Jambands, Jazz, Blues, Bluegrass

What I Listen To

2009-07-20T21:30:00.003-04:00

A discussion recently came up about the best rock vocalist of all-time. I had a hard time with this one and my lack of a quick and sure answer shocked an old friend. The question then became, “Had I drifted that far from my musical roots that I held on to so tightly in high school?” Yes and no. I have no less passion for the music I listened to in high school. I still have all of those albums, CDs, MP3s and still listen to them. The Grateful Dead is still in rotation; I still listen to Pink Floyd; Crosby Stills and Nash are on my MP3 players. And they all still have tremendous importance to me.

But my current obsession is more with music that involves searching. Music where the musician is searching and the listener is along for the ride. Yes, you can correctly say that the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd were on a search. But I’m referring to music that challenges the notion of music itself. Most, but not all, of my listening these days involves jazz. I’ve been reading a lot about John Coltrane lately and have been analyzing his albums. Art Pepper is one that I happily stumbled upon recently. I was in Washington D.C. last month to see two nights of Pat Martino. I still believe that Herbie Hancock is our pre-eminent pianist and the best arranger alive today. And I’m checking out things that certainly challenge what we call music. Groups like Vorwolf, Stephen Vitiello, Paola Prestini and Francisco Lopez.

There was a point a couple of years ago that I would’ve laughed at what these people are calling “music”. But I’ve reached a point where I’m willing to define music as any intended audible piece that evokes an emotional response. That doesn’t mean that I enjoy everything these people put on a CD, but I will give it a listen and see what merit I might attribute to it. These are musicians (and I can’t say that I have a definition yet for what a “musician” is, I struggle with that term), who are never going to be well known, or on the radio, or even have the ability to support themselves with the music they make. However, they are driven to create. And I respect that drive.

A lot of times the rock world gets caught up in the success of the music. And that success can destroy the drive to create, to push forward and to challenge oneself. That’s why I can’t stay contained in the world of rock. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it any longer. It’s just that I see limits to it. Limits that it sets upon itself that curtail creativity and expression oftentimes for the sake of mass appeal. I look at people like Coltrane and Hank Jones who continue to push their music, their writing and their practicing for their entire lives. They are never satisfied with their abilities and keep going. They are searching for things they can’t even define but know that they aren’t there yet.

A few people in the rock world have worked this hard. Frank Zappa comes to mind. He is said to have spent on average 17 hours a day in his studio when he wasn’t on tour. And he released over 70 albums in his career. Stevie Ray Vaughan lived with his guitar around him. These artists were dedicated. But I think they are more the exception than the rule.

I’m not one of those music snobs who will only listen to “high-brow” music. I’ll listen to anything that has quality to it. I’ve been listening to a lot of Prince lately. I’ve been studying how he constructs a song. He’ll have a straight rhythm, then he’ll also have a cross rhythm. He has these two “rhythm scaffolds” from which he can bounce back and forth to create a different feel. When you listen to something like Little Red Corvette or When Doves Cry, you can hear that where he places the beat is where the magic is. He’s a genius at rhythm. I like to listen to people who have devoted their lives to doing what they do very well.

I still listen to metal, 80's pop, new wave, alternative, jambands, classic rock, psychedelic, bluegrass, blues, fingerstyle, etc.

John Coltrane – The Motive

2009-07-07T21:34:00.002-04:00

What was the motive behind Coltrane’s body of work? Why did it start where it did and end the way it did? All of this is speculative, but by looking at what the critics were saying at the time and what his contemporary musicians have said, we can infer some things.

His playing has been described by listeners as “angry” and “dense”. Coltrane himself admitted that harmonically he was trying to play, trying to exhaust, all of the possible combinations with the chord changes. Critics have said that if anyone came close to doing so, it was Coltrane. He was asked by Miles once why he played so long and Coltrane said that he didn’t know how to end it, how to wrap it up. Miles quipped, “Try taking the horn out of your mouth.” But the indication is that Coltrane was striving to achieve something that he couldn’t get to.

Coltrane stretched out and began studying music from India and other places around the world. He was trying to achieve the flexibility of the human voice on his instrument. He wanted it to be a vocalization. In the last years of his life he sometimes stopped his solo on stage and began beating his chest. Again, almost in what appears to have been frustration in not being able to get what he wanted out of the horn.

Coltrane is noted as being one of the most studious musicians ever. He was always learning, asking questions of everyone, trying to find something he hadn’t found yet. The critics agree that he was a mediocre sax player up until the time he played with Thelonius Monk. Monk somehow turned his mind around and put him on a path of self-motivation and searching that saw him through to the end of his career.

The book I’ve read suggests that Coltrane was a highly driven musician searching for the ultimate truth in sound, which might have meant trying to vocalize the sax to mimic the human voice after having blown through the harmony with “sheets of sound” early in his career, and later with the melodic modal jazz phase. Critics were hard on albums like Ascension. Debate exists on why, and what did it cost Coltrane in credibility with the jazz community.

Did Coltrane ever achieve satisfaction in his playing? Personally, I don’t think so. I think he was striving towards something he knew he could never achieve, but the struggle in trying to reach it was as close as he could get to it. Was his playing angry? Maybe frustrated is a more appropriate term. But I think Coltrane liked the struggle…it was the journey he enjoyed, not the achievement. But I think he was still reaching up until the end. And to me, that suggests hope. That was an act of hope. Maybe hope is what we are hearing from ‘trane and why he is still so worshipped today. His horn has a sound that says, “Maybe what I’m trying to achieve is right around the corner.”

Coltrane Stories

2009-07-01T17:23:00.001-04:00

I’ve been reading the book Coltrane: The Story of a Sound by Ben Ratliff. Every few pages I’ve come across something that is said that just sets off light bulbs. This paragraph is one of them.

Coltrane started bringing new members into the band in 1965. The reception to this experiment had been chilly enough when he tried it with Eric Dolphy; this time his audience was even less forgiving, and as a result he undermined his own credibility. Most of his fans could go with his new music as long as band members of repute were playing it. With new members of less objectively measurable talent, some felt they were being conned.

Think about that. Musicians playing the same notes can be accepted differently depending on how much faith the audience has on the credibility of the musician playing them. Why is it we must have trust and faith, in where the musician might take us before we even hear the first note played? What does that say about the musician-listener relationship? I’m sure it’s why fans will go buy an album by their favorite artist the minute it is released without ever reading the first review. How does that trust get earned? Does a critic have to give us the OK before some of us are willing to take an artist seriously?

…at the Village Vanguard with Coltrane in 1966 [Ali]being asked by Coltrane in the club’s backroom before the gig what he thought about Frank Wright, the young free jazz tenor player. He knew that Ali and Wright were friends, and Wright, who had come to the club that night, had independently approached Coltrane about the possibility of sitting in with Coltrane’s band at the club. Ali reacted skeptically.

