The Guitar Channel

Derek Sherinian interview with Guitar World

Keyboardist Derek Sherinian discusses the many great guitarists he's worked with in a new interview for Guitar World. In it, Sherinian talks about recording with Allan Holdsworth, Al DiMeola, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Lukather, and others. The piece includes some interesting quotes from Holdsworth as well.

Derek Sherinian Guitar World interview

Brett Garsed video - YYZ

Saw this on Truth In Shredding: This is Brett Garsed with Carl Carter on bass and Bobby Rock on drums doing the Rush classic YYZ at the 1995 NAMM show. The audio's not great, but it's still a cool vid.

Moved my Guitar Licks page

I've changed my Guitar Licks page so it's fully integrated into the site (as opposed to being a stand alone page). The main difference is the notation jpg's are now thumbnails, since the full size pics were too large for the middle column of the site. You can click the notation images to get the full size pic in a pop-up.

John McLaughlin at the House of Blues

I wouldn't call this a "review" exactly, but I had to post about seeing jazz fusion guitar icon John McLaughlin and his band The 4th Dimension at the House of Blues in Chicago last night. I highly recommend seeing this band if they come through your town (here are the tour dates). McLaughlin was incredible as you would expect, and his band is really something special. Bassist Hadrien Feraud is someone you have to see to believe. This kid is only 23 years old, and is already a total powerhouse on the bass. His solos were probably the wildest bass solos I have ever witnessed. Just amazing. Mark Mondesir was fantastic on drums, and had a particularly scary solo of his own. Gary Husband played both keys and drums during the show. Often during Feraud's solos, Husband would jump up from behind his keyboards and stand at his small drum kit and add some percussion. His contributions to the music were huge. The band played 2 sets of incredible jazz fusion that was a real treat to see.

The tour is being sponsored by Abstract Logix, and they did a fantastic job. One of the highlights of the night for me was finally getting to meet Abstract Logix's founder Souvik Dutta in person. I asked Souvik a couple of weeks ago if he would be at this show so we could meet up. I've worked with Souvik for a while now writing reviews and so forth for his site, and it was great to finally meet the hardest working man in fusion in the flesh. Abstract Logix will be offering recordings of every show from the McLaughlin tour on their site, and they even had the previous nights show for sale right there at their booth (!)  They also gave away a great tour program that contains interviews and info about the band; a nice touch. Take it from me, if this band comes through your area, go out and see them. In my opinion, fans of jazz fusion are woefully under-served in the United States, especially when it comes to live events. It's so cool to see a band of this caliber doing a tour (albeit a short one) of North America. Check them out if you can.

Rich

UPDATE: a review of the tour's opening night performance in North Carolina has been posted at All About Jazz.

Win a copy of Guitar Pro 5.1 software from Modern Guitars Magazine

Modern Guitars Magazine is giving away 5 full-boxed versions of the tab editing software Guitar Pro 5.1 on October 17th. Here's some info from the publisher eMedia: "Guitar Pro 5.1 is a complete workshop for guitarists at an affordable price. Guitar Pro is known as the most powerful and intuitive tablature editor on the market. New advanced notation features add drum notation, vocal notation and tablature support for any stringed instruments with four to seven strings! You can create complete scores for a band in minutes. Guitar Pro 5.1 is your total solution for creating lead sheets, scores, or lesson sheets for your students. Guitar Pro 5.1 features the newest in playback technology including RSE-Realistic Sound Engine." Follow the link below for details on the giveaway.

Win Guitar Pro 5.1 from Modern Guitars Magazine

John McLaughlin: On The Road Part 2

All About Jazz has posted part 2 of their continuing coverage of John McLaughlin's North American tour with his new band The 4th Dimension. The latest article, dubbed The Rehearsal, covers the band as they prepare for the first show. I'll be seeing this amazing band as they come through Chicago tonight.

John McLaughlin: On The Road, Part 2: The Rehearsal

New Steve Morse Q&A posted

A new Steve Morse Q&A post is up at the Official Deep Purple Website. This is a pretty cool section of the site where Morse answers fan-submitted email questions.

Ask Steve at DeepPurple.org

Improvision review at All About Jazz

John Kelman has written a great review of the Alex Machacek, Jeff Sipe, Matthew Garrison album Improvision for All About Jazz. So far, I've heard nothing but high-praise for this fantastic album.

Improvision review at All About Jazz

See Also: My review of Improvision

Steve Morse article at PLAYBACK:stl

The St. Louis-based site PLAYBACK:stl has a nice two part article up on Steve Morse entitled Steve Morse - High Atop the Mountain. Part 1 is an interview, and part 2 is a Steve Morse "primer".

Steve Morse PLAYBACK:stl article

Jeff Sipe interview at Abstract Logix

Abstract Logix has posted a new interview with drummer Jeff Sipe. In the two-part interview, conducted by Rod Sibley, Sipe discusses the recent  Improvision album he recorded with Alex Machacek and Matthew Garrison, his time playing with Shawn Lane and Jonas Hellborg, and much more.

Jeff Sipe Interview

Brett Garsed lick transcription

After many moons I have finally posted a new lick on my Guitar Licks page. This time it's a Brett Garsed run I transcribed from his solo on "Kingdom Of Dreams" from the Planet X Quantum album. Check it out.

