Grand Fatilla, Global Shuffle

Grand Fatilla is a quartet the likes of which you've never quite heard before. On their Global Shuffle (Grand Fatilla Records) they create a kind of pan-world music that takes on convincingly Greek, Italian, Baltic, Mideastern, South Asian, Northern African and Brazilian elements combined for a virtuoso, odd-tempoed, very swinging set of pieces.

The musicianship is strong. Grand Fatilla is Roberto Cassan on accordion, Matt Glover on electric mandolin, Fabio Pirozzolo on percussion and vocals and Mike Rivard on double bass and sintir. They take on originals, traditional melodies, a piece by Piazzolla, and a couple by Hermeto Pascoal, including a very nice arrangement of the seminal "Little Church," which some will remember from a version on Miles Davis' Live-Evil.

This is rousing virtuoso "world" music in a progressive mode. Accordion and mandolin get some finger twisting lines that take the breath away. But it's all good. It reminds you that fusion bands did not invent the asymmetrical strings of quick, complicated line-weaving. But then these folks are like a chamber world-fusion outfit, too. So it all comes together.

If you are into a lively adventure about what a group of talented instrumentalists can make of the world, this one will get to you and fast! Very recommended.

Guitar Trio E, Goodbye Watson

Bob Gorry, guitarist, conceptualist, composer, the inspiration behind the NHIC (New Haven Improvisers Collective), is many things. He and electric guitarists Jeff Cedrone and Chris Cretella make up Guitar Trio E, a freewheeling DIY offshoot of the larger NHIC. They have an album out that, in the best way, will provoke you into taking a stance. About music, free music, about what it is and where it can go.

Their album Goodbye Watson (NHIC 008) does that by presenting a series of compositional frameworks, one by each member, except Gorry gives us two, and one collective work.

The framework for each varies. It is some compositional melodic-rhythmic series of things around which the trio spins a series of free-collective improvisations. Other than Captain Beefheart or Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists, there isn't much to compare this music with. It does not use either "free jazz" or "new music-free improv" vocabulary per se but like the larger NHIC has a kind of intuitive language it has forged in the sheer act of creation over time.

The players are capable, have internalized some of the electricity of rock which they give back in distilled form, but beyond that this music is radically divorced from various "schools" out there.

The frameworks set things up and have their own cohesive sensibilities. The improvs are a sort of art brut, a well-developed contemporary take on what you might get if you forget what is expected and after long periods of playing together, develop a unique way.

This one shows how Gorry and company can come up with a sort of local music that continues to grow and get a certain refinement without a lot of the outside world intruding on it.

That's fabulous and can most definitely invigorate. It's at times dissonant or oblivious of typical tone choices expected, but in the process is patterned no less than any "tradition" of avant music has been. It's different!

If you don't know Gorry and company and their work, this is a good place to start, especially if the idea of chamber music for three electric guitars appeals to you. It's an excellent example of where they are coming from!

Ian Hunter, Strings Attached, Live 2002

As a young lad teen I appreciated Mott the Hoople when they came out. When Ian Hunter went solo I was distracted by other music and only came to it a few years later. Even today, though, there is something about him I like. It's his way with a rough voice, his sincerity, good songs.

So when his 2-CD set from a concert in 2002 arrived at my doorstep, I was pleased. After a bunch of listens my anticipation was rewarded. Strings Attached (MIG 23370 2-CD) has Ian in full bloom, singing old and newer songs, backed by a good band and strings, live at Oslo's Bentrum Scene.

You get "All the Young Dudes" and "All the Way from Memphis" but then the newer songs, too. The strings add something most definite. Ian strums along and gives us his voice as it was meant to be heard. Dylanesque in its rawness but very English and no pretension.

If you dig Ian Hunter this will float your boat. It's a good night and has great sound! What more?

Garden Music Project, Inspired by Syd Barrett's Artwork

Today, something else retro-futuristic. Syd Barrett of course was the critical guiding muse behind the original Pink Floyd sound. When he left the band nothing was quite the same, yet he still inspired the direction they ultimately took, as he inspired the avant psychedelic rock that came after. He remains a vital influence today in progressive circles.

Adriana Rubio took 12 artworks done by Syd in his lifetime. She got a good idea of writing music that took some of the essence of those visual creations. She came up with 12 songs for the 12 works. She enlisted four together musicians to realize those sounds. We have the results today in the Garden Music Project (A R Garden ARG01).

