The Guitar Channel

Review: Viva Carlos!

Jeff Richman does it again. After producing guitar tributes to John Coltrane, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis, and Steely Dan, Richman serves up the  music of Carlos Santana for his latest project. "Viva Carlos!" (Tone Center) is probably the most interesting tribute Richman has produced so far. The rich Latin rhythms give this collection a completely different vibe than the previous tributes. As a result, the guest guitarists who appear on the album are playing in musical situations they don't normally explore. The backup band this time features Abe Laboriel - bass, Dave Weckl - drums, Luis Conte - percussion, Peter Wolf - keys, and Richman himself on rhythm guitar.

Most of the guest guitarists have appeared on past Richman tributes. Part of what makes this collection so interesting, however, are the new players Richman enlists this time around. Vinnie Moore makes his first appearance on a Richman tribute album, and hopefully it won't be his last. Moore's track "Se A Cabo" opens the album, and he sounds fantastic on this tune. Moore really brings the shred to this release; his crazy-fast legato runs and picking never sound out-of-place, and his aggressive vibrato and high-gain tone work very well here.

Another first-timer that really fits in well is Eric Gales on "Jingo". Gales' bluesy style and heavy tone make this the most powerful tune on the album. Gales sounds great navigating the new key changes provided by Richman's arrangement as well. What a great track.

Country/bluegrass legend Albert Lee appears on "Samba Pa Ti". When I first read that Lee would appear on this album, I thought he was an unusual choice for a Santana tribute. As great as Lee is, I didn't think he would fit in here. I was wrong. His crisp clean lines sound perfect on this tune.

Some Richman tribute veterans turn in nice performances as well - Mike Stern's hip lines and a fresh 7/4 arrangement from Richman breath new life into the classic "Oye Como Va".  Robben Ford sounds great on "Blues For Salvador"; he's the perfect choice for this song. One of the best performances on the album is by Frank Gambale on "Samba De Sausalito". His solo builds in intensity at it goes on, and he even throws in a classic Santana rapid-fire triplet lick for good measure. Eric Johnson plays well, if a bit tentatively, on "Aqua Marine". Richman himself takes a turn on "Europa", and plays some great lines. As is the case with many of the other performances here, he solos with a harmonic sophistication that outweighs what Santana himself might play.

Overall, this is another fine tribute project from Richman and the Tone Center label. Definitely worth picking up.

Rich

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G3 completes Latin American tour - Australian dates coming up

The G3 tour of Latin America is complete. This version of the G3 lineup included Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, and Eric Johnson. Here is a forum thread with a review (and pics) of the final show in Rio De Janeiro Brazil:

G3  - Rio De Janeiro 10/29 review

Next up for G3 is a short tour of Australia starting in late November. This time the lineup will be Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and John Petrucci. Here are the dates:

Wed Nov 29th - Brisbane, Australia - Brisbane Convention Centre
Fri Dec 1st - Sydney, Australia - Hordern Pavillion
Sat Dec 2nd - Melbourne, Australia - Regent Theater
Sun Dec 3rd - Melbourne, Australia - Regent Theater
Wed Dec 6th - Adelaide, Australia - Entertainment Centre
Fri Dec 8th - Perth, Australia - Challenge Stadium 

Review: The Michael Landau Group Live

Guitarist Michael Landau has appeared on countless recordings. In addition to being a studio legend, he's fronted several great bands over the years (such as Burning Water, and the Raging Honkies). He rarely releases "solo" albums however, so when he does it's something to take note of. His latest album, "The Michael Landau Group Live" (Tone Center) is a mixture of vocal and instrumental tunes, and provides an excellent showcase for the variety of styles Landau likes to explore. The 2-disc set is arranged with the blues and heavier stuff up front on disc 1, with the jazzier pieces on disc 2. The songs were all recorded live at The Baked Potato in North Hollywood CA between 2004 and 2006. The other players appearing on the album are Jimmy Johnson and Chris Roy - bass; Toss Panos, Gary Novak, and Ronald Bruner Jr - drums; the always great Scott Kinsey - keys; and Chuck Kavooras - slide guitar (one track). This album is very similar in concept to Landau's last live album, "Live 2000", released in 2001. That album was also a collection of vocal and instrumental pieces, all recorded live at The Baked Potato. Each album has it's strengths, but overall this new release is a more cohesive set of music.

The opening track is a blistering version of "Worried Life Blues". Landau always sounds great is these hard blues settings, and he doesn't disappoint here. His solo is a mixture of wicked blues licks, and Landau's trademark herky-jerky phrasing. Another performance that really stands out is "Born in the Rain", which also appeared on the "Live 2000" album. Here Landau plays a real trippy solo with lots of horror movie-sounding tremolo picked motifs. Very intense performance.

Disc 2 is where we hear Landau's jazzier writing and playing. "The Mighty SB" is practically a straight-ahead tune, with Landau reeling in his wild-bluesy side in favor of a more introspective, flowing approach. The vocal ballad "Widow" is another disc 2 highlight. In general, the writing on these jazz tunes is very hip and sophisticated. It's a side of Landau we don't see too often. Great stuff.

Two of my personal favorite Landau vocal tunes are included in this release as well - "Good Friend" (originally recorded on Landau's "The Star Spangled Banner" album), and "Underwear" (originally recorded on the Raging Honkies album "Boner"). "Good Friend" is pretty faithful to the original, though it's stretched out and includes a nice keyboard solo from Kinsey. "Underwear", on the other hand, is played with a totally different groove than the original studio version. Here's it's done with a laid back half-time feel, whereas the studio version had a fast, driving groove. Another Raging Honkies song, "Why U Lie", received the same dialed-down treatment (with less effective results) on the "Live 2000" album.

If you're not familiar with Michael Landau, and you want to see what all the fuss is about, this is the album to get. It really shows off all the facets of his musicianship. Great playing and writing, awesome guitar tones, and his vocals are very strong. The "Live 2000" album is very worthwhile as well, but I think Landau has topped that live collection with this one.

Rich

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Hectic Watermelon CD release concert with Jerry Goodman

San Diego-based prog-fusion band Hectic Watermelon will be playing a CD release concert at San Diego State University on Dec 14th, with special guest Jerry Goodman on violin. Goodman played on Hectic Watermelon's recently released album "The Great American Road Trip". If you haven't heard this album yet, you'll definitely want to check it out. The writing is great - similar to the Dixie Dregs, only more progressive, and guitarist John Czajkowski is a great player.
You can pick up the album at these locations:

Abstract Logix
Abstrtact Logix Digital Downloads
Amazon
iTunes