May/June, 2020
Endless Field, "Alive in the Wilderness," 2020
Endless Field is acoustic duo Jesse Lewis (guitarist) and Ike Sturm (bassist), whose evocative music of jazzlike abstraction and intricate textures is uniquely beautiful. On Alive in the Wilderness, their second
release, the duo integrates meaning and music to an extraordinary degree. Not only does the music call to mind the wide expanses and the beauty of nature, but it was recorded in remote locations in the wilderness
of Southern Utah and incorporates the sounds of the outdoors (flowing water, buzzing bees, birds). The seventeen pieces, whether co-composed by Lewis and Sturm or free improvisations, are lyrical yet esoteric,
rhythmically and harmonically complex. Some pieces are robust and energetic, with intensely strummed guitar ("Life on Earth," "Fire," "Moon," "The Well"), while others are slower, more emotionally resonant, such as
the sweetly melodic "Old Man" and the ethereal "Prayer for the Earth," with its rich bass and flowing guitar lines and arpeggios. Here and elsewhere the musicians make wonderful use of percussive effects as well as
bells and cymbals. Some pieces are short, intensely lyrical "essences" ("Water," "Air," and "Dust") where the technique or sounds evoke the element referenced. Others are more abstract, like spooky "Wind," "Spirit"
(with buzzing bee clearly audible), and "Creature." Throughout the album the interplay is uncanny and intuitive, as on jazzy "White Pond Sun" and "Dance of the Bee," with a rollicking guitar part that trades places
with a sinuous bass counterpoint. Favorites among the many standouts are "Wolfhead," an intense bass improvisation that was recorded in a slot canyon and has an almost a liturgical essence, and "Zim," which features
Lewis's extraordinary finger work and is an homage to his Zimbabwean inspirations Oliver Mtukudzi and Chiwoniso Maraire. This challenging project was accomplished with the aid of a solar-powered recording set up, an
engineer (Dana Nielsen), and National Geographic photographers and videographers to document the performances. Further reflecting the duo's environmental commitment is that the album's proceeds are dedicated to
environmental organization Natural Resources Defense Council. Even the album's packaging reflects this ethos. Released by Biophilia records, the all-digital CD is in the form of an origami-inspired paper foldout
complete with artwork, liner notes, and download codes. At this time of climate challenges and awareness of the fragility of the earth, Endless Field's project couldn't be more timely. But even beyond its compelling
message, Alive in the Wilderness is utterly transporting and transcendent.
Goran Ivanovic & Fareed Haque, "IndoBalkan," 2020
The guitar duo of Ivanovic and Haque is delightfully changing what it means to play in the classical style. Together and separately, Ivanovic and Haque are known for their amazing technical virtuosity as well as
their love of melody, complex rhythms, and lyrical harmonies. To North American listeners, Haque's is probably the better known name. He's been a mainstay of the jazz and jam band scene for a couple decades.
His jazz-funk group Garaj Mahal, with bassist Kai Eckhardt, is beloved for its sinuous, extended improvisations, while his work with the Joe Zawinul Syndicate revealed his deep sense of in-the-pocket time. But,
as his recent series of from-home quarantine videos shows, Haque is a longtime master of the traditional classical repertoire. Ivanovic, too, is one of the world's top nylon slingers, and likewise known for his
ability to move from the traditional repertoire to jazz and more. This collection of originals, penned together and separately is their third album together, after 2001's Macedonian Blues: Laments and Dances and 2004's
Seven Boats. Neither artist has remained idle: the level of playing and writing on this collection is dizzying, even for one used to the heights to which these two can soar. The compositions leave each other plenty
of room to improvise, sometimes over polyrhythmic staccato chord progressions, sometimes over near-ambient sound beds. The result is bliss, by turns exhilarating, athletic, and competitive (especially with cajon
master Juan Pastor on a couple tracks), and then lyrical, soothing, and contemplative. And, while wholly original, the hints of Satie, Bartok, de Falla, and Tárrega ground these pieces in tradition, while the modal
(including bluesy pentatonics) and rhythmic complexity expand the map, as the album title suggests, to embrace the world.
