Blogging » Guitars, blues, rock, jazz and the music biz
Second installment of our new music roundup. Four great new releases: one from a dead guitarist (with the help of some “friends”), one from a shredding jazz fusioneer but with vocals on all tracks, one from a band formed by two renowned studio and solo guitarists, and one from the Allman Brothers drummer who sits on the left side of the stage (from the audience’s perspective) and is nicknamed J.J. And you can listen to tunage from these albums through the player at the top of each page here.
Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band
Renaissance Man
2011 Lil’ Johnieboy Records
Download: Leaving Trunk, Laurie Ann Blue, I Believe I’ll Make a Change
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Frank Gambale
Soulmine (feat. Boca)
2012 Frank Gambale
Download: Forbidden Kiss, Keep Leadin’ Me On, Sun Will Shine
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Renegade Creation
Bullet
2012 Esoteric Antenna
Download: All Over Again, Bullet, Greedy Life
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Tommy Bolin & Friends
Great Gypsy Soul
2012 Esoteric Antenna
Download: Smooth Fandango, Crazed Fandango, Flying Fingers
In Part II of our blog roundup, we turn to some others listed on our blog roll, some infrequently posted, but worthy because of the nature of the blogger.
The Carl Verhayen Report
One of my favorite electric guitarists, Verhayen came to my attention decades ago when I found one of his solo albums, 1988′s No Borders, and fell in love with his tone, chops, melodic soloing, rock and his fusion-themed instrumental music on this particular early release. He’s been a member of Supertramp since 1985, and consistently has been a “first call” session guitarist for movies, TV shows and music releases. This blog is infrequent, but always interesting to hear insight from a multi-talented artist like Carl Verhayen, here’s a sample.
Recordings like The Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore, Electric Ladyland by Hendrix and Wheels of Fire by Cream were major signposts along the way. They helped me to form a concept of tone. It wasn’t long before I began to realize there were choices. Preferences as to string gauges, pickup height, action height, speakers, tube types, pedals, cables, picks, pickups, neck shape, scale length and tuning gears…At any given moment in your musical journey your tone is the artistic signature that defines you and your musical tastes.
Designer’s Workshop with Jol Dantzig
This is a beautiful site from a luthier that has made beautiful guitars for some great players: John Lennon, George Harrison, Sting, Gary Moore, Billy Gibbons, Rick Nielsen, Keb’ Mo’, Mark Knopfler, Eric Johnson, Martin Barre, Johnny Ramone, Roy Buchannan, and many, many more. How’s that for cred?
Sakura guitar by Jol Dantzig
Dantzig’s blog shows just what this guitar maker is up to, including finishing up the build on a new guitar, called the Sakura, and on sale for $28,000! But, looks a treasure. From the build info: 
“Custom brushed-nickel finished aluminum hardware, compliments the visuals along with my hand-cast acrylic 1937 replica knobs. Internal wiring utilizes vintage (1940s) Western Electric cloth and silk covered wire, Jensen built oil filled tone cap and a refurbished 1950s phenolic wafer 3-way switch. Medium oval frets, 25.5″ scale, Japanese Oxen bone nut and genuine pearl position markers. Custom made pickups hand-wound by Seymour Duncan himself with genuine butyrate bobbins and degaussed A2 magnets. One of the most resonant and bold sounding guitars I have ever witnessed.
Thaddeus Hogarth
Here’s another blog from a professional musician, thus making him an infrequent poster similar to Verhayen. His name’s Thaddeus Hogarth, an Associate Professor in the Guitar department at Berklee College of Music. He’s played with Tower of Power, Average White Band, James Montgomery, Fred Wesley, and Johnny Winter and is a two-time winner of the Independent Music Award for R&B/Blues (2001, 2006). Nice cred. Posts monthly or thereabouts. Most recently, he profiles the excellent 2011 release from eclectic electric guitarist Oz Noy, waxing poetic about Oz’s tone and new tunage, but also posting some excellent videos of Noy discussing the latest effort. Read more of Hogarth’s post and watch the videos here…
The Guitar Channel
Like this blog. Very specific, focused entirely on the jazz fusion, prog rock spheres. Great source for new concert tour dates, reviews of prog rock albums and more. This week this blog posted news about the first tour of the new supergroup Flying Colors featuring guitarist Steve Morse, tickets go on sale May 11th. Going to get me some.