This is music that of course is very informed by Syd's psychedelic rock music yet does not imitate as much as goes into a similar retro-futurist space.

So it's a rock quartet with guitar, keys, bass (doubling on sax) and drums, plus vocals and arranged extras. The music rings true as a well-put-together new trip into the psychedelic renaissance. It's certainly a parallel to the classic works but something new in the style.

If you don't expect a literal Pink Floyd-Barrett rehash you will approach this new music on its own terms. And I venture to say you won't be disappointed! It's good.

Swung, Vol. 1 & 2, Bobby Jacobs, Pierre van der Linden, Niels van der Steenhoven, Menno Gootjes

When the music is very much grooving, who can resist? Not me. Swung Vol. 1 & 2 (In and Out of Focus 002CD) has that. It's a Northern European psychedelic rock fuse jazz power trio in two incarnations. Bobby Jacobs on electric bass seems to be in charge and he sets up some really nice jams with his very coherent playing. Pierre van der Linden is on drums, very hip in that advanced rock mode. And for the two CDs we have a different guitarist on each: Niels van der Steenhoven for Volume 1; Menno Gootjes for Volume 2. Both are very good. To me the slight edge goes to Gootjes, mostly because he reminds me of Terje Rypdal a bit, though in his own way.

So we get nine jams on Vol. 1, eight on Vol. 2. There are some simple but very effective compositional elements here and there. A bass riff or that and a guitar line. The emphasis is on spontaneous creativity and drive. And they get to it!

Bobby's bass playing is impressive. But van der Linden plays some excellent drums. And both guitarists have definite torque.

Now this is what jambands should be, but many times are not. Anyone who gets off on advanced rocking with a very together forward future-retro heft, this one will floor you!

Lucky Peterson, I'm Back Again

Take a groovy, very together, rocking blues outfit and then drop guitarist-singer Lucky Peterson in as the front man, get them live on stage and you really have something if the night is right. That's what you get on Lucky Peterson's album I'm Back Again (Music Blues 250357),

Lucky has the vocal soul of the very best, a gospel-tinged readiness to belt out the lines with all the detail of a master. He plays some damned fine guitar and doubles on Hammond very credibly, too.

And this album has that special live togetherness that the best blues artists have--the ability to get an audience totally into his court. And he does just that here.

This is the rocking blues with a heavy dose of soul. He has a guitar style that screams, cries, and bends with the best of them. And it's no accident that he quotes Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" and "Third Stone from the Sun" towards the end of the concert, because his electricity is informed by that sound at times, but always firmly with the blues kind of testifying.

This one is a hoot. 100% soul from a master.

Keith Emerson & Greg Lake, Live From Manticore Hall

It may be patently obvious for those who know, but both Greg Lake and Keith Emerson have been seminal figures in the development of progressive rock. Greg Lake has been a stage-setter with his sterling vocal style, a bassist of impact, both as an original member of King Crimson and then of course as a key part of ELP. Keith Emerson did for the keys what Greg did for vocals, first with Nice and then with ELP.

And it was as much in the quality of their songwriting as in the sound they got. So when Palmer went his own way Keith and Greg teamed up as a duo. You can hear the fine results in Live from Manticore Hall (Manticore 001), which features many of their well-known songs arranged in a series of intimate remakes on this record. They are joined by a drummer for part of the proceedings. He sounds fine but gets no credit on the liners.

At any rate we get some of the best vintage material from the first few ELP albums, a remake of the King Crimson perennial "I Talk to the Wind" and some later material, too.

The versions differ from the originals most of the time by the more intimate retrospective mood that the concert revels in. "From the Beginning," "The Barbarian," "Take a Pebble," "Tarkus" and "Lucky Man" all sound very good. The latter tune finds Keith unearthing the original Moog from that first ELP record and giving us a remade retro sound that is good to hear.

Greg's voice is in very strong form, his bass and Keith's keys are right on. Anyone who grew up with this music will appreciate the new versions. Those who haven't can discover the music here as well. It may be a guilty pleasure these days, but I'll admit this music still appeals. Perhaps there were excesses in prog that led to a punk rebellion, and ELP sometimes overdid it towards the end of their reign. But the best is still exceptional. You can hear that in this concert.