Still At It, Apparently

I've been posting about/over-thinking guitar playing for five years? Sheesh, something's gotta give. Are there breakthroughs? Do I need a band?

Let's go back a year or so --

Johnny Winter at B.B. Kings: excellent. Not sure I was ready for how damn down & dirty he was. Mostly nasty loud blues, bucketfuls of soul. A couple of Texas swingers in there really played right. Its hard to get that un-corny swing, unless you don't have to try. Like a real Texan. Then the encore he busts out the slide and the Explorer and takes up a level. I probably wouldn't have any complaints except that I wish the whole show levitated like the encore.

Allan Holdsworth in Ridgewood: Bassist was no Jimmy Johnson, but Wackerman was totally on. He and AH were telepathic. AH was actually mind blowing. You hear it on record and you can't really imagine that its a guy with a guitar playing all that stuff. But it is and he does. Felt like true improvisation too. Its not "like Trane" but that is the only analogy you could even attempt.

Kurt Rosenwinkel at the Highline: Drummer overplayed like a madman, kind of distracting. Interesting compositions. Material and interaction were more like Juju-Speak No Evil than anything else. KR was a little posessed. There was more bop and long single note lines than I expected. The rock-esque stuff was more powerful. Aaron Parks was a great foil.

John Scofield at the Blue Note: with Swallow and Stewart. Excellent as you'd expect. Definitely less passion than 15 year ago, but the high points were really high. Blue Note was pretty fun too. Great seats, very intimate.

Paul Motian/Joe Lovano/Bill Frisell at the Vanguard. I love the Vanguard. These guys played their hearts out. Was staring directly into Motian's shades all night. Very intense and focused. Also about 8 feet from the bell of Lovano's tenor. Gorgeous.

Satriani at that theater on upper Broadway. Nice place. Party atmosphere. Not great seats, not great sound. Whole band was on, Satch was amazing, having fun, very musical. Controlled, but rocking. Rewarding to see.

Satriani at Starland Ballroom, Sayreville: Way better! Great sound, general admission, friendly crowd, you could get up close, go to the bar, whatever. Much more rock and roll energy all around. Stu Hamm really freakin grooves. Great holding down the bottom, makes a bass player proud. And Satch was even more than you might expect. Really unbelievable how good he is; the singing part of the guitar playing is what puts it over the top. Great versions of Andalucia/Asik Veysal. Really great. And seeing him and Leslie West do Stormy Monday was one to remember.

B.B. King at the Wellmont: still got it. Voice is ragged, but has the soul. And when he turns up the volume and rips into Lucille everything else fades to black. The room levitates. The contrast to *all* the recordings I've heard is remarkable. Amazing.

Robben Ford in Ridgewood: Part of a review/package tour, so short set. Jorma's was actually better; great acoustic blues. RF seemed nervous at first; too many notes. Then he relaxed into it but the songs seemed short, probably due to time constraint. It was a short set before the opener, then Jorma came on for guest appearances. Highlight of the night was RF and JK together. RF had that amazing tone and tasty improv but I'd like to seem him on a dedicated set with time to stretch out.

Next week, Derek Trucks

Shut Up Already

You, no me, I need to learn all the notes before ghosting them. So its too many notes in the learning phase. Playing sweet is abstracting from the possibilities on the melody side; on the rhythm side, I need to be able to play at least twice as much as I'm playing. This way you imply the double time. That is feel. That is what it is. You imply polyrhythms. Think about it; T-Bone Walker, SRV, the best rhythm players, that's what they do. For me to get it down solid, I need to play them *all* first. Then we back off and we're Albert King.

Get Out Of My Yard

While undoubtedly a shredder's shredder, I think I've found the difference. Its in the writing. Paul Gilbert writes riffs. Monster killer clever riffs. But they pile up. Riff, then riff, and another riff. Satch writes like a jazz guy. Melodies within a harmonic universe that doesn't have to be played, but its there. Brings depth and discovery to the guitar playing. He's choosing what to play; it could have been any number of things, but this is what came out. The sound of surprise as Balliet says. Gilbert sounds inevitable. Impressive and fun; just not as, what, musical? That's not it. Not as sophisticated? Something like that.

Is this CH1?

Rock Stars

Even Superheroes Have To Eat

Tone

Crappy Otis Rush recordings from eMusic reveal nice tunes excellent guitar playing; and amazing tone. That guitar just sings. Some stringiness, some bight, plenty of body and some grunge in the lower register. Wow just learning to recognize the ES-335/176 thing; its sweet. Blues somehow always meant a Strat to me, without even thinking. Now I'm glad I've got the LP setup. A little more flexible I think. If you have a Strat, well then you damn well know what its supposed to sound like. With dual humbuckers you can go biting (not as sharp as a Fender) like a semi-hollow, warmer like Les' Paul, through stinging like Albert King and into grunge or roar from Ribot to Page to Satriani. Hooray.

Cheap Wine

$5(!) Peter Mertes Riesling Kabinett; drinkable! Yay!

Urban Oak Tempranillo: from a region new to me. Everything you'd want in an under $10 Tempranillo; perhaps a little forward compared to a Rioja or Toro, but the saddle leather is there; some structure and a noticeable finish. *. I did not like the Urban Oak (Argentine) Malbec.

Long Flat Eden Valley Riesling; refreshing, very dry. Just a bit of the slate that counters the sweetness in other Rieslings. <$10 = *.

Gallo Merlot Sonoma Reserve; characterful; smooth but not velvety. Plummy, some black cherry. Fun and stands up to food. Not as balanced, say, as the tempranillo above, but fun. $10-ish. *.

End of Summer