Melodic, haunting, and torrid instrumental
guitar jazz rock from ace session guitarist
For those guitar fans who used to delight in reading liner notes to discover what artists were playing on your fave records, this review is for you. Michael Landau is a master session guitarist who is only now gaining recognition as a solo artist.
Michael Landau is most well known for his session guitar work with recording greats such as Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, BB King, James Taylor, Ray Charles and Rod Stewart. He began playing professionally as a teen, and at age 19 he joined Boz Scaggs for a world tour; by the age of 20 he started his long career of session work on the recommendation of long time friend Steve Lukather. Currently he tours with his own band, and recently released the debut album Renegrade Creation starring Landau, Robben Ford, bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Jimmy Novak. Considered one of the top guitar albums of 2011.
With this release, Landau shows his love for instrumental guitar music, admittedly not always the most popular form of rock, jazz or blues. But I love it. Moody, orchestral at times, jazzy almost always, but with a rock and modern feel to the songs. Definitely a personal musical journey, kowtowing to only the feel and groove that Landau revels in as a songwriter.
From the soft-spoken opener, Delano, through the growl of The Big Black Bear and to the slow but burning build of Big Sur Howl, these are idiosyncratic, meandering and melodic tunes. The song structure and melodies are often haunting, often searing, always different and unexpected. His soloing style is very distinctive, hard to pin down in any one style but certainly Landau has his own set of tones, from silky single coil stratification to biting, bucking leads.
For Fans of: Robben Ford, Steve Lukather
Fave tracks: Big Sur Howl, Sneaker Wave, Spider Time
March is here, so I’ve had the regular guitar magazine suspects in hand for at least a week or so. Physically and digitally in hand, in the case of app-based reading/viewing.
March brings us Brian May of Queen as cover feature here in the U.S. (Guitar Player) and across the pond (Guitar & Bass).
Brian May and his Red Special
Detailed interview with Brian May on Queen’s enduring legacy. Interesting guitar tidbits abound: ‘…the “guitar jazz band” in the song “Good Company” is an astounding bit of guitar orchestration. You…nail the sounds of trumpets and trombones.’ Mr. May goes on to elaborate that he did not use a slide, playing the parts ‘…just used bending and the tremolo.’
This month also features the popular Hey Jazz Guy column from Jake Hertzog. Of course, I’m slightly prejudiced. Jake’s my guitar teacher, and I never trouble him about being less than half my age!
Hey Jazz Guy column in Guitar Player March 2012
His March monthly column answers the question ‘How can I turn my cool rock chords into some sweet jazz changes?’ Submitted by ‘Rockstar from Reno.’ Jake’s easy to follow column takes four good rock chords and takes them through seven different ‘reharmonization’ steps, adding and subtracting to show the progress of chords from rock form to jazz progression.
Each month Jake posts video online, making available the lesson, practice examples, and live cuts.
Strong issue, packed with good monthly columns. Who knew that Paul Gilbert, rockin’ shredder extraordinaire, was such a good writer. His columns are suffused with intelligent instruction and advice but also with a great sense of humor and writing style.
Paul Gilbert
This month he starts by asking the reader if we have “heard” about his significant hearing loss and tinnitus, pun intended. Goes on with a list of Do and Don’t advice. Peppered with asides like this: “Don’t…try to figure out key of unfamiliar song during the chaos of a multi-guitar NAMM jam. Just mute your strings and go chicka-chicka. That works in any key.” Spot on.
Other worthy features include an overview of the new toys and guitars from Winter NAMM 2012, and a thoroughly intriguing and satisfying article that goes into depth on 10 Pro Pedalboard rig rundowns, including those of John Petrucci, Joe Satriani, Nels Cline, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Walter Becker.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Pedalboard
Zakk Wylde at The Grove, NAMM 2012
A humorous lead news feature this month as they review the comedy ‘roast’ of shredder Zakk Wylde during the NAMM winter show at The Grove. Here are some worthy one-liners:
Zakk’s guitar playing is way less diatonic and way more gin and tonic – Scott Ian
Zakk, I grew up learning all of your riffs and solos. Then I learned how to play real music. – Gus G.
Nice features on Dave Davies of The Kinks, blueser Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and tab and backing tracks for six songs including Foo Fighters, The Smiths, and Metallica.
