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« January 2010 | Main | March 2010 »
February 2010
February 26, 2010
Steve Morse interview at BerkleeGroove.com
BerkleeGroove.com has published a good interview with Steve Morse, conducted by Ivan Chopik. This is actually an excerpt of a larger interview. Look for the full piece at GuitarMessenger.com at some point in the future.
BerkleeGroove.com: Steve Morse Interview
February 25, 2010
New OHMphrey interview at Jambands.com
Jambands.com has a great interview up with Jake Cinninger (guitar), Joel Cummins (keyboards), and Chris Poland (guitar) from OHMphrey. The interview took place during last month's Jam Cruise. Topics of discussion include the band's plans for a new recording.
February 23, 2010
February 20, 2010
February 19, 2010
Win a copy of Peter Greier's new album!
For your chance to win, send an email to [email protected] with the subject Peter Greier CD Giveaway. On Friday March 5th, I will choose one email at random and announce the winner on the site. One entry per person please; past Guitar Channel contest winners are not eligible. Good Luck!
February 18, 2010
Tal Wilkenfeld to headline Wesfest 5 on Feb 28th
PRESS RELEASE
YOUNG BASS PHENOM TAL WILKENFELD TO HEADLINE
WESFEST 5 CONCERT AT THE ROXY ON FEB 28
PLAYING WITH
VINNIE COLAIUTA, OZ NOY, JOHN BEASLEY
Twenty-three year old bass phenomenon Tal Wilkenfeld, one of the fastest rising stars in the world of bass and music today, will headline WesFest 5: A Concert to Benefit the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship at Berklee College Of Music at The Roxy in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010. Playing new music written for her upcoming album, Tal will be accompanied by the best-of-the-best musicians Vinnie Colaiuta, Oz Noy, and John Beasley.
Tal Wilkenfeld was the answer to the immediate global buzz question “Who’s that girl?” in Eric Clapton’s 2007 Crossroads Festival which aired on PBS. Tal impressed audiences with a memorable solo on guitar god Jeff Beck’s Blow by Blow classic, “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers!” Jeff Beck, not one given to effusive praise, said this about his bassist Tal "How does one describe an astonishing talent? The answer is: you don't. You listen and watch, as 45,000 people did in Chicago at the Crossroads Festival 2007. To see all those blues fanatics and guitar freaks go berserk halfway through her solo left me emotional. The word proud is barely adequate."
The scholarship fund honors Wes Wehmiller (1971-2005), a Berklee graduate (’92) and highly accomplished bassist who died of thyroid cancer. Established by his family and friends, the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship is awarded annually to a continuing student at Berklee.
The event will feature four additional acts: John Montagna (solo); Joe Brooks; the WesFest All-Stars; Danny Mo and the Exciters, and 2009 Wehmiller winner Justin Schornstein with Zappa Plays Zappa band drummer Joe Travers.
WHEN: Sunday, February 28 - Doors open at 7:00 PM
WHERE: The Roxy - 9009 West Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
COST: Advance tickets: $35/pair or $20 (before Feb 25) or $30/door
Buy at: http://www.weswehmiller.net/wesfest5
February 17, 2010
John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension - "To The One"
PRESS RELEASE
Fiery yet disarmingly open-hearted, the new album from John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension, To The One, bravely takes on the artistic and spiritual challenges first offered by Coltrane’s jazz masterpiece A Love Supreme, while making extensive use of the pioneering musical and technical vocabulary that McLaughlin has honed since the beginning of his storied career.
Available via Abstract Logix on April 20, 2010, To The One is the result of a burst of inspiration that struck the legendary English guitarist and composer in summer of 2009. “This music started to come to me,” McLaughlin explains, “without any call from my part. The sound and feel of this new music took me back to 1965, to when I first heard A Love Supreme. I was 23 years old at that time, and struggling with questions of existence that we all confront sooner or later. Some of us discard them or don’t bother to delve deeper, but that’s not my nature. I was asking big questions: What is the meaning of life? What is this word ‘god’? What is this spirit? It was then that Coltrane came along and single-handedly brought this dimension of spirituality into jazz…it was a pivotal experience to me. It was so encouraging to me in both my musical and spiritual quests. To The One, as an album, is about those two aspects of my life – music and spirituality – crystallized by this recording of Coltrane’s, and how A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life.”
It is a search that he never surrendered, as McLaughlin’s musical journey took him from session work and jazz sessions in the UK to recording and performing in America with the likes of Tony Williams and Miles Davis, through to the founding of the incredibly influential exploratory fusion outfit the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Shakti, his ensemble dedicated to exploring Indian music and spirituality. Over the past three decades, McLaughlin has continually sought out bold new contexts for his expressive and inventive playing.
The six original compositions on To The One were mostly written in July and August of 2009, and set down in the studio in November and December, with very few overdubs, by McLaughlin’s current performing outfit, the Fourth Dimension: Gary Husband (keyboards, drums), Etienne M’Bappe (electric bass), and Mark Mondesir (drums). Compositional devices clearly inspired by Coltrane are fused with elements of McLaughlin’s own multi-faceted approach, all delivered with a group empathy and shared vision that harkens back to Coltrane’s fearless mid-‘60s quartet of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison. The effect of Jones’ kaleidoscopic approach to rhythm and drumming is especially felt, brilliantly recast and explored via McLaughlin’s gift for complex metrical structures.
From the surging opener “Discovery” to the gently propulsive title track which closes the compact, forty-minute program, McLaughlin’s own playing is at its very peak: emotional and probing, exploding into flourishes of rapid-fire sixteenth notes one moment, candid and unguardedly vulnerable the next. “For the band to play my tunes is a challenge,” McLaughlin explains, “and in return, I want them to challenge me. This is part of what jazz is – it’s very interactive. You play with the musicians. You’re not just playing the notes.”