Peppino D'Agostino, "ConneXion," 2020
In 2017, Art Thompson of Guitar Player Magazine listed Peppino D'Agostino in the top 50 of transcendent superheroes of wood, steel, and nylon. Pretty heady acclaim, which no doubt raises expectations for
any artist. Perhaps that is the reason it has been six years since Peppino D'Agostino released a solo recording, the longest hiatus of his recording career. The only respite was For Beauty of this Wicked
World, a collaborative effort with guitarist and producer Corrado Rustici, released last year, which showed an entirely different and adventurous side of D'Agostino. His new release, the aptly titled ConneXion,
incorporates one of those adventurous elements, the electric guitar. Both "Mara's Sleeping Song" and "Stammi Vicino" stand out, offering a depth and texture that is as refreshing as it is intoxicating. The latter was
composed in collaboration with Italian rock god Vasco Rossi. This is not to say that D'Agostino has wondered off the map, rather, it further enhances his "transcendent" status as an influencer and percussive,
fingerstyle acoustic Sherpa. Among the ten original compositions, "Liam's Song" and "Buster" offer the alternately delicate and percussively energetic melodies that we have come to expect from his talented hands.
The first three tracks, a western tinged homage to Paco DeLucia and Enrico Morricone, "High Plains Guitarra, " the nostalgic " Dancing with Shadows," and an exotic, avant-garde, high octane tour de force of string
gymnastics, "Head Case," make it clear that D'Agostino is truly worthy of the acclaim and accolades bestowed. His considerable artistic talents come to the fore on ConneXion. The album closes with the exquisitely
sweet melody of "Jenny's Goodbyes "and the haunting, albeit brief, "Beauty in the Abyss."
Laurence Juber, "Fab 4th," 2020
Laurence Juber is a creative powerhouse, having composed dozens of solo works, reframed popular music for guitar, and presented a historical survey of serious works for fingerstyle guitar. Also, with four albums of
Beatles music (and another devoted to McCartney and Wings), he's produced a large body of instrumental interpretations of some of the most important popular music ever. The Fab 4th is thoroughly enjoyable and includes
a number of standouts that equal the best of his earlier Beatles covers. Take his beautiful, slowed-down versions of "Across the Universe" and "If I Fell". Juber aurally opens up "Universe" by playing some melodic
phrases and color tones as bass notes. On "If I Fell", ornamentation and arpeggios give the piece a romantic, rubato feel. He plays "I Will" in a similar manner, although at a brighter tempo.
The guitarist generates unexpected interest in two early George Harrison songs: the dark rocker, "Don't Bother Me", which he remakes into a grooving, minor-key guitar showcase, and "I Need You," Harrison's love song
from Help!, which Juber renders with enhanced lyricism, akin to his arrangements of "Universe" and "If I Fell". "Girl" and "Julia" follow in a similar vein, the former being particularly satisfying. The epic "A Day in
the Life" is a likely showstopper, in the vein of his solo arrangement of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". Other selections include a rocking "Back in the U.S.S.R.", "Every Little Thing", "Tell Me What You See",
"She's Leaving Home", and "She's a Woman". "You Never Give Me Your Money" closes the album with a variety and dynamism that could make it another concert highlight. This collection will likely be one more popular and
well-deserved success for Juber.
