Summer 2021
Mark O'Connor, "Markology II," 2021
This fine release signals multi-instrumentalist Mark O'Connor's return to the guitar after a layoff of twenty years. The album is comprised of solo performances on acoustic steel string guitar and one on
mandocello, and is presented as a sequel to 1978's Markology, an ensemble album in the newgrass genre that emerged in that decade. The music on Markology II as a whole is characterized by imaginative
variations and improvisation. The set begins with the traditional "Greensleeves," which receives a radical reinterpretation. O'Connor starts with a fragment of the melody, played in parallel harmony and
lightly strummed, which he alternates with short sixteenth note single-string bursts that get longer as he develops the piece. He adds ascending folded scalar lines, plays outside the tune's harmonic base,
and references the melody again before concluding, leaving no doubt either of his conceptual range or technical mastery. "Goin' Home" is more relaxed but no less impressive. The bluegrass classic "Beaumont Rag"
provides a good basis for comparing O'Connor's playing with guitar giants Doc Watson and Tony Rice. To my ears it's a melding of bluegrass and gypsy jazz, interspersed with classical music references, held together
by O'Connor's drive. The guitar staple "Salt Creek" follows, which he approaches with the same variety as "Beaumont Rag," although here the results have a darker harmonic quality. Yet another country and
bluegrass guitar showcase, "Alabama Jubilee," is one of the set's most exciting performances. O'Connor picks up a vintage mandocello for "Shenandoah," offering a meditative version of the old ballad,
enhanced by rhythmic riffing and key changes. "Flailing" is a free, bluesy exploration that mainly reveals O'Connor's constant inventiveness, although it also recalls Tony Rice's high-energy improvisations.
"Kamala Boogie" clearly refers to the current US Vice President, but, to me, it's musically grounded in American Primitive Guitar - I thought of a young Leo Kottke with a flatpick. To close, O'Connor turns
down the heat with his composition "Ease With the Breeze," which he first recorded in 1979 as an improvisatory ensemble piece. O'Connor's reflective solo version spans five and one-half minutes and provides
a perfect ending to the album. Listening to Markology II caused me to realize how far bluegrass-based guitar playing has come since Doc Watson gained a worldwide audience in the 1960s. The album should
stand as a milestone and towering achievement in the genre.
In the accompanying interview, Mark O'Connor discusses taking up the guitar again, describes completing Markology II during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020/21,
and reflects on his life as a musician.
Pat Metheny has been involved with the world of classical music as a performer, as the player on the premier recording of Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint (Nonesuch Records, 1989). This album marks
two major compositional contributions to the classical guitar repertoire, in the form of two suites. The first third of the album is devoted to Four Paths of Light, composed for classical guitarist Jason
Vieaux, an eclectic player whose previous discography includes an album of Metheny jazz transcriptions for classical guitar. The music generally does not resemble previous Metheny music--lots of arpeggiation
more typical of classical music than jazz--but slow movement Part 2 features a characteristic melody. The title suite was written for and performed by the Los Angeles Guitar Quintet (John Dearman, William
Kanengiser, Scott Tennant, and Matthew Greif). It is a longer, more expansive piece than the solo suite. There are many textures and moods: the deliberate melodies of Part 1 transition to the sprightly
rhythms of Part 2. Part 4 features polyphony which transitions into textural sounds, reminiscent of Twentieth Century composers like Toru Takemitsu or Gyorgi Ligeti. Part 5 has thematic material that would
have felt at home in the Pat Metheny Group, and the piece concludes gently in Part 6. The album closes with a Metheny performance on the 42-string, multi-neck Pikasso guitar. While visually impressive,
this instrument has always ultimately struck me as a gimmick. But here Methey interprets Arvo Pärt's airy, minimal piano piece Fur Alina, and it is a gorgeous performance which is easily comparable to piano
versions. While it may be included primarily to convince Metheny fans to try the album, it is really a bonus track. The long form classical guitar compositions should be more than enough to draw in longtime fans.