I said, “Aw, man, he ain’t playing shit.”
He looked at me. I said, “He ain’t playing shit.”
We go out on the bandstand, and the first thing he does is say [to Wright],
“Hey, man, come on up.”
In the dressing room after it was over, he said something I never forgot.
He said, “I don’t care what a cat plays. If you’re into music, there’ll
be something you hear [in that musician] that you might like.
One note, one sound, that you might like.”

The Way I Write Music

2009-06-22T22:41:00.000-04:00

The way people write music fascinates me. There seems to be many ways to go about it and everyone has a little different spin on it. The way that I do it is that I will pick up the guitar and play around until something catches my ear. At that point it can go a couple of ways. Sometimes the chords and the song follow immediately. Sometimes I just get that small part and I have to shelve it for use later. I’ve tried writing everyday and what I’ve discovered is that the ideas are either there or they are not. If it is going to happen, it happens relatively quickly after I pick up the guitar. If I try to force it, or continue to play longer and longer with the hope of getting something, it becomes torturous. And in the end it’s counterproductive. I’ve learned to try everyday but not to push too hard. As I gather little parts I start to hear ways that they may fit together with other ideas I’ve shelved. And I try to start fitting these pieces together in ways that sound interesting to my ear.

I liken it to a painter. These initial pieces that get created and shelved are like the painter selecting the colors to go on his palette. The roughly drawn sketch on the canvas is equivalent to the piecing together of the tonal parts that I’ve collected; which chord fits where in relation to the others. Then the actual application of color to canvas, painting in the shapes, is to me like the rhythmic selections that I make to reign in the chords and make distinction, like the lines on a canvas. Parts, assembly, trimming the rhythms – that’s how it works for me.

Fables of Faubus

2009-06-09T22:40:00.003-04:00

Fables of Faubus
Charles Mingus

Oh, Lord, don't let 'em shoot us!
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em stab us!
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em tar and feather us!
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!

Name me someone who's ridiculous, Dannie.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won't permit integrated schools.

Then he's a fool! Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!
Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan)

Name me a handful that's ridiculous, Dannie Richmond.
Faubus, Rockefeller, Eisenhower
Why are they so sick and ridiculous?

Two, four, six, eight:
They brainwash and teach you hate.
H-E-L-L-O, Hello.

Miles Okazaki

2009-06-08T21:17:00.000-04:00

My friend and mentor, Cyrus Pace, turned me onto this guy named Miles Okazaki. Cyrus went to school with him at the Manhattan School of Music. His debut album was called Mirror, and he has since followed up with his second album which follows in the footsteps of Mirror. The second album is entitled Generations. Okazaki is a guitarist and a composer. His composition stands above the guitar playing on his two albums. He is experimenting with musical arrangements that are too complex for me to describe here, although he shares everything on his website, www.milesokazaki.com . But the fact is that his style has resonated with me in a way that has been quite inspiring. When I first heard Mirror, I commented that it meant as much to me as John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. This was also the first album where I heard Chris Potter on sax. On his second album he brings in Miguel Zenon, David Binney and Christof Knoche on alto saxes. He brings in the best sax players! Anyway, how to describe Okazaki’s music? He challenges rhythms, often being polyrhythmic. The sax parts are jazz by nature. But the underlying score seems to build from almost a funk comp at times that will morph into a swing. It’s very hard to explain in words. I’m a huge fan of what Okazaki is doing. If you want to hear something different from what everyone else is doing (outside of somewhere in the clubs of downtown New York) then Okazaki is a nice place to start

Musical Revelations

2009-06-05T19:56:00.001-04:00

I’ve come across a couple of recent musical revelations that I wanted to speak about. Specifically, there are four bands that I’ve been focused on the last two days:

Shakti with John MacLaughlin
John Coltrane, specifically the album Ole’ Coltrane
Gojira
Miles Okazaki

I’ve also been reading a biography on Coltrane which causes me to contemplate a lot. Have you ever had a day where everything just seems to center around contemplation? Yesterday was like that for me. Two things from Coltrane really stuck with me. One was from his biography. He was talking in an interview about learning from Monk. And he said Monk would play a minor chord but leave out the third. And Coltrane would argue with him that it wasn’t a minor chord because he left out the third. But he said when Monk played it he could make it sound like a minor chord, even without the third. What is it about music that shares something with the world of magic, wherein conviction and truth can be communicated without the fundamentals of our normal ways of communicating? Monk had it, and Coltrane didn’t, at that point in his life. Was it conviction, bravado, context, feel, abandonment of all fear…?

Next, from the liner notes of Ole’ Coltrane:

“Now, sometimes we get up and play a song and I play thirty, or at least twenty, minutes. Well, at the Apollo we ended up playing three songs in twenty minutes! I played all the highlights of the solos that I had been playing in hours, in that length of time. So I think about it. What have I been doing all this time? It’s made me think, if I’m going to take an hour to say something I can say in ten minutes, maybe I’d better say it in ten minutes! And then have another horn there and get something else.”

I think that speaks volumes.

Ok, what do Shakti, Miles Okazaki and Gojira – a French death metal band- all have in common? Polyrhythms. The more I search for music that grabs my interest, the more often I find that there is a common thread with what I like - a use of polyrhythms.

Wikipedia defines a polyrhythm in this way:

Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms. Polyrhythms can be distinguished from irrational rhythms, which can occur within the context of a single part; polyrhythms require at least two rhythms to be played concurrently, one of which is typically an irrational rhythm.

In working to help define where it’s at, musically, for me, I think polyrhythms are the source. It’s like polyrhythms can trigger a trance-like state, not unlike the koans that Zen teachers use to help stop the mind from thinking to reach that split second of enlightenment where thought stops and life exists unblemished. Polyrhythms do that for me.

MySpace

2009-05-29T21:11:00.001-04:00

Please stop by my MySpace page and check out some of my music.

www.myspace.com/jamemorris

Progression Circle m6/m3 Con’t

2009-05-27T21:22:00.000-04:00

OK, I realized my ignorance here. It dawned on me this morning that there was a reason why there were 7 half steps between some notes and 17 half steps between others. What I thought was unique was nothing more than a circle of sevenths. When you actually play this progression you recognize the pattern. The m6 meant nothing – it was just an additional note I was throwing in there before continuing with the circle of 7ths. The other way of looking at it is that any two intervals adding up to 9 returns you to the octave. A m6th and a maj3rd get you back to the octave. That 17 I was seeing was a half step from 18 (2 X 9), which would be one half step short of the second octave – the 7th. Playing these little mathematical games is how I learn theory, so I don’t consider it a waste of time in doing it. But the progression was nothing special, either.

Progression Circle m6/m3

2009-05-26T19:44:00.002-04:00

I had a music theory idea that I want to play with and see if I can get a song out of it. It’s born out of the concept of the circle of fourths and fifths. And I was wondering if I could circle a combination of two intervals. The two that came to mind were a minor 6 and a minor third. Or, in relation to the root, it would be I-vi-VII. The VII would then become the new tonic and you would move another m6, and a m3 in relation to the m6. So, I worked this out in the key of C. The progression would be

C-G#-B-G-A#-F#-A-F-G#-E-G-D#-F#-D-F-C#-E-C-D#-B-D-A#-C#-A-C

The thing that stands out is that all of these notes appear twice but the period between when they come up a second time varies.

