Guitar Album Reviews
Ron Affif - Solotude"The whole idea of this session was to play solo but not to change what I wanted to do as a player." So says guitarist Ron Affif in the liner notes for his most recent effort, "Solotude" (Fantasy), which marks the guitarist's first solo guitar recording. It is a concept that Affif faithfully adheres to throughout the duration of the album, which contains 13 tracks of both standard and original material. The guitarist doesn't feel a need to overcompensate for the lack of a band, and fill the music with chords; rather he often lets his single note lines paint their own chordal colors. The result is music that "breathes", and doesn't feel cluttered, the way much solo guitar music tends to.
The choice of standard material on "Solotude" seems to have been influenced by the repetoire of one of the masters of solo guitar; Joe Pass ("Autumn in New York", "All the Things You Are", "What is This Thing Called Love", "My Romance", and others were staples in Pass' solo work). Affif approaches all of these tunes from his own perspective, however, and sounds wholly original in each case, despite Pass' obvious influence in his playing. Also of note are Affif's lovely originals; the harmonically simple and unabashedly pretty Charene in particular.
Fans of solo guitar would be well advised to pick up a copy of "Solotude". As well as hearing great solo guitar playing, you'll get a chance to hear Affif's gorgeously captured Buscarino archtop guitar in a stripped down setting.
More on Solotude at CDnow (with sound samples) NOTE: No money or credit is made by Guitar Guide Dan Cross, or About.com through the sale of this CD
Conosur - Zonda
Much of what the music industry labels as "World Music" is in reality a bland pastiche of styles played by musicians with a less than intimate knowledge of the music they are reproducing. How refreshing it is, then, to hear an album like "Zonda" (Palmetto), which one can confidently refer to as being real world music. The influence of many genres and artists are seamlessly integrated into the music on "Zonda", and the results are at times stunning. Clear is the debt that Hernan Romero and Tony Viscardo owe to Brazilian music, but there are also traces of flamenco guitar, of new age music, of the influence of tango music and the music of Astor Piazzolla, the writing of Pat Metheny, and more.
Which isn't to imply that the music on "Zonda" is derivative. Each of these styles is incorporated into Romero and Viscardo's vision enough that even on "Oblivion", an Astor Piazzolla composition, the music seems wholly their own. Although the music on "Zonda" often stylistically changes rather drastically from track to track (integrating bandoneon on some of the more flamenco-oriented tracks, or on El Condor Pasa, might have been a nice experiment), the transitions are never painful.
The instrumention on Zonda is somewhat typical of modern Brazilian and World Musics; classical guitars, vocals (mostly in Portugese), various types of percussion, and synthesizers. Additionally, the duo have brought in bandoneon player Raul Jaurena for added color. The music on "Zonda", as a result, is very user-friendly, that is nonetheless of a very high calibre, that many fans of new age and world music would no doubt enjoy.
More on Zonda at CDnow (with sound samples) NOTE: No money or credit is made by Guitar Guide Dan Cross, or About.com through the sale of this CD
Deep River of Song: Mississippi - The Blues Lineage
"The Blues Lineage" documents John and son Alan Lomax's efforts to document the music of the early traditional blues players of the Mississippi Delta. In several trips to Mississippi, spanning 1936 to 1942, the Lomax family captured astounding performances by both noted blues musicians and unrecorded blues singers/guitarists, via trips to the Parchman Penitentiary, to gambling houses, and to makeshift recording studios. The music is raw and powerful throughout, and although the primitive recording equipment of the time has left us with a CD of less than perfect audio quality, the tape hiss is never loud enough to be particularly distracting. The "Blues Lineage" liner notes are equally impressive; each track is documented with stories of how and where the recording took place, the complete lyrical content (and transcriptions of the conversations between Lomax and the artist), and even descriptions of how the guitar parts were played. Also included are journal entries made by Alan Lomax, describing the frequent instances of blatant racism (many times by the local police) they observed during their visits. In a word: incredible.
More on Mississippi - The Blues Lineage at CDnow (with sound samples) NOTE: No money or credit is made by Guitar Guide Dan Cross, or About.com through the sale of this CD
Performances by: William Brown, Eddie "Son" House, Jack Rodgers, Hollis "Fathead" Washington, McKinley "Muddy Water" Morganfield (Muddy Waters), David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Lucious Curtis, Willie Ford, Frank Evans.z
Solotude graphic courtesy of Fantasy Jazz
Zonda graphic courtesty of Palmetto Jazz
Mississippi - The Blues Lineage graphic courtesy of Rounder Records.
