Cameron Mizell & Charlie Rauh, Local Folklore

 

There is a wild and wonderful musical world that continues on regardless of things that challenge our everyday world. Today there is a fine example in the recent album Local Folklore (Destiny Records DR-0040), which is a series of captivating duets by Cameron Mizell on acoustic and electric guitar and Charlie Rauh on acoustic guitar. 

The program consists of ten originals by Charlie or Cameron. They are marked nicely by bright and lyrically moving chord changes and effective soloing on top of it all along with set melodic elements at times--to my ears. Early Pat Metheny comes to mind as a precursor to this kind of thing, yet nonetheless this is on firmly original ground in itself.

The album title Local Folklore is somewhat telling, for the music has something of a folkish quality--in its consistent earthiness that with some additions might be the underpinning of some singer-songwriter or country ditty of a while back, and like Gary Burton and Metheny there manages to be a Jazz emanation all rolled into the sequences.

The guitar work generally divides into a chording underpinning and a guitar solo of a melodic and improvisatorially distinct element on top. I've long appreciated Charlie Rauh's work in the past and also liked what I have heard of Cameron Mizell (type their names in the search box above for reviews). And it so happens that they are so locked into a way of doing the music that they complement one another, rather exceptionally so. 

It is a music that brings a smile to your face if you are like me. There is real artistry here and a lyrical bright sunshine feeling that furnishes a happy sequence of tones and sequences. I give kudos here for these two. Strongly, happily recommended.

Alan Rinehart Plays Sylvius Leopold Weiss Lute Music on Guitar

 

I learned in part by osmosis and the rest by listening--that Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687-1750) was the king of Baroque lute compositions. I've enjoyed all that I have heard by the master and now happily there is a full volume of Weiss lute works played nicely and dedicatedly on guitar by Alan Rinehart (Ravello RR8056)                              

Of course there have been recordings of Weiss on guitar in the past. Here we have a full 70 minutes of a goodly assortment nicely played by Alan Rinehart. There is an "Allegro" in E Minor, a Fantasia, two multi-movement Partitas, the "Tombeau sur la Mort de M' Compte de Logy," a "Galanterie," "Menuet and Trio" and a "Suite in D Major." It is all worthwhile, inventive and nicely wrought in ways that make you appreciate the brilliance of technical and lyrical outflow. Maestro Rinehart is to be commended for his focused readings.

Anyone who gravitates to nicely thought-out Baroque sequences for guitar will find this one a continual pleasure to hear I have no doubt. Recommended warmly.

Dave Stryker, As We Are, Music for Guitar, Quartet and String Quartet

 

The idea of electric guitar Jazz with strings is hardly unheard of. When I was pretty new to Jazz listening I happily stumbled upon Wes Montgomery's classic album Tequila, which you may remember had tracks with a string backdrop arranged by Claus Ogerman. It was the antithesis of the pop tendency at the time to add strings as "sweetener." Not that it was not sweet exactly but the strings had plenty of contentful things to play behind Wes. I loved it. Still do.

Well when I started to listen to today's album I was happily reminded of that Wes gem without feeling that I was hearing a clone. Far from it. The album is guitarist Dave Stryker's new one As We Are (Strikezone Records 8822). It features Stryker with his Quartet of Julian Shore on piano, John Patitucci on bass and Brian Blade on drums, plus a string quartet. Julian Shore put together the arrangements, Stryker originals for the most part.

The compositions are weighty enough to stay with you, Dave's guitar revels in the way it can and does blend with the string sonarity, at the same time as his note choices are exceptionally nice to hear. There is a soulful countenance, lyrical sensibilities and harmonic movement of a satisfyingly sophisticated sort. The Shore scoring of the string quartet is rather brilliant I must say.

Stryker wanted the sort of strings-band interaction where nothing was superficial. And he gets that, very happily.

It is a damned fine album in every way. And if you are like me it will feel hearty and substantial, real art, a pleasure from beginning to end. Get this one!

Sergio Amaroli, Steve Piccolo, Elliott Sharp, Blue in Mind

 

Sometimes we get to hear something not quite in the place other musics have been. I feel like that listening to the Blue in Mind album (Leo Records CD LR 920).It is a trio that refuses to stand still, but rather keeps transforming into various soundscaped hues of chamber Avant Jazz that challenges our ears and brings us to new places.

The lineup features Sergio Armarole on vibraphone, Steve Piccolo on vocals and recitation-speech, and Elliott Sharp on electric guitar, soprano sax and electronics. Now everything Elliott does here is not unexpected exactly. There are Freebop evergreens that highlight Sharp's roots and controlled vision that sets things up for Armaroli's very together vibe counterthrusts and Piccolo's swinging outness and spreading soundscaping recitations. Fittingly but not exactly expectantly there is Sharp's long electronic wash at the end of the program. None of this will astonish you who know his music but it will doubtless please you and feel like the New Thing that it all is.

