Trio Amalgamate, Gene Pritzker, Dan Cooper, Gernot Bernroider

Composer-guitarist Gene Pritsker has been no stranger to these blogs. He has assimilated and made his own a wide scope of musical influences to create personally distinctive contemporary music always worthwhile to hear.

The newest offering is a prog-fuse power outfit Trio Amalgamate (Composers Concordance 011), which puts Gene in the guitar chair and joins him with Dan Cooper on 7-string bass, Gernot Bernroider on drums, and a cameo vocal appearance from Chanda Rule.

This is the composed and improvised, modern adventure-side of fusion. There are some very compelling compositional frameworks by Gene, and also by Gernot and Dan as well. "Weeping," which is Pritzker's adaptation of a theme by Mozart for the trio and Chandra on vocals, is the one piece that doesn't exactly go in the fusion mold, at least in its head melody, but it's very Pritzker-esque!

Everyone sounds good on this one. It's less about chopmeistering and more about making music, though there is no absence of technique.

It's a different take on the trio electrique. You want different, this will get that for you!

Greg Baker Plays the Guitar Music of Gene Pritsker

Gene Pritsker personifies the composer in the so-called postmodern world today. He engages with hip-hop, rap, r&b and rock while simultaneously developing an original style (or styles) in modern classical music. An aspect of that can be heard to good advantage on Scars, Wounds, and Lacerations: The Guitar Music of Gene Pritsker (no label listed).

This is a beautiful recording with Greg Baker as the guitarist on all pieces. The range of styles and moods covered are considerable. For example the title composition "Scars, Wounds, and Lacerations" is for solo classical guitar and consists of four short movements squarely in the solo classical guitar tradition, with more than a hint of Spanish influence, a wealth of inventive melodic ideas and well-crafted, idiomatic guitar writing. It is not a brutal piece as the title may suggest.

"Quaaludes and Fugues (Book One)" finds Greg Baker on the electric guitar for a series of fascinating, self-contained miniatures that vary from a kind of Mahavishnu-McLaughlin sound to modern contrapuntal writing that reflects Bach as much as rock.

The "Two Dances for Four Electric Guitars" puts Baker in the overdub mode for some lively motored sounds where the part writing is as modern as it is timelessly inspired.

The "Requiem" brings us into metal territory as Baker wields a distorted, effect laden guitar and is accompanied by a sampled band-orchestra. Here we have Gene Pritsker at his avant best. The four movement piece juxtaposes quirky yet idiomatic metal with all kinds of backdrops, from electronica with a backbeat to world music samples manipulated for maximum pulsation, to a loop of a snippet from what I believe is Mozart's Requiem used as a looping ostinato for some metal guitar pyrotechnics.

Scars, Wounds, and Lacerations" maintains Prtizker's subversive disregard for genre distinctions while providing some breathtaking music.

Pritzker is a phenomenon. Greg Bell is a guitarist who can convincingly and masterfully pull off the many stylistic shifts and collisions the music affords. There are few guitarists I can think of that could do justice to the wide scope of Pritzker's music. And it's not just that Mr. Baker does it; he thrives in the process, showing true artistry.

If you have an open mind (open ears) this one will get your attention and bring you much musical pleasure. Hats off to Gene Pritzker and Greg Baker for having the courage to even attempt to realize such a hugely disparate setting for the six-stringed instrument, and then to realize it with great beauty and skill.

See my other postings on this blog for more on Gene Pritzker's music.