C Twice 17
G# Twice 7
B Twice 17
G Twice 7
A# Twice 17
F# Twice 7
A Twice 17
F Twice 7
E Twice 17
D# Twice 7
D Twice 17
C# Twice 7

The C comes up seventeenth for the second time. The G# comes up seventh after its first appearance.

The other thing I notice is that to get back to the original C, it takes 24 tones. How about using 24 bars to do that in? And how about using a rhythmic pattern that alternates? Maybe the first appearance of a note utilizes whole and half notes. Maybe the second appearance utilizes quarters and eighths. So that’s the starting point for my next songwriting session.

Where to Find Different Music

2009-05-25T00:08:00.002-04:00

Finding music that is on the edge of what everyone else is listening to is a passion of mind. One very important site that has helped me find new artists is Squidco. If you sign up for their e-mail newsletter they will send brief descriptions of new items. I've found several great pieces of music this way. Check them out at www.squidco.com

Trey Anastasio - Bar 17

2006-10-27T23:20:00.001-04:00

When I first popped this CD in the stereo I imagine my response was like many other Phish fans…”This is absolutely horrible!” The first song is so strange…I didn’t get it. As the album goes on it becomes more accessible and about 3 or 4 songs into it, Trey starts playing some very listenable grooves. This brings about a serious point that I’d like to mention. Years ago it wasn’t uncommon for people to sit down and “listen” to an album. You didn’t put on a record and then have a conversation over it. You didn’t play it as background music or music to drive by to pass the time as you go from point A to point B. People have lost the art of actually listening to what an artist is producing. Anyway, I had some down time today with my iPod and I listened to the album with earphones. The whole album opened up and I got it. Trey has poured so much into the production of this album that it really is an amazing album. It’s not the “in your face” grooves that you can allow to subconsciously drizzle in...where you don’t have to think about it to get it. This album requires “contemplative listening”. It demands your attention or else you are going to shelve this CD and lose out on discovering what is obviously a labor of love for Trey. I imagine he spent a lot of time writing and producing this CD. Give it a listen with your full attention, like you would a good jazz album. I rate it as a masterpiece. The layers and detail, especially with headphones on, is mesmerizing.

Song For Baby-O, Unborn

2006-10-27T23:20:00.000-04:00

by Diane DiPrima

Sweetheart
when you break thru
you’ll find
a poet here
not quite what one would choose.

I won’t promise
you’ll never go hungry
or that you won’t be sad
on this gutted
breaking
globe

but I can show you
baby
enough to love
to break your heartforever

Tony Rice - California Autumn

2006-10-27T23:19:00.000-04:00

I have mixed feelings about this album. It has some great instrumentals on it…Billy In The Lowground, Red haired Boy, Bugle Call Rag, Bullet Man. But this album also highlights what I had always suspected was Tony’s weakness…songwriting. There are musicians who interpret others works brilliantly, those who compose tremendous works but can’t perform them well, and those that can do both. Tony’s strength is his interpretation of other work. California Autumn and Mr. Poverty are awkward sounding songs, though they do showcase Tony’s voice, which is arguably one of the best there ever was. And the strange thing is that his brother, the late Larry Rice, is one of my favorite songwriters. Tony has the interpretation, Larry got the composition. Anyway, this is a solid album save for the two songs I mentioned. It’s well worth picking up because the rest of the album is so solid.

Amira Baraka - beat poet

2006-10-08T14:26:00.000-04:00

I’ve been reading some poetry lately and since I haven’t been blogging I thought I would share some of the poems that have stirred me recently.

This one from Amira Baraka, whom I really like.

State/meant

The Black Artist’s role in America is to aid in the destruction of America as he knows it. His role is to report and reflect so precisely the nature of the society, and of himself in that society, that other men will be moved by the exactness of his rendering and, if they are black men, grow strong through this moving, having seen their own strength, and weakness; and if they are white men, tremble, curse, and go mad, because they will be drenched with the filth of their evil.

The Black Artist must draw out of his soul the correct image of the world. He must use this image to band his brothers and sisters together in common understanding of the nature of the world (and the nature of America) and the nature of the human soul.

The Black Artist must demonstrate sweet life, how it differs from the deathly grip of the White Eyes. The Black Artist must teach the White Eyes their deaths, and teach the black man how to bring these deaths about.

We are unfair, and unfair.
We are black magicians, black art
s we make in the black labs of the heart.

The fair are
fair,and death
ly white.

The day will not save them
and we own

the night.

1965

Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians - Stranger Things

2006-09-23T20:15:00.000-04:00

I was walking through Wal-Mart one night when I saw a new album was out by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. Being a fan, I grabbed the CD and couldn’t wait to hear it. It has taken me a long time to get to the point where I like it. At first, I thought it lacked energy. Compared to the tracks that were on the Live Montauk Sessions, they do. I still contend that that CD is probably their best work. This album has some good songs but I think it’s a bit over-produced. Edie and the NB’s seem to be easily dominated in the studio by whoever is producing. And I would’ve never have known that had I not heard the Montauk Sessions. I think the best thing they could do would be to release a live album. Or even follow SCI and Phish’s lead and release a whole tour on mail-order CDs. I bet they really kick ass live. Stranger Things is worth picking up. Expect it to fall in-between Shooting Rubberbands and Ghost of a Dog. Not as good ass the first, better than the second, studio album.

Tom Hall

2006-09-23T19:58:00.000-04:00

I must first apologize for taking so long to post a new review. This isn’t going to be so much a review as homage. I was recently trying to track down Gibb Droll, as his website has been removed. After some Google work I found that he has replaced his old website with a My Space site that is kept by someone other than Gibb. You quickly see that this is less of an informative site than it is a place for current Gibb fans to post comments. And those comments are the same that Gibb has received over the last fifteen years. From the 18-30 year old guys, “Man, you were on fire the other night! How do you play like that?!? I loved it when you played with your teeth…you’re the best!” From the 18-28 year old women, “Gibb, you’re the cutest! I loved watching you on-stage the other night.”

Anyway, I was wading through the posts when I come across an older Gibb-head who commented that he had really enjoyed seeing him recently. Apparently the guy was from the Virginia Beach Music scene and made the comment, “You know we lost Tom…”. This caused me great distress. Was Tom as common friend or the original bass player for the Gibb Droll Band, Tom Hall? After another frantic Google search I found a few references to Tom Hall. Tom, as Mike Williams told me several years after Tom left the band, had returned to Virginia Beach where he became a successful realtor. The Google search led me to an article that alluded to a band that Tom had been playing with recently, called DC3. I was glad to hear that Tom was back to playing music. However, it also went on to say that Tom passed away in April of this year. Tom apparently dropped unconscious at his office and went into a coma. He was in a coma for a while and then had a heart attack and died in the hospital. He never regained consciousness.

