right-hand mastery as the lovely changes mix with non-stop bass notes. The minor key of the jaw-dropping “Mazurka Dance” has an amazing bass line that counters the chords and melodies. He shows jazz inf luences on “Salamander Swing” with its jazzy chords and melody. For straight blues, he uses some of Blind Blake’s own music to embellish his “Blake Says.”

His covers include The Police’s “Invisible Sun,” which he gives a perfectly moody spin, while James Horner’s theme from Legends of the Fall captures the orchestral majesty of the original.

Woolman is the latest in a line of players that includes Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges. He doesn’t always go out on a limb the same way, but his technique is f lawless and his feel is very comfortable.

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

In his liner notes, William Lee Ellis (a formidable folk-blues performer in his own right) calls Cohen “the bestkept secret in folk music.” Indeed, two or three songs into this collection should be enough to send the uninitiated on multiple internet searches.

Among his inf luences, Cohen lists Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, Big Bill Broonzy, Skip James, Bukka White, Rev. Robert Wilkins, Brownie McGhee, and, most profoundly, Rev. Gary Davis. In case you hadn’t guessed, he’s an accomplished fingerpicker. He is also a collector of songs – country, ragtime, boogie-woogie, and a lot of blues – nearly all of them old. For instance, “Temptation Rag” dates from 1909. But Cohen’s unhurried rendition has a classical feel, as opposed to Sidney Bechet’s raucous treatment or Benny Goodman’s speedy version.

The 64-year-old was exposed to Dixieland via his dad’s record collection, but Boston, where he grew up, was a hotbed of the Folk Boom when he was in his mid teens.

This set contains only one Cohen original, “Jim Dickinson Stomp,” dedicated to the late pianist and producer from Memphis, where Cohen now makes his home. For the instrumental, he broke out his 1905 dolceola – a small keyboard hybrid that has keys that strike clusters of zither-type chords on the left side and a miniature run of tiny piano keys on the right. (Cohen’s catalog includes one album devoted to the instrument, as well as the aptly titled Ridiculous Instrumentals on guitar and an album of Rev. Gary Davis material.)

Cohen switches effortlessly from Broonzy’s dead-thumb style on “Mopper’s Blues” to alternating bass a la John Hurt on the Teddy Darby title track and two Memphis Minnie compositions. “Revivalist” would not be an inaccurate term to describe him, but there’s nothing academic in the way he fills decades-old music with vitality.

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