Brett Garsed lick from "Kingdom Of Dreams"

Review: Marc Norgaard - Tolerance

My review of drummer Marc Norgaard's new CD Tolerance has been posted at Modern Guitars Magazine. This album features Brett Garsed and Frank Gambale on guitars.

Review: Marc Norgaard - Tolerance

UPDATE 9/22/07: I've republished my review below.

Maryland-based drummer Marc Norgaard has released his debut solo album Tolerance (Call Sign Records). This collection of progressive-rock and jazz fusion instrumentals features an impressive array of great musicians. Joining Norgaard on this release are Brett Garsed (Planet X, Uncle Moe's Space Ranch), Frank Gambale (Chick Corea, Nu Alliance), and Tobias Hurwitz (National Guitar Workshop) on guitars, Steve Hunt (Allan Holdsworth, Stanley Clarke) on piano, and Dave DeMarco (Oblivion Sun) on bass and baritone guitar. Norgaard wrote and arranged all the songs, handles all drums and percussion, and plays some additional guitar, piano, and bass.

Though there's a definite jazz vibe on many of these songs, overall I would classify Tolerance as a progressive-rock album. However, this isn't prog rock in the Planet X or Liquid Tension Experiment sense. The abundant use of piano and shimmering clean-toned guitar parts give the album a unique flavor. For the most part, the melodies are fairly upbeat, and the instrumentation is bright and airy. And nearly every tune uses an odd meter of some sort, at some point. Even though Norgaard is a drummer, their aren't a lot of overt drum solos on this disc. However, the drum parts on every tune are highly intricate, and really provide the foundation for each piece. From a melodic standpoint, the music on Tolerance relies heavily on the guitar, and Norgaard chose some top-notch players to help him with that cause.

I'm always interested in new releases that feature Brett Garsed or Frank Gambale, and this one has proved to be a pleasant surprise. Garsed plays on the majority of the tracks and he sounds great as always. His tone really fits in well here - as usual he has just enough gain in the signal to give it some sustain, while still remaining clean enough to let his touch shine through. I know Garsed considers himself a rock guitarist, but his mature vocabulary and uncanny knack for playing articulate, convoluted sixteenth-note lines (with his highly developed hybrid-picking technique) place him a notch above other "rock" players who might attempt to fit in on this type of material.

Gambale is another guitarist who can seemingly fit in anywhere, but on Tolerance he's showing more of his jazzy side. He's still using a rock tone here, and he plays some of the fastest economy picking runs I've ever heard him play, but the two songs he appears on are among the lighter offerings on the album.

You'll get a good idea of Norgaard's writing style from the opening track, "Tolerance." This song shifts gears several times, hitting you with different rhythms, melodies, and moods throughout the piece. Garsed pulls out his slide-guitar chops for this song with great results. "Goes to Reason" also features Garsed, and is a great example of how versatile he can be. This tune has a lighter, jazzy feel, and Garsed's solo fits in perfectly. He's one of the only players from the "rock fusion" scene who can play with the subtlety and sophistication he displays here. Garsed also has strong performances on "Day in the Desert," and "Pirate Sized Hangover" (the heaviest song on the album). Overall though, the Garsed track that really stands out for me is "Papaya Dream." This is arguably Norgaard's strongest composition on Tolerance. With great melodies, varied rhythms, and Garsed's best solo on the disc, this song, for me, is the high point of the album.

Gambale appears on the tracks "Last Leg Home" and "Summer Storm" (both of these tunes feature great piano work from Steve Hunt as well). "Last Leg Home" is a lighter jazz tune, whereas "Summer Storm" is a bluesy ballad. Gambale really rips on both tracks, but I particularly like his solo on "Last Leg Home." It's short and to the point - in addition to playing some nice lines over the changes, he whips out a couple of super-fast runs that fit in perfectly. He seems to have more playing time on "Summer Storm," where he carries the main melody and plays lots of strong blues phrases. Bassist Dave DeMarco takes a nice baritone guitar solo on this track also.

"Seventh Mile Fog" features Tobias Hurwitz on guitar. Hurwitz turns in a truly shredding solo here, but I thought his tone was a little too heavy for this song. Granted, the track has a "power ballad" vibe to it, but I think it would have been better served had Hurwitz dialed back the distortion a bit. That said, Hurwitz is obviously a talented player, and he really shows what he can do on this tune.

On the albums closer, "Retrospective," Norgaard plays all the instruments himself. For this piece, Norgaard takes a simply melody and keeps building on it to create a sort of pop-meets-prog magnum opus. As this last track helps to prove, Norgaard's talents go beyond his drum kit. As a writer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist, he knows how to craft melodic compositions that also contain advanced rhythms that are both complex and interesting. Tolerance represents a fine display of Norgaard's overall musicality, and is a great showcase for the guitar talents of Garsed, Gambale, and Hurwitz.

Marc Norgaard - Tolerance (Call Sign Records)

Tracklisting
1. Tolerance
2. Goes to Reason
3. Day in the Desert
4. Last Leg Home
5. Papaya Dream
6. Summer Storm
7. Seventh Mile Fog
8. Pirate Sized Hangover
9. Retrospective

Rich

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