Tom was an incredible blues bassist and I have tremendous memories of him. He was always extremely friendly and would talk during breaks in the sets. A lot of the inside information I got about the band came from Tom. He loved playing with the Gibb Droll Band. He once told me that he loved playing the bass line during the song Carrie (an instrumental referencing Gibb’s then-girlfriend) because it portrayed the bounce in Carrie’s step when she walked. He said he could always picture her when he was playing that song. The last time I saw Tom play with the band was at Trax, in Charlottesville. Tom’s father had been very sick, terminally ill I think. Anyway, before the show Tom got word that his dad had just passed away. Tom went on to play that night at Trax, even though I’m sure Gibb would’ve cancelled the show if Tom had said the word. The show was dedicated to Tom’s dad and was extremely emotional. It was an intense show, everyone played their ass off, even Tom. I still have an autograph from Tom and I’ll always remember him as Gibb’s original bass player and a helluva guy. God Bless Tom Hall.

Melvin Taylor & The Slack Band

2006-07-22T13:01:00.000-04:00

Special thanks to Dempsey for turning me on to this band.

As Dempsey mentioned, this guy does have a similar phrasing and style to Gibb Droll. But he retains more of a traditional blues sound. He does occasionally throw in a George Benson lick or a Wes Montgomery octave run. He has more of what I would call a traditional blues vocal. It sounds really good. What I like most about this album is that he does a lot of covers and they are not the average arrangements. He changes things up enough to make them interesting. I would love to see these guys live.
I’m really enjoying this album and it’s definitely a solid blues album. He does a great service to the T-Bone Shuffle. And All Your Love (I Miss Loving), which is a great blues song that I don’t think enough people cover. His version of Tin Pan Alley is just right. He doesn’t try to take over Stevie’s version but he retains that laid back groove that Stevie attributed to the song. I think I like Melvin’s vocals on this song more than Stevie’s, actually. Anyway, this is definitely my kind of album. Dempsey, you couldn’t have recommended a better album to suit my tastes.

Tuck Andress

2006-07-13T22:04:00.000-04:00

I first saw Tuck Andress on a Showtime special about 15 years ago. He was playing with his wife, Patti, and Lee Ritenour. Andress is a jazz guitarist but he has incorporated fingerstyle to create something different from everyone else. Andress relies heavy on rhythmic bass lines while playing the melody simultaneously. The only guitarist I can think of that comes close to a similar style is Chet Atkins.

Andress does a lot of arrangements with pop or rock oriented songs. Some examples are ‘Little Wing/Castles Made Of Sand’, Santana’s ‘Europa’, Michael Jackson’s ‘Man In The Mirror’, and ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow/If I Only Had Brain’…

Andress is one of those guitarists who have reached a level of ability few will ever know. However, he’s pegged with the albatross of being a jazz musician. He’ll never be a household name and he’ll never see the money that a Jessica Simpson or Clay Aiken will. That just doesn’t seem right. If people were awarded for talent instead of popularity it would definitely be a different world.

I have the album Reckless Precision and the Tuck & Patti album Love Warriors. Patti is an amazing jazz vocalist. Both albums are wonderful.

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

2006-07-12T20:28:00.000-04:00

Of Hendrix’s three studio albums, Electric Ladyland stands out as the most complex in writing and production. Hendrix employed several effects that I don’t think had ever been used. First, he uses the Leslie effect of panning between left and right channels to get a swirling sensation. He also starts using the univibe in conjunction with his trademark wah pedal. He uses the Tycho Brae Octavia. This combined with his Fuzz Face distortion pedal and his Marshall amps give the sound he’s famous for.

The interesting intro into this album sets the mood that carries throughout. The album has continuity, save for the few songs written by Noel Redding. Of course, the two songs everyone is familiar with are ‘All Along The Watchtower’ and ‘Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)’. This album has a fuller sound than the other two studio albums. Part of this is because Hendrix brought in lots of people to record. He had his own studio for this album and that meant that he had access at anytime with anyone to go in and record or produce.

I think this album more accurately represents what Hendrix had in his head and was trying to express to the world. My favorite track on the album is the fourth track – ‘Voodoo Chile’. Not the familiar ‘Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)’. This track has the greatest tone of any guitar setup I’ve ever heard. This sets the standard for tone to my ears. Stevie Winwood is great on the organ, also. Out of 10 stars, this one goes to 11.

Editor’s Note: The picture that accompanies this blog hangs in my living room. It was printed in Germany and was purchased by my father when he was stationed in Germany during the Vietnam War in 1971. It’s in color but I switched it to B&W. I also threw a copyright on it. Reason being I don’t want it posted all over the net. I’ve searched the net high and low for this poster or the picture it was printed from. I’ve never found it. Also, Electric Ladyland is not my favorite Hendrix album. That title is held for Band Of Gypsies.

Request For Proposals

2006-07-08T11:50:00.000-04:00

Having come close to running out of CDs to review, I would like to have some feedback, perhaps a recommendation of an album to review. Just leave a comment.

Gov't Mule - Deja Voodoo

2006-07-04T22:15:00.000-04:00

Before picking up this album I had heard only a handful of Gov’t Mule songs. I was decidedly split…some songs I liked and some songs I didn’t. It was about half & half. So I never ran out and picked up any Mule. Having run out of CDs to review, I decided to pick one up. The last song that I heard that I remember liking was Slack Jawed Jezebel. So I picked up the album Deja Voodoo. All of the other albums I have reviewed have long been staples of my CD collection (save Ladell McLin). So they had been broken in and opinions had long been formed. It usually takes awhile for me to decide on an album like this.

My first impression was that Mule has a great bass player. He really keeps the bass line thumping on the upbeat songs.

My second impression was of the great equipment Warren Haynes uses. I’ve been into buying boutique effects over the last few years and I can tell ya Haynes has a magnificent setup.

Thirdly, Haynes likes to write and sing ballads. The first several songs on the album are very accessible and really groove. The second half of the album is heavy with ballads. It’s my opinion that for every couple of ballads he writes he hits upon one great one. Little Toy Brain and Wine & Blood are good examples. His other ballads are slow, a little long, and I have a hard time staying interested when his slow vocals are center stage. That being said, when he hits on a ballad that works, there’s nothing better. I would like to see him use an acoustic on his ballads. I think that would really work for him.

It seems also on his faster songs that he has trouble coming up with catchy hooks. This may be an unfair comparison but Anastasio is a great example of an artist who writes great hooks. Dave Matthews is another. All this being said, this is a rockin’ album. I can’t keep it out of my CD player. The ballads may grow on me with time but for now I tend to play tracks 1-6 over and over. For the album as a whole I give it 8 out of 10.