Duck Baker, "When You Wore a Tulip," 2020
Over his long career, fingerstyle guitarist Duck Baker has explored a wide range of genres, including jazz, Celtic, and old-time music. Baker plays nylon and steel-string guitars and employs Travis-style fingerpicking,
single string improvisation and jazzy comping, as the spirit moves him. This reissue of his 1976 Kicking Mule Records solo release, with five added bonus tracks from a concert performance that year, is an enjoyable
survey of his solo repertoire. All of the performances are strong, so it seems most appropriate to highlight those that feature his outstandingly creative single-line improvisations. The first of these, "Was", is an
original that bears some similarity to Juan Tizol's "Caravan". "Cousin", also by Baker, is single-line with chordal interludes, played in mixolydian mode. Baker plays the melody of Stephen Foster's "Angeline the Baker"
in much the same way Stefan Grossman and David Laibman played fiddle tunes a few years earlier, but inserts a brief, high countermelody in the middle. Like "Angeline", "Allegheny County", by Baker and Dan McCorison, follows
the format of a fiddle tune, this time with Baker improvising at length. The disc closes with the death ballad, "Hicks' Farewell", a point of departure for another wide-ranging improvisation. Baker shows his infectious
approach to swing on several other selections, including (Back Home Again in) "Indiana", "Honeysuckle Rose", and "Thou Swell." With his Kicking Mule albums, Duck Baker joined an inner circle of young fingerstyle players
comprised by Stefan Grossman, Peter Finger, John Renbourn, and a few others, played package tours, and eventually documented much of his repertoire on instructional videos released by Stefan Grossman. He's still recording,
teaching online, and releasing transcriptions and earlier recordings (including collaborations and solo work). The re-release of When You Wore a Tulip is a welcome event for guitarists.
Michael Gulezian, "Thunder, Heaven, Light," 2019
These aren't so much songs as they are guides, explorations into minds and emotion. Michael Gulezian, born in 1957, might be the most accomplished pure guitarist on the planet. The opening track on his most
recent CD, Thunder Heaven Light, provides mainline accessibility into Gulezian's compositional genius. That track, "Spirit Hovering," uses the space between the notes to create a magisterial ode to a quiet,
breathing awe. It would make an especially effective backing track for the more majestic scenes in a film now showing on Netflix called "Mountain" (see it if you can!), as would many of the 10 tracks of Thunder
Heaven Light. Instrumental albums can occasionally suffer from a lack of lyrics, but in Gulezian's case, lyrics would simply get in the way as he creates musical feelings that transcend words. Even the use of track
titles can be limiting, though they can provide a nod in a particular direction (if needed). The fourth track, for example, just sounds like a friend speaking softly, floating into your brain; the title: "Orchard Whispering
to Winter Sky." The sixth track, reverential and reflective, seems a religious experience, for those so inclined; the title of that one: "There Were Angels, So Many Angels." With Gulezian, it"s not how many notes he can play
lightning fast (though he shows some of that mastery on "Becoming the Flame"), or how many scales he ascends and descends, or how quickly he changes keys, or how masterfully he taps out a polyrhythm. No, rather it's about
the path that the notes are on. It's as if the notes are leading intrinsically from one to another. And here's the thing: the sense of a person playing a guitar disappears into the music, like a drop of water being added
to a pool. These songs do not focus on Gulezian as artist, for it is all about the journey, the trip. Call it Zen, call it the space between the walls, call it what you will, but there is something happening in this
collection that transcends music and reaches into the ethereal world. Perhaps the coronavirus has me more in touch with the eternal vibration of life and not-life, but what is more astounding is that these tracks are
not simply a path of seeking, but are of discovery. They live, they breathe. Just let them work on you — it can help to not try to actively listen, but to passively absorb them without focusing on the actual sounds.
That may sound a little counterintuitive, but, trust me, it works. Finally, be sure to check out Gulezian's CD cover photo of sky/clouds/wind, which he assures is unedited, and provides a brief series of photos of
its conception. Cosmic.
©
Céline Keating
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "Heart"
Listen to Endless Field at our podcast 
©
Brian Clark
Goran Ivanovic and Fareed Haque's Website
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "Santorini"
©
James Filkins
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "Buster"
Listen to Peppino D'Agostino at our podcast
©
Patrick Raagains
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "I Will"
©
Patrick Ragains
Buy it here
Listen to "Maple Leaf Rag"
©
Fred Kraus
Buy it at Timbreline Music
Listen to "Orchard Whispering To Winter Sky"