What makes this all click is that all three show their Jazz roots and an aurally cleansing freesome that brings us all into the now. Elliott's guitar work alone is worth the "price of admission." Adventuresome guitarists should find much to discover. And reassuringly the whole set of interactions puts us in an inspiring place, no matter what we ourselves play or do not play. It's a good one!

Gerry Eastman Trio, Trust Me, with Greg Lewis and Taru Alexander

 

If there are less postings on this particular blog lately, it is not because guitar and bass players are any less important to me, it is simply a time thing. I am glad to be back today because I am happy to talk about an album that has my attention, guitarist Gerry Eastman's Trio and their CD Trust Me (self published). The organ trio with guitar, organ and drums has a long and lively history and often enough is a locus where swinging is the rule and there is plenty of space for all three players to wind it out like a great ball of twine unravelling.

That is certainly true of this CD and drummer Taru Alexander helps make sure that is so with some great driving drums that kick things forward continually and set up a time zone that Eastman and Lewis drop into and engage in with great and happy intensity.

The second crucial factor to this album's success is surely the set of originals Gerry Eastman has crafted for this date. They are melodically and harmonic advanced and ensure that all comes together in original and contemporary ways. That is no small feat.

The logical next consideration is the beautiful organ presence of Greg Lewis. I've covered some of his music, mostly on the Gapplegate Music Review pages, and I am ever glad to hear him carry on. Like the great legacy of Larry Young, he does not content himself with the sort of soulfulness that Jimmy Smith created and so many followed. Lewis does not lack soul of course, but he also has an advanced Modern harmonic and line weaving sense that does not rely on cliché and gives us a very inventive togetherness that is a real pleasure to hear.

And so he comps in ways that make sense and sets up Gerry to launch forward continually in progressive ways. And Greg solos beautifully as well!

Last but of course not at all least Gerry Eastman comes at us continually with original and worthy soloing. He is his own person on guitar which is saying a great deal given the heavy legacy of organ trio and beyond masters like Wes Montgomery, George Benson and Pat Martino. He has his own line-poetry going that fits with the changes of course but in his own way.

It is an album with everything going for it, It is quite a feather in Gerry Eastman's musical cap. It will appeal to anyone into some very Modern swinging, some smart soloing and a real kicker to boot. Highly recommended.

Steve Tallis, Where Many Rivers Meet

 

Australian singer-songwriter-guitarist Steve Tallis has been around the block more than a few times. His life-chops no doubt help reflect, underscore and burnish his music these days. The most recent has been on my playlist and I am glad to talk a little about it today. It is a pared down Steve, just his voice, a Gibson SC and an acoustic guitar (a Guild 12 String), plus some foot stomping for the hollers, and a getting to the core throughout. The title evokes getting to a good place, Where Many Rivers Meet (ZOMBIE).  It is his 8th self-produced album (see index for some others) and undoubtedly one of his best.

Steve takes on a transformed sort of Blues-Folk-Rock solo attitude. There are some classic roots songs performed as acapella hollers mostly, so "Black Betty," "Early in the Morning," and so forth. All get their rooted dueness of direct feelingful delivery.. Then there are Steve's originals, filled with a bluesiness and a kind of solo advancement of his style into a place more and more rooted, yet original too with a kind of directness that owes something to early Dylan and middle Captain Beefheart, yet Steve is consistently a new thing unmistakably as one hears him, as I have over a good number of years.

This one places him comfortably and happily as rooted in a hard Blues tradition and yet it is not as much a matter of Blues changes as a strong riffing and stomping presence, Hooker and early Waters more than the turnaround centric Jimmy Reed, for example. This is not a matter of virtuoso wowing as it is of hitting a power accompaniment that is just right for the stylistic complex involved.

It is with the 25 originals and classics combined a considerable jolt of music energy. If you give this a few listens I suspect you are going to grow into it all as I did. Happily recommended for roots fans.

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Michael Bisio, Kirk Knuffke, Fred Lonberg-Holm, The Art Spirit

 

Michael Bisio is among today's very most important contrabassists in Avant Free Jazz. Similarly Kirk Knuffke is a cornetist of great stature, a master artist. Cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm may not automatically call up associations with the greatest living improvisers, yet he shows us in the company of Bisio and Knuffke to be in every way a potent third voice, a master of line and sound in himself. All that we hear in a recent trio recording of the three called The Art Spirit (ESP 5053).

The general breakdown on this eight segmented improvisational suite is a kind of natural grouping together of bass and cello against a very horn-like set of utterances from Knuffke's cornet. Three of the works are by Michael, the rest are collective compositional endeavors.  It makes for a cohesive and dynamic energy trajectory and a way of expression clearly with the roots in a jazz tradition, yet free and open too.

It is one of those sessions where everything clicks, where all three in tandem define a way to explore simultaneous lines and textures. 

The album is dedicated to modern artist Robert Henri (1865-1929).

Happily the aesthetic underpinnings are at the forefront. This is ART MUSIC, Jazz rooted excellence throughout. Do not miss it!