Editor’s note: I didn’t know until after I had written this review that Mule won a Jammy for this album. Also, I found an interview where he talks about his setup and nothing leaped out at me except one of his amps that he uses for recording. It’s a Maven Peal, which I’d never heard of. Here’s a link for you guitarists out there. http://www.mavenpeal.com/index.html It looks (and sounds) like an awesome high end amp. The price I saw on Harmony Central was $3,700.

Norman Blake

2006-07-01T23:02:00.000-04:00

Norman Blake is one of those artists that is profound, prolific and doesn’t need my help boosting his career. Still, I would like to mention my fondness of the album Far Away, Down On A Georgia Farm. This 1999 album by Blake, which was his 28th album release, was also nominated for a Grammy. That’s not what impresses me about this album. Since I was a little kid I’ve had a soft spot for folk music and no one can touch that in my heart like Blake can. It’s hard to pigeon-hole Blake. Is he bluegrass, folk, Old Time, Americana? I’ve heard him described as all of those. He is a true amalgam of these genres. He may touch on each of these genres all within the same song. But the reason that I love this album is because he covers all types of moods and songs. The title track is particularly heartwarming. As I heard it, this song was written for Nancy, Blake’s wife. At the time it seems that Nancy had left Norman and this song was his way of reaching out to bring her back home. Apparently it worked. It exemplifies the sincerity that Blake brings in his voice. If you like Blake you’re probably familiar with this album and these songs. If that’s the case, then I’m preaching to the choir. If you don’t know who Blake is you owe it to yourself to find out. Particularly if you’re a Jambander who has heard the Dead and SCI do tons of folk and bluegrass covers. You need to go back to the source and here it from a professional like Blake. And if you do that, go back a little further and pick up Blake’s groundbreaking album Back Home In Sulfur Springs. It was released in 1972 and introduces “newgrass”, in my opinion, with the track Warp Factor #9. Before Grisman, before Newgrass Revival, before Bela stepped onstage.

Sun Tangled Angel Revival (S.T.A.R.)

2006-06-24T23:10:00.000-04:00

Gibb Droll has had a long-standing collaborative relationship with Kevin Kinney. Kinney is most known for his days in Drivin’ and Cryin’ and the song Fly Me Courageous. I never cared for that song and never ventured to discover anything more about Drivin’ and Cryin’. My interest was heightened, however, when I discovered that he and Gibb were close. When I found out about S.T.A.R. I immediately ordered the album. It was totally different from what I was expecting. It’s best characterized as Alt Country, I suppose. If that’s another term for damn good songwriting, then that’s what it is. Gibb makes himself known on this album in a very controlled way. He doesn’t overpower any of the songs but his presence is there when it’s needed. I’ve come to really enjoy Kinney vocals. It fits this style of music very well and his lyrics are very deep. I’m very impressed with what they achieved on this album. I hope that more people discover this album and give it the exposure that it deserves.

Everything

2006-06-24T21:22:00.000-04:00

The band Everything is one of those that never fit any mold. If I had to name a band that they remind me of, it would be Spin Doctors with tons more horns. I only saw them live once but they had a ton of energy. The thing that amazed me most about the band was that everyone played more than one instrument with the exception of like the bass player. Someone playing guitar would grab a tenor sax, someone else would grab a trombone and another an alto sax. And this wasn’t a switch up in between songs this was during songs! As I understand it Everything formed at James Madison University when they were students. After graduation they moved to Washington, D.C., and became a regional act. They put out 5 or 6 albums and I have two of those. The self-titled live album and Super Natural. Their biggest song was definitely Hooch from that album and it landed on the Water Boy Soundtrack. After about 2000 there was dramatic decline in their touring and output. I used to check their website frequently but it seldom changed. After checking it to see if I could post it for this article I find that they are back together and are promoting a new album. They explain that they were on a long hiatus due to a list of reasons. They were a great band…a very talented band and I'm sure they still are. I mentioned previously that Dave Slankard and Nate Brown played on Gibb’s album Walking Away. Gibb played on this live album that Everything put out in 1996. And if you look closely at Gibb’s website you’ll see that it is created by Slankard. Anyway, I give this live album by Everything two big thumbs up. Go support this band that has not been accesssible for awhile. There are so many jambands out there worthy of seeing but most are a variation on some familiar theme. Not so with Everything...they are unique. Go check them out.

Gibb Droll Discography

2006-06-24T21:15:00.000-04:00

Gibb Droll (Band)

2006-06-23T22:56:00.000-04:00

I’ve been holding off writing about Gibb Droll because I wanted to make sure that I did him justice. Having never blogged before I wasn’t sure what would be proper to write about. Now that I’ve got a few blog entries under my belt, I’d like to take a stab at it. I had the pleasure of seeing Gibb Droll live some 41 times over a period of about 9 years. I used to follow him around and record the shows on cassette, reel-to-reel and a couple of times on video. I had the fortune of meeting Gibb and the band back in October ’91, some 3 months after they formed. My first bootleg was February the following year at Trax in Charlottesville, Virginia. I have such fond memories because I was able to see the band grow and to watch the struggles of a local band (Virginia Beach) go regional and attempt national status. I will include a discography of the albums the band released together and then what Gibb released as a solo performer. When I saw the band for the first time they were selling their four-song demo on cassette. It was recorded in a studio just after the formed.

Their first official album was a Live CD released in 1993. 1994 saw the release of their first full-length studio CD, Dharma. Next was Narrow Mouth Jar in 1995. The band was originally a three piece with Mike Williams on drums, Tom Hall on bass and Gibb on guitar and vocals. By 1993 Pete Mathis had joined to play keyboards. Gary Look replaced Tom Hall. Gary played on Dharma and Narrow Mouth Jar. A guy named Kevin from Charleston, who played with the band briefly, replaced Gary. He was the most amazing bass player I’ve ever seen live, with the exception of maybe Chris Wood. A young guy who had studied music at Radford University replaced him. He played a stand up bass, and I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember his name. Somewhere around ’98 Gibb decided to disband the Gibb Droll Band and to continue on as a solo artist. He came out with a self-titled CD in 1998. It only contained 6 songs but showed some of Gibb’s best songwriting. Walking Away was released in 2002 and included two members of the band Everything, Dave Slankard and Nate Brown. This album again proved Gibb was growing as a songwriter and getting away from his moniker of just being a lead guitarist. He met up with Kevin Kinney of Drivin’ and Cryin’ fame and formed the Sun Tangled Angel Revival. They released an album of the same name. In 2005 Gibb released his latest album entitled Ten Days. Again he has honed his songwriting to a phenomenal level. Gibb now seems to be a guitarist for hire and has hooked up with a lot of young, diverse talent. He occasionally comes out and plays on short tours, sometimes with Kevin Kinney. He know longer has a “band”, as far as I know. I was proud to have gotten to know Gibb Droll and the band he had through the 90’s. He’s a very, very nice and humble person. I would like to say that Gibb Droll, who is my second favorite artist of all-time, went on to achieve fame and fortune on a national level but that never became the case. He has some notoriety but not what I had hoped. I think Gibb is happy with what he has achieved. I’ve seen an incredible growth from him as a musician, a songwriter and a vocalist since that first time in 1991. I wish him and the musicians that have been associated with him all the best. Buy his albums, go out and see him if you have the chance, check out his website. You won’t be disappointed.

moe.