Lorenzo Polidori, "Carousel," 2021
Exuberant is the first word that comes to mind with Lorenzo Polidori's debut CD, Carousel, of crazily virtuosic fingerstyle guitar. Polidori is a very young Italian composer and performer who has won several
prestigious competitions and has shared the stage with many well-known guitarists, among them Tommy Emanuel. "Burning Flame," the CD opener, has some of the frenetic, head-spinning quality of a carousel with
the horses whipping by, and the whole album of nine originals and two covers sustains an astonishing pace of fluid perfection. "Mr. Pearson" is a witty bluegrass-styled gem with long runs so fast they'll take your
breath away. It was written to honor Gareth Pearson (and inspired by his song "Blue Smoke"). The toe-tapping "Cutting Corners" is a bit gypsy/jazzy swing punctuated with authoritative percussive effects, while
the heartfelt "Ines" has a ruminative feel, romantic and emotionally resonant, its beautiful melody punctuated with harmonics and percussive repetitions. On this and other slower pieces Polidori especially
demonstrates his expressive side, while on "Breath" the soaring violin of Francesco Corrado heightens the mood. Polidori has written that this debut, which incorporates influences of blues, ragtime, country and
bluegrass, celebrates the guitarists he most admires. "Searching the Heart" features Gareth Pearson and is a tribute to the friendship that has formed between the two guitarists. It is slower paced and moody,
with wonderful shimmery rumbling effects and a contrasting delicate melody line, showcasing their intuitive interplay. On his cover of "White Heat" by Merle Travis, Polidori out-Travis-picks the renown guitarist,
while "Traveling" opens as a rumbling dark moody piece and then transitions to a lively romp, the way traveling can bring up different experiences and moods. Upbeat "The Way of Hope" employs rolling arpeggios
punctuated with light slapping interspersed with thundering bass runs and slides, while the lovely melody of the title track opens with a shimmer of harmonics. The final cut is a cover of Mark Knopfler's
"Postcards from Paraguay" (featuring renowned Italian guitarist Andrea Valeri). The guitarists play with all the fire Knopfler brings to his playing, but they make the piece their own with added percussion
and a more Latin vibe. Polidori is clearly a guitarist to watch. His compositions are memorable, sophisticated, and melodic, and his playing is assured and fluid. He began the study of classical guitar at
the age of 8, which perhaps accounts for his ease, immense control, and technical precision. This exceptional guitarist is a true heir to the musicians he admires and emulates.
Jim Kimo West, "More Guitar Stories," 2020
Jim Kimo West's 2021 Best New Age Album Grammy for his 12th solo album, More Guitar Stories, is a validation of his artistry in terms of his fretboard prowess, compositional skills and his ear for melody. West's
first ten solo albums contain some of the finest modern guitar Hawaiian slack key music ever produced. In 2015 he released Guitar Stories, his 11th solo album on which he explored a more diversified and adventurous
musical terrain while marinating the slack key vibe to produce an eclectic and deeply textured collection of compositions and performances. On More Guitar Stories, West explores this terrain further drawing on Celtic,
Indian Classical, West African and Americana sonic influences featuring largely ensemble pieces utilizing top caliber LA session musicians such as cellist Simone Vitucci, percussionist M.B. Gordy, violinists Charlie
Bisharat and Ben Powell, as well as Cenk Erdogan on fretless guitar and Jimmy Johnson on fretless bass. This deep pool of talent is apparent throughout this exquisite collection of sonic magic, track after track. West
also utilizes eight different tunings Dm7, C sus2 and D Taro Patch among them. The opening rum-induced "Mele Ahiahi - Evening Song" quickly entrances as acoustic guitar and fretless bass (Jimmy Johnson) create a
musical hammock that gently sways and envelopes every auditory sense, eventually giving way to the equally entrancing "Windward," which features a lilting violin (Charlie Bisharat) that dances sublimely with Jimmy
Johnson's energetic fretless bass which rises infectiously throughout before a gratifying resolution. "Paniolo Starlight" builds, beat by beat, layer by layer into a sumptuous feast of strings (slack key guitars,
mandolin, electric baritone guitar, upright bass) and percussion, while the playful interplay of various guitars, violin (Ben Powell), upright bass (Dan Lutz) and percussion on "Tin Roof Shing-A-Ling" is simply
intoxicating. On "The Lydian Sea" West plays acoustic baritone and 12 string guitars in the Lydian mode enveloped in various percussion, tabla, baya (T.J. Troy) , kanjira (M.B. Gordy), and the violin of Ben Powell
to capture the essence of India. The only "true" solo acoustic guitar number on the album is "Sugar Cane Blues," a straight forward acoustic blues tune with Hawaiian slack key overtones that feels right at home.
The final track, the sultry and emotive "Soul Motion," creates the sonic breadth that allows West's guitar, Vitucci's cello and Basharat's violin to create such musical synergy that you might just forget to breathe.
Rarely does one album contain such fully developed and realized compositions, instead of the short vignettes so often found in the acoustic guitar/New Age genre. West certainly seems to be at the apogee of his
skills and artistry that also include pristine, astute and finessed production and mixing. Jim Kimo West's claim to fame may be as guitarist for "Weird Al" Yankovic, but his true genius lies firmly in the performance,
arrangement and compositions of More Guitar Stories and its precursor Guitar Stories.
The Breath, "Only Stories," 2019
To say that something magical occurs when Stuart McCallum and Ríoghnach Connolly, known as The Breath, weave acoustic guitar, voice and flute together, is inadequate. Words simply don't convey the sonic alchemy these two
create with such seemingly effortless artistry.