This month they feature a younger Brian May on the cover with the enticing but unrealistic tag line – PLAY LIKE BRIAN MAY in a week! The editor’s note discusses this feature as not an attempt to get a player to play like May in seven days, but to help focus the mind on specific techniques. Of course, this feature is no different than what all of the mags publish: Steal This Style, Ten Things to Play Like…, etc.
Jack Bruce and Spectrum Road
Nice interview with iconic bassist Jack Bruce. He notes that Mingus was his biggest influence, and not so much electric bassists! And of course, he reminisces a bit about Cream, sometime considered the first great supergroups. Interesting sidebar in this piece, Bruce has a new band, Spectrum Road, a Tony Williams Lifetime tribute band featuring John Medeski on piano, Vernon Reid on guitar and Cindy Blackman-Santana on drums, first release dropping in May.
Pianist Michael Wolff and drummer Mike Clark put together a truly stellar lineup of musicians for the launch of their new band Wolff Clark Expedition at The Jazz Standard in NYC last night. Even though, full disclosure, I’m friends with the band, I have trouble not viewing last night as one of the best jazz shows I’ve seen or heard in years — a mix of kick-ass music, intricate jazz and funkified, rip-snorting jams.
Michael Wolff
Wolff, a veteran of Cannonball Adderly and Cal Tjader’s bands, showed his musicianship and emcee chops (from his days as musical director of The Arsenio Hall Show), directing the band and chatting with the audience, tossing off one-liners with aplomb. His playing sparkled with intensity and shimmered with soaring solos.
Mike Clark
Mike Clark, a jazzy post-bop stickman who also recorded with Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, laid down a killer swing foundation for the band to coalesce around. His rapport with bassist James Genus, was rock steady yet delicately nuanced, feather touch, tighter than tight.
James Genus
Genus’s bass work on the upright is a sight to behold, eyes closed, mouth moving, he drives and pulses the music, weaving sudden changes in feel and time in lockstep with Clark’s drumming.
Lenny Pickett
The set started off with a ripping version of Cole Porter’s What Is This Thing Called Love, Wolff’s arrangement wove the unshakeable rhythm section with his exuberant piano work and the sinuous melodies of the two saxophonists, the great Lenny Pickett on tenor, and the excellent Steve Wilson on alto. Lenny soloed first, blowing the sonic roof off; Wilson’s fiery alto solo highlighted their contrasting yet complimentary styles, making it hard to believe they had never played together before.
The quintet format with dual sax work supplementing the trio works to make the music intricate but entirely accessible. The improvisation was spot on, Wolff’s solos percussively and tunefully shone, Pickett and Wilson soared and drove each other upwards, Clark spewed syncopated and silky stickwork, and Genus gave us grooving, intense, melodic, inside and outside soloing.
Steve Wilson
The club was crowded and buzzing, the audience digging each song, grokking each shift in style and tone. The Cole Porter tune, showing off killer solos; a funky, jazzy, soulful version of Come Together; a luscious original, Ballad Noir, starring a balletic, breathy, beautiful solo from Mr. Pickett; Harbour Island, a jazzer written by Wolff; and closed out with Loft Funk, an incredible mix of funk, jazz, and improvising penned by Mike Clark.
The set list showed the mettle and flair that the Wolff Clark Expedition are bringing to the jazz scene: standards blended with original songs and covers of contemporary classics, all in a high-energy, pulsating, groove-heavy style. The set delivered in spades: the audience left talking about it, and the staff at The Jazz Standard labeled the set one of the best shows they’d seen there.
Photos courtesy of David Sokol, copyright 2012.
My great friend, Michael Wolff, the jazz pianist not the biz exec, has formed a new band with the awesome drummer Mike Clark, oft-called the most sampled drummer in hip-hop and famous for his work in Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters. Michael W. is an alum of Cal Tjader, Cannonball Adderley, and was also the musical director for the Arsenio Hall Show. They are both seriously excellent musicians and good guys, too, IMHO. LOL.
I’m going to their show tomorrow night at The Jazz Standard in NYC ($20 show, purchase tickets here), should be a blast. This past week, I’ve been helping out Michael and Mike, building the band page on Facebook, using twitter and some other tools for research and outreach. Fun stuff. More to come on the subject of promoting bands via social media.