2006-06-22T00:57:00.000-04:00

I want to write about this band because I don't personally know anyone else who digs them. I know they have a fan base and I know that they are written about in Relix and on the web, but I can't find anyone near me that wants to listen to them. The name of this album is Warts and All, Volume 2, and the title says it all. This is a band that brings the best of jamband music to the stage. They are raw...their solos are flawed...they don't have great vocalists but they come across with energy and enough talent to express things no one else is expressing. They are a fun band to listen to...and I'm sure fun to watch, as well. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing them live but I would jump at the chance. They're not polished and slick like Phish, MMW or SCI but the good time is there.

Hound Dog Taylor

2006-06-15T03:30:00.000-04:00

Tell me this ain’t a happy man. A kitchen chair and an old guitar. In the world of electric blues people talk about B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, but you don’t hear Hound Dog Taylor’s name mentioned near enough. As a kid I was lucky enough to be exposed to this album, Natural Boogie. One of the things that I love about the blues is that every note doesn’t have to be perfect, sound quality is optional, but the emotion has to be there or it ain’t the blues. Hound Dog wasn’t the technical guitar player that seems to be the norm these days, but he was a master of emotive playing. When someone tries to play the blues without the emotion, it just sounds awful…it’s empty. But you can pull it off the other way round, emotion can make you a blues player even if you can barely get around on a guitar neck. Now I won’t extend this exception to punk music. Me and punk don’t exactly get along. And the argument has been made that if the energy is there, music will follow even if melody doesn’t. I don’t agree with that. Melody has to be there. Anyway, I’m getting off course. This album, Natural Boogie, exemplifies my point. It’s solid from beginning to end with the highlight being the track Sadie. Sadie is available on iTunes for download if anyone is interested and I highly recommend it. This album is available on CD, as well.

Ladell McLin

2006-06-13T23:40:00.000-04:00

I knew very little about this artist before I picked up his CD, Stand Out. I found his album advertised in the back of Relix magazine, which I subscribe to. He was referred to as a “new Hendrix” and I’m a sucker for anything related to Hendrix. Let me start by saying that he has Hendrix’s look down. He looks and dresses very similar, and this should have been a red flag to me, but it wasn’t. I listened to the album after I got it and was struck by two things: Firstly, how similar his voice and vocal style is to Hendrix, and also how similar his writing style is to Hendrix’s; Secondly, this didn’t get me at all excited. Though this guy plays well enough to comp some of Jimi’s riffs, his songs could be mistaken for long lost Hendrix songs, and his voice sounds like Hendrix more than any artist I’ve ever heard SINCE Hendrix…it doesn’t do it for me. It’s a case where you think you want something (i.e. someone to pick up the torch and carry on as the reincarnated Hendrix) but when you find it you’re disappointed. What McLin has done for me is help me realize Hendrix is dead and should be left that way. Wherein a thousand good guitarists have covered Jimi’s works and even expounded on them to great effect, trying to channel Jimi’s songwriting doesn’t work. Ironically, McLin’s downfall is that he’s channeled too much of Hendrix. And, by no means is this album bad, I don’t want to leave the reader with that impression; McLin may go on to do very well. But for me it’s a case of Icarus flying too close to the Son.

Larry Rice..........

2006-06-09T22:18:00.000-04:00

I’d like to write a bit about one of my favorite songwriters. In bluegrass circles most people know Tony Rice, guitar extraordinaire. A bit fewer knows about the Rice Brothers as a whole. The Rice brothers were born in Danville, Virginia (deep in the heart of bluegrass territory) but were moved as young children to California. Their father and an uncle, I believe, taught them to play. Tony was playing before audiences by the time he was 8, following in his idol’s footsteps, Clarence White. His brother Wyatt also took up guitar and released a solo album that is quite good. He also often plays rhythm for Tony on the road. Brother Ron is a bass player but never sought to be a professional, as far as I know. Neither did Larry Rice, the brother I’d like to talk about. Larry has released a few albums over the years and most recently played with Tony, Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen for a couple of CDs. Larry is a mandolin player (my personal favorite mandolin player), a vocalist and an incredible songwriter. His album Time Machine is riddled with great songs (Winter Conversation is a highlight!). Another favorite of mine is the album Artesia. Kodak Carousel is a beautifully written song from that album. So are Bleeker Street and my personal favorite, Tinsel Town. I think you can download his albums as mp3s, but I could never find Artesia or Time Machine on CD. I have Time Machine on vinyl and Artesia was recorded for me onto cassette more than a dozen years ago. I believe they were both on the Rebel label and for some reason they didn’t release Larry’s works on CD. Like Tony’s album Mar West, which is a jambander’s dream, it was only available on cassette and I don’t know if you can still get it.
Larry played with J.D. Crowe in the New South in the 70’s. I understand that he became disenchanted with the music industry and moved to Florida where he worked as an electrician. Occasionally he came out to play with his brothers or to do the odd album.

About a year ago I read that Larry was battling cancer and that Tony was doing some concerts for him. In preparation for this review I discovered that Larry Rice passed away on May 14…less than a month ago. That deeply saddens me because Larry has always come across as an incredibly empathetic and caring person. His songwriting, to me, is every bit as powerful as Dylan’s. God Bless Larry, the Rice Brothers and all of Larry’s family. My heartfelt prayers are with them and for the repose of Larry's soul. So run out and download, beg, borrow or steal Larry’s albums and songs. Discover a truly magnificent songwriter that has left a powerful legacy behind.

A couple of years ago I went to see Tony Rice and Peter Rowan in Blacksburg, Virginia. I had wanted to hang out afterwards to talk to Tony. I wanted to tell him how much of a fan I was of Larry's. I wanted to tell him to tell Larry how much his songwriting meant to me. I know Tony gets praise all the time but I thought it would mean something to him and to Larry if I told him how much of a Larry Rice fan I was. I hung out for a little while and Peter Rowan did come out and sign autographs. But Tony didn't show any signs of coming out after the show so I left after about half an hour of waiting. I wish that I'd have gotten to tell Tony how much Larry meant to me.

It's 5:30 a.m. and I'm up drinking coffee and listening to Time Machine while I write this. I can't get Larry off my mind since I discovered last night of his passing. It seems appropriate to drink coffee and watch the dawn break while listening to Larry sing.

Kimmo Pohjonen

2006-06-09T17:41:00.000-04:00

I found this artist on the Link Channel. They have a show headlining world artists and this guy caught my attention. His name is Kimmo Pohjonen. He’s a Finnish accordionist, but with a twist. He uses loops and his body to make odd percussion sounds that are incorporated into his songs. Unless you see what he’s doing it’s hard to visualize it. This accordion that he plays is something like the biggest, most complicated one that is made. Apparently, his mastery of this instrument puts him in a small minority. His music sounds very similar to something Pink Floyd might have recorded; yet he is the only one playing. He’s a one-man band with a loop machine. Of course, as usual, finding his album Kielo requires some searching on the Internet. But if you want something truly original, Kimmo Pohjonen can deliver.