The opening track of their album Only Stories begins with delicate notes from McCallum's guitar drawing us closer, interlacing with the airy lilt of Connolly's voice, caressing and capturing our awareness, like the
sudden notice of a creature in the wild. Only then to be engulfed and caressed in a wave of Connolly's effervescent flute we are transported onto a sea of such auditory breadth, depth, and honeyed resonance that
compels, intrigues and satisfies on every level. To describe music in this manner may seem exaggerated, nonetheless, by the 2nd track "Let it Calm You Down," the description will be irrelevant as you
will indeed be lost at sea as the lyrics describe:
We're in the water /
Faded shadows /
Winter at my cheek /
Fighting fliers /
Flickered fires /
Summer at our feet /
Pieces of me, lost at sea, out on the tide /
Hear the yearly wields of the wild /
The only stories my mother told me /
They're only stories mo dhadaí left me.
The fourth release from The Breath, Only Stories, is an acoustic rendering of seven songs from their second full length album, Let the Cards Fall (2018), plus an acoustic version of "Boat Song" from their debut album,
Carry Your Kin. These are not just stripped-down versions, in fact, the "acoustic" arrangements actually create a more expansive, intricate sonic rendering. Connolly's flute adds an earthly, spiritual dimension, not
present in the jazz texture of the keyboards on the original version. Intimacy seems to be the most apt descriptor, but these acoustic visions offer another level that goes beyond the power of words. Like a live
performance, it can only be experienced. The pristine clarity of production brings to mind the most recent studio work from David Crosby. It is nothing short of revelatory. When I asked McCallum to describe how
the collaboration of The Breath works, he said, "Guitar Chords - Me. Melody and Lyrics - Her (Ríoghnach Connolly), but one very much informs the other. They are intertwined." Methinks that this "intertwining" begets
a brilliant, spellbinding magic.
Both Stuart McCallum and Ríoghnach Connolly bring a wealth of eclectic experience to The Breath collaboration. McCallum's fretwork includes work with the Cinematic Orchestra, several UK and American jazz artists
including John Surman, Kenny Wheeler and Dan Weisz, folk artists Michael McGoldrick and Danny Thompson, not to mention electronic artists Bjork, Jordan Rakei and JP Cooper. Connolly's equally vocal and flute
magic can be heard on a wide range of projects from the latest Afro-Celt Sound System album, the Beware Soul Brother Project and the band Honeyfeet. She also was honored with 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of The
Year award. The Breath has just released a cover of 60's American cult folk singer Karen Dalton, "Something On Your Mind" and her unpublished poem "Remembering Mountains" to music. Both of these haunting
performances will only add to the incredible musical beauty these two musicians create. With a new CD release planned in 2022 as well as their multitude of other endeavors, my guess is both Stuart McCallum
and Ríoghnach Connolly will be on everyone's radar in the years to come.
Mipso, 2020
The quartet Mipso self-titles its latest (6th) album of shimmering luminous music as an affirmation. The accomplished core group of Libby Rodenbough (classically trained fiddler), Wood Robinson (bass),
Jacob Sharp (mandolin), and Joseph Terrell (guitarist) approach their music with orchestral flair. Instrumental lines and vocals weave in and around each other in an integrated, many textured and expansive
sound all their own, with touches of newgrass, alt-country, indie-folk, and pop, with unexpected percussive and synth-like tones. Band members share lead vocals and song-writing credits, and the lyrics hint
at the tumultuous period since the North Carolina quartet's acclaimed 2018 album Edges Run, in which the band considered breaking up and, more crucially, survived a near-fatal car accident. Much has been made
of the sobering time the band sustained, and one can read into the lyrics that death and loss have been on the band's mind ("Never Knew You Were Gone" and "Help"). Songs written by Terrell (which may call to
mind Paul Simon's Graceland) use images of slamming screen doors, stars shining "in the heavens," and more directly, "Gone in a silvery fire…gone right over to the other side for a little while." Yet overall
the mood of the album is more quiet triumph than sober reckoning. The group is justifiably known for its strong songwriting, beautiful melodies, and glorious layered harmonies, all of which are on ample
display on Mipso. What lifts the whole to another level, however, is the creativity of the instrumentation. Joined by Yan Westerlund (drums and percussion), Shane Leonard (banjo), Mark Goodell (guitars),
and producer Sandro Perri (synthesizers, piano), the perceptive instrumental touches bind everything in exceptional cohesiveness and breadth. From the soaring fiddle in "Never Knew You Were Gone," to the
resonant bass in "Your Body," to the lap steel in "Just Want to Be Loved," to the plunkety sounds opening "Shelter," to the percussive banjo effects that recreate the sounds of water in "Big Star," there
is something to delight. Mipso has evolved from a primarily bluegrass group to something more expansive, and their latest is arguably one of the group's strongest works since their 2013 debut Dark Holler
Pop. The album is, justifiably, sure not only to delight hardcore fans but to make many new ones as well.