To get a feel for this guy's artistic impulses, check out this release from his website:

Pohjonen collaboration with farm equipment

On May 27, Kimmo Pohjonen makes a special concert performance in Ramsöö, Finland with local farmers from Pohjonen's home county, Häme. The event, Ramsöön ITE Festival will feature Pohjonen and his accordion performing composed music and improvisations with the farmers and their farm equipment.

Jean-Michel Pilc Trio

2006-06-08T22:18:00.000-04:00

The Jean-Michel Pilc Trio is another jazz group that I found whilst listening to WVTF. The name of this album is Welcome Home. It features both covers and originals. Without question, the most impressive track is their cover of So What. This also leads off the album. I’ve heard many versions of this standard, but this by far dwarfs everything I’ve heard. Jean-Michel Pilc is a true genius and he has a tight, tight trio. His original stuff is similar to a calculated baboon beating on a piano. It’s hard to get into, other than to say you have to trust that he has a vision he’s chasing. But, just like the scene in Green Card, Pilc is able to turn it around in a millisecond into the most controlled, melodic of songs. His virtuoso is stunning and makes this album a fun one to listen to. To know that human spirit and body can achieve and create this level of virtuosity is awe-inspiring.

Steve Winwood

2006-06-08T01:07:00.000-04:00

This artist is no stranger to anyone. His name is right up there with Clapton, Page and Hendrix. However, he has pulled off recreating a sound that is timeless with this album. Released in 2003, About Time is as close to a Traffic album as one can get. And I’d even go so far as to say it’s Winwood’s best work. I grew up listening to John Barleycorn Must Die and I still absolutely love that album. It’s one of my all-time favorites. But this album surpasses it. The group of musicians that Winwood surrounds himself with are all at the top of their game. And he’s learned to lay back and play soulfully and mellow. The song Silvia (Who Is She) just blows me away. This ain’t the 80’s Steve Winwood; this is the 60’s version of Winwood, who has created an album filled with the songwriting of a lifetime. And that’s saying a lot for this man.

Baaba Seth

2006-06-08T00:41:00.000-04:00

I’d like to talk about a band that I don’t think exists anymore and whose albums are not even available to buy. Still, I feel like saying some kind words for this band that made some great music. Baaba Seth was a band from Charlottesville, Virginia during the mid to late 90’s. I don’t know much about them except that they had several line-up changes, and they were heavily influenced by world music, specifically African music. To my knowledge they released only two albums on the label Butros Butros Groove. Crazy Wheel was a studio album that was released in 1997. Live…At The End Of The World followed it in 1999. I missed many opportunities to see this band but I did see them once. They had incredible stage energy. They had about 6 musicians onstage, a great electric guitarist (Mike Chang); the lead singer (Dirk Lind), who also played acoustic guitar; a flautist who played an incredible flute, sax, percussion and sang and danced (Hope Clayburn); a horn player (Tim Lett); a great drummer (Jim Ralston); and a bassist (Derek Bond). I’ve often wondered what happened to the band but not a lot can be found about them on the Internet, except that they did exist. If anyone out there happens to know anything about the band, let me know. I’d love to know if some form of the band still exists or if members of Baaba Seth went on to other projects.

Doyle Bramhall II

2006-06-06T16:48:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I’ve come across a talent wherein the artist has achieved a level of success amongst peers and idols but that doesn’t translate to mainstream success. This seems to be the case with Doyle Bramhall II. I came across him when he played on Austin City Limits. I ran down to my local record store the next day and they had never heard of him. Their database showed no evidence of an album by him. I finally found him through the internet, although I also found his father, Doyle Bramhall, Sr. Apparently, Doyle Senior is a drummer and has been on the scene in Texas for many decades. He played with Stevie Ray Vaughan and many blues greats. It seems that Doyle Junior has been overshadowed to some degree by his father. But his talent is there. He plays a unique style of guitar, a right handed guitar played like a left handed one. He never re-strung it correctly, so the high strings are up top and the low strings are on the bottom. This causes all of the fingerings to be upside down. Try finding a Mel Bay Chord Book for that! Anyway, he somehow taught himself to play this way, and play very well at that! His first album is called Jellycream (1999) and his second is called Welcome (2001). He caught the eye of Eric Clapton after his first album and he played on the phenomenal CD Riding With The King. BB King and Eric Clapton even covered two of Bramhall’s own songs on that album. Bramhall went on to tour with Clapton as his opening act. His website is often dormant, or even missing. I don’t know why this guy has not made it to the radio or to mainstream stardom. Clapton did all he could to help launch this guy and his performance on Austin City Limits is certainly on of the most memorable I’ve seen. If you like blues in the vein of SRV or Hendrix, look this guy’s albums up….if you can find them.

Stacy Hobbs - Guitar Harpist

2006-06-05T13:17:00.000-04:00

I mentioned in another part of this blog that I’ve been playing guitar for twenty years now. In all that time I had only one guitar instructor. In the early 90’s the Southern Conservative helped turn me on to bluegrass and I wanted to learn how to play it. I struggled for a few years and then decided it was time to seek out help. I went to the Fret Mill, a high-end acoustic instrument store and local bluegrass hangout. There I was able to get lessons in bluegrass guitar through Stacy Hobbs. I had been playing for 10 years by this time. Stacy was able to get me straightened out on the flat-picking basics (I had been doing everything wrong). Then he taught me about fingerstyle, going through old country blues and Old Time, and then we even did a few classical pieces. I stayed with Stacy for about a year and a half before I stopped. Stacy was a wonderful teacher and a friend. He even played at my wedding. When I left Stacy he was still playing a six string. Some time later he switched over to a guitar harp. I knew that Stacy had been leaning more and more towards fingerstyle and he had already created some incredible effects on the six string. He was using a third hand capo and combining that with multiple finger tappings (think Eddie Van Halen on acoustic) to get an amazing sound. I have Stacy’s first two solo CDs, Seller’s Remorse and Beggars’ Dance. Both showcase Stacy’s incredible talent and dedication to fingerstyle. In preparation for writing this entry I did a Google search and was happy to find that Stacy has a website. He’s also offering a new CD. I’ve lost touch with Stacy over the years but hope to use this opportunity to catch up with him. Check out his albums and if you ever get a chance to see him live, don’t miss it.

Stevens, Siegel & Ferguson

2006-06-04T19:54:00.000-04:00

For my first jazz album review I’d like to talk about Stevens, Siegel & Ferguson. We have a local public radio station that plays jazz in the evenings and I had to stop listening to the show because every time I did I would have a list of CDs to go buy the next day. This is a group that I discovered through that radio program. This album is called Points Of View and contains both originals and covers. They are a wonderful trio and you can tell when listening to them that they have been together for awhile. They read off of one another beautifully. When I last looked this group up I think they had only two albums to their credit. I don’t even know if they are still around. Points Of View was released in 1997. No one is a virtuoso in this group, but the sum of the parts is what makes this group a great jazz trio. Check them out. They are very soothing and melodic, not super strung-out (or "nutballs", to coin my daughter's phrase for craziness).

New Bohemians

2006-06-04T15:21:00.000-04:00

After thinking about this blog, one of the things I hope to accomplish is to talk about lesser known bands or albums. One of the first that I would like to discuss is the New Bohemians. Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians were written off in the early 90’s after two albums. The first, Shooting Rubberbands, was a huge success. The second, Ghost of a Dog, was nowhere near as good in my opinion. Then the band disbanded. What a lot of people don’t know is that a third album was recorded several years ago. It’s called The Live Montauk Sessions and was only released, to my knowledge, through their poorly kept website. It’s short, only 7 songs long, but achieves what they state is the original New Bohemian sound. The story goes that when they were signed their record label didn’t like their original drummer. He was fired and doesn’t appear on the label’s albums. The record company heavily influenced the sound for Shooting Rubberbands and it didn’t sound like the original band. The Montauk Sessions was an effort to get the band back together and resurrect the real Bohemians. They spent a few weeks together in Montauk writing and recording these songs. Raw is the key word for this album…and it works to their advantage. It is their best writing and playing and many people probably don’t know it. What a shame. I hope it’s still available and that people will check it out.

Guitars and such.......

2006-06-03T21:17:00.000-04:00

One thing that I neglected to mention in the title is that I play guitar. I'm trying to learn jazz but it is much harder than anything else I've learned. I know a lot of flatpicking bluegrass, some Old Time, some fingerstyle. I can play some country blues and a lot of blues on the electric. Depending on what I am playing, I have different preferences for the type of guitar I play. Here are my main guitars and bit about them......

This is my Fender DG-9 Natural. It has the widest neck I've ever found on a flat-top and it has a nice, bright tone. I've had it for about 4 years now and I use it mainly for fingerstyle. The neck is a little wide for flatpicking. Sadly, it is no longer made by Fender. I don't know why they discontinued it, other than most people don't like a wide neck.

This is my Ibanez Artwood. It has a solid, white spruce top, a bound neck and a smaller fret scale than the Fender. This is my main acoustic and what I use for everything. The only complaint I have about this guitar are the tuners. I'm an Ibanez fan but they have horrible stock tuners. Otherwise, this guitar is the best I've found for the price range. I can't afford a Martin or a Santa Cruz.

This summer marks my 20th year of playing guitar. I always used to wonder why any guitarist would play such an ugly guitar. Then two years ago this one caught my eye. I loved the finish and sat down with it at the music store. I was amazed at how easy these are to play. I understand why jazz guitarists use them. The action is incredibly low and fast. The pick guard allows you to station your hand over the strings. Fingerstyle and picking are both easier. Gibson and Gretsch hold the market on these guitars. And they sell used for $1,100 to $1,200. Ibanez came out with an economy model called the Artcore Hollowbody. They skimpped on a few things, mainly the tuners and the pickups. I replaced the pickups with Atilla Zollers (handmade German piezo pickups). I've also been waiting for a year for a set of Schaller tuners to come in so that I can replace these. The knobs were also switched out for knurled chrome and the nut was replaced with an Earvana.

This is my Fender- Custom Telecaster FMT HH Electric. This is the electric I go to if I want to play very fast and very bright. The Seymour Duncan pickups have a push-pull coil tap on the tone knob. So they can sound like single coils or humbuckers. You can get the traditional Les Paul sound out of this guitar in addition to the tele sound. Personally, I've always loved the sound of a tele but I HATE the tele's neck. The appeal of this guitar is that it has an extremely thin and narrow neck. Plus the cherry sunburst is beautiful!

This is my favorite guitar of the lot. I bought it in '92 and it's the most I've ever spent on a guitar. It is a Fender Pro Strat. It has a locking nut and Lace Sensor pickups (Lace Sensors debuted that same year on the Eric Clapton Signature Series). The pickups are warm and clean, not very bright. I had the headstock signed by one of my favorite guitarists about ten years ago (Gibb Droll). His old band's logo sticker is in front of the bridge.

If I were to hit the lottery tomorrow, these are the guitars that I would run out and buy immediately.

CF Martin - DCE Trey Anastasio Acoustic/Electric Guitar The DC Trey Anastasio Signature Edition blends form and function in a style as original as the man himself. A Dreadnought body with a smoothly curved Venetian cutaway allows for easy access to the upper frets. Solid tonewoods yield an exceptionally clear, full tone, enhanced with a top of rare Italian alpine spruce, East Indian rosewood sides and a three-piece back with “wings” of East Indian rosewood and a center wedge of beautifully flamed Hawaiian koa. A 1-11/16” (at the nut) low profile genuine mahogany neck provides playing comfort. Distinctive appointments include a flamed Hawaiian koa headplate with eye-catching headstock and fingerboard inlays. It’s a practical guitar that looks and plays as good as it sounds, and it is offered with Fishman’s acclaimed onboard Ellipse™ Blend System that delivers superb live and recorded sound. And a nice $4,000 pricetag.

Dean - Schenker Brothers V Limited Edition Guitar
Only 200 of these guitars are being produced worldwide! This surefire collector's treasure is made from mahogany, along with a "5A" grade flamed maple top that is laser-engraved with the Schenker brothers' portraits and flames. Even the ebony fingerboard is inlaid with MOP flame designs! The neck is made from mahogany as well. Other top-notch appointments include Grover tuners, a custom "S" tailpiece, cream body and neck binding, custom heel, and gold plated hardware. Includes a set of custom-designed humbuckers so you can rock out whenever you want to take it off the wall display. This one is only $6,000.

Fender - Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster® Unleash the fury! In addition to the Swedish shred maestro’s trademark scalloped fretboard and brass nut, theYngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster guitar has a unique pickup combination—two DiMarzio YJM Pickups in the neck and middle positions, and one DiMarzio HS-3 Stack in the bridge position. Other features include a large headstock, original synchronized tremolo and aged plastic parts. Available with maple or rosewood fingerboard. $1,400.

The Tony Rice Professional Model includes certain design elements that further customize the guitar for those players seeking to emulate the style of the legendary bluegrass player. The back and sides of the guitar are made from Brazilian rosewood, and the top is carved from German spruce. The shorter scale length of 25-1/4" provides a slightly more supple feel and a sweeter tone. The soundhole on this model has been enlarged to 4-9/16", which provides a stronger response in the upper ranges. Other features include ivoroid/black/ivoroid binding on the fingerboard and peghead, and SCGC tuners. Somewhere around $3,500-$4,000.

Well, these are what I dream of at nights.