David Tanenbaum, "As She Sings," 2021
David Tanenbaum has said that the defining moment when he decided to pursue
music as a career was hearing an Andrés Segovia concert. Countless performance
engagements and more than 30 recordings later, he is widely recognized as not
only a guitarist of great renown, but also one of the instrument's stalwart
champions of new guitar repertoire. In addition to his duties as Chair of the Guitar
Department of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he has collaborated with
an impressive list of composers including Terry Reilly, Steve Reich, Hans Werner
Henze, and Lou Harrison.
As She Sings begins with the album's most recent piece "Shadows and Light," a
work composed by SFCM colleague Sérgio Assad in 2016. Fans of Assad's work
will recognize his trademark Brazilian rhythmic intensity in the middle of the
piece, but both the outset and conclusion are quite unlike any of his previous compositions. Smith's 2007 work "Five Pieces for guitar with live electronics"
features loops, recorded passages that are looped, and pre-recorded samples that
intermingle with a variety of guitar techniques and resonances in different genres
associated with the guitar.
"Music for Guitar," the centerpiece of this recording in many ways, was written
nearly 50 years ago by the artist's father, Elias Tanenbaum. The score appeared on
David's music stand when he got home from school one day in 1972. Although
programmed in live performance several times, this is the first recording of the
piece. The album's penultimate work is "Games," a 2002 composition by another
SFCM colleague Dusan Bogdanovic, which is based on a collection of poems
written by Yugoslavian poet Vasko Pope in 1954. In addition to guitar, the piece
features mezzo soprano, flute, bass, and ceramic gongs. The concluding title piece
by John Anthony Lennon is the middle movement of a triptych of elegies called
'The Fortunels' written for Tanenbaum in 1999 and it serves as a moving,
melancholic epilogue to a diverse and brilliantly performed program.
Dave Ferra, "Starting Something," 2020
Dave Ferra inhabits that magically comfortable niche located somewhere between heartache and a wry smile. On his recent collection, "Starting Something," his work thrives in the blues universe, supported
by his sterling fingerstyle guitar and rack harp work. Ferra penned all 11 tracks, an array of Delta blues, Chicago blues, folk blues, jump blues, the walking blues and the talking blues. He employs his
resonator guitar and a slinky slide technique for "We Both Started Something," a gentle love ballad in which he ruefully laments, "How could we start over again, it's just too late in the game. We both
started something that we just couldn't stop." In this, and in other tracks, Ferra's vocals carry convey an easy earnestness. He's so clear and unaffected, he can't help but be telling the truth about his -
and more universally, our - missteps in matters of the heart. Ferra uses his harp to good effect in "Returning to the Scene of the Crime" and in "Knock Me Down Again" ("you build me up, baby, just to knock
me down again … like a bad smell, you're always around"). His instrumental tracks pay homage to blues royalty - "Blues Skies and Isolation Blues" provides a rolling fingerstylish nod to Mississippi John
Hurt, as does the elegant "DJ Mike," while the thumping "Big Tone" recalls the the fierce acoustic power of the Rev. Gary Davis. It's fortunate that Ferra includes these instrumentals, as his acoustic
guitar chops can take a back seat to his vocals as our ears focus on the tune and the tale. Throughout this collection, one gets the impression that Ferra would be a fun guy to see in concert - or to
share a pint with. The bouncy "One Year Older" prompts a sing-along vibe, and in "I Was Walking," Ferra shows his unerring sense of meter and syllabic playfulness. Other tracks stay upbeat while the
various alter-egos in his songs invariably receive the short end of the stick. Still, Ferra's compositions suggest that resilience and a sense of humor can perhaps get us all through just about anything.
And who are we to argue with that? This album may be the model elixir we require as we emerge - much like cicada Brood X singing their plaintive songs of love - from the pandemic.
©
Patrick Ragains
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "Alabama Jubilee"
Listen to Mark O'Connor at our podcast 
Pat Metheny, "Road to the Sun," 2021
©
Mark Sullivan
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "Road To The Sun (Part 4)"
©
Céline Keating
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "Burning Flame"
Listen to Lorenzo Polidori at our podcast
©
James Filkins
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "Windward"
©
James Filkins
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "Only Stories"
©
Céline Keating
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "Never Knew You Were Gone"
©
David Pedrick
Buy it at Amazon.com
Listen to "As She Sings"
©
Fred Kraus
Buy it at Bandcamp
Listen to "One Year Older"
