{"id":140,"date":"2008-11-16T13:06:55","date_gmt":"2008-11-16T18:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/2008\/11\/guitar_heroes_virtual_and_actu\/"},"modified":"2011-04-28T16:34:22","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T20:34:22","slug":"guitar_heroes_virtual_and_actu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/11\/guitar_heroes_virtual_and_actu.html","title":{"rendered":"Guitar heroes, virtual and actual"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The phenomenon of <a href=\"http:\/\/technology.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/news\/tech_and_web\/gadgets_and_gaming\/article5155096.ece\">Guitar Hero<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0is unaccountable to most musicians. Why would anyone spend hours miming moves with a fake instrument when given similar time investment you could make music yourself, live, and with friends? Nonetheless, the game is the Christmas season&#8217;s most highly anticipated music item. As for\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/11\/15\/arts\/15arts-GUITARHEROSA_BRF.html?ref=arts\">disappointing early sales<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0reports for\u00c2\u00a0&#8220;World Tour,&#8221;\u00c2\u00a0its just-released new edition, aren&#8217;t sales down for everything, everywhere?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Here&#8217;s my flick at stimulating the music economy &#8212; consumer alerts to recommended new cds by guitar heroes who can <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic; \">really<\/span> play:\u00c2\u00a0David Fiuczynski, Mary Halvorson, Toninho Horta,Charlie Hunter, Bireli Lagrene, plus special mentions of Rez Abassi, Bruce Eisenbeil&#8217;s Totem and Elvin Bishop.<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div>Recommended alphabetically by guit-artist:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\">David Fiucynsky<\/span> on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Kif-Express-David-Fiuczynski\/dp\/B000VS6LPO\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">KiF Express<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0lets loose the wild line of microtonal hard-core Middle Eastern-steeped punk-funk-jazz. Hyper-articulated, quirky-kinky melodies &#8216;n&#8217; variations slink, snap, spin and resonate over desert storm backbeats and bass crawls, mostly provided by\u00c2\u00a0drummer Skoots Warner and&#8217; bassist Steve Jenkins, though guests\u00c2\u00a0including a shakuhachi soloist\u00c2\u00a0spice up some tracks. Alternatingly speedy and spacey, exotic and exciting psychedelic fun.\u00c2\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Mary Halvorson<\/span> is the freshest, busiest, most critically acclaimed guitar-slinger out of downtown Manhattan\/Brooklyn right now, a former student and current band member of Anthony Braxton&#8217;s at the hub of a circle of ultra-smart, almost 30-year-old players prodigiously contributing to\u00c2\u00a0each other&#8217;s projects.\u00c2\u00a0On <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Dragons-Head-Mary-Halvorson-Trio\/dp\/B001G85E10\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Dragon&#8217;s Head<\/a>, in transparent collaboration with upright bassist John Hebert and coloristic drummer Ches Smith, she taps a surprising range of ideas and moods, lyrically but also ironically, turning without warning from dry understatement to unabashed noise, hyper-folksiness to intellectualism, plain-spokenness to interesting abstraction, with unusual if unshowy chops. Try this MP3 track from Amazon: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Momentary-Lapse-No-1\/dp\/B001L1ICF2\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">&#8220;Momentary Lapse.&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Toninho Horta<\/span> is a grandiosely\u00c2\u00a0sensitive\u00c2\u00a0romantic yet serious guitar star\u00c2\u00a0from the scenically dramatic Brazilian state of Mina Geraise\u00c2\u00a0(like his former boss Milton Nascimento).\u00c2\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic; \"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Jobim-Love-Toninho-Horta\/dp\/B001E1BONQ\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">To Jobim With Love<\/a><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0gives him haut bossa nova repertoire over which to soar with companionable touches from ace jazzers including\u00c2\u00a0pianist Dave Kikoski, tenor saxist Bob Mintzer,\u00c2\u00a0bassist Gary Peacock and percussionist Manolo Bandrena, plus three vocals by Tom Jobim&#8217;s great interpreter Gal Costa. Horta wraps all this in his unabashedly rich pop orchestra arrangements, waxes Benson &amp; Metheny-esque and does more dreamy singing than seems advisable. But if you&#8217;d be swept away, he&#8217;s got the ticket.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Charlie Hunter<\/span>&#8216;s\u00c2\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic; \"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Baboon-Strength\/dp\/B001G0E91O\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Baboon Strength<\/a><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: normal; \">\u00c2\u00a0is the latest in avant-garde r&amp;b minimalism, hip, hypnotic and chill &#8212; more bluesy, personalized and\u00c2\u00a0dynamic\u00c2\u00a0than mere ambience or meditation hum. The guitarist uses his custom 7-string instrument for XXX-thick lines, contrasting patterns and independent bass hooks in collaboration with\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Brik Deutsch, swirling organ (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Baboon-Strength\/dp\/B001G0B8YU\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">title track<\/a>) and Casiotone mini-keyboard, and Tony Mason, drums. The beat-focused tracks advance from the Meters, Steve Cropper, Philip Glass, Bob Marley, maybe Kraftwerk. Good for a party mix, a bit much straight through.<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: normal; \"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Birelli Lagrene<\/span> &#8212; Overloaded with sampled sounds and similar ear-candy credit\/blame to DJ Afro Cut-Nanga, as if to refute <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic; \">finally<\/span> the Django Reinhardt-inherited tastefulness which has long been gypsy-jazzman Lagrene&#8217;s most commercial suit &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Electric-Side-Bireli-Lagrene\/dp\/B001GU04RM\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Electric Side<\/a> is over-the-top virtuosic jazz-rock-fusion. The guitarist may have more inherent skill than he knows how to harness &#8212; \u00c2\u00a0most of the arrangements are credited to multiple members of his band &#8212; but in fusion, as Joe Zawinul may have stipulated, more is more. Check out the ridiculous version of Herbie Hancock&#8217;s &#8220;Jackrabbit.&#8221;\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div>Greedy for more new efforts on the guitar front?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Rez Abassi<\/span> contributes subtle timbral effects, among other techniques, to alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa&#8217;s unique <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic;\">Kinsmen<\/span> with Indian alto sax virtuoso Kadri Gopalnath, and to multi-saxophophonist\/composer Dave Pietro&#8217;s\u00c2\u00a0<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic; \">The Chakra Suite, <\/span>which elegantly draws on traditional Indian, Brazilian <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic; \">and<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0jazz elements. Abassi also has several albums of his own; I wrote liner notes to <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Bazaar-Rez-Abbasi\/dp\/B000J3EBF8\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Bazaar<\/a><\/span>.<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Elvin Bishop<\/span> &#8212; <span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic; \"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Blues-Rolls-Elvin-Bishop\/dp\/B001CBW1G2\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">The Blues Rolls O<\/a><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Blues-Rolls-Elvin-Bishop\/dp\/B001CBW1G2\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">n<\/a> offers upbeat boogies from the rough-voiced mop-top Oklahoman who twined guitar leads with the great Mike Bloomfield in Paul Butterfield&#8217;s Blues Band eons ago. Still resembling Harpo Marx, Bishop gathers as guests\u00c2\u00a0B.B. King, George Thorogood, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Angela Strehli, James Cotton, et al., resulting in a stone-blues album more varied in voices, songs, humor and nuance than might be expected, including the irrefutable advice, &#8220;Keep A Dollar In Your Pocket (a dollar is your very best friend).&#8221;<span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Bruce Eisenbeil<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0in trio w\/ Tom Blancarte (bass) and Andrew Drury (drum set) as Totem, on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Solar-Forge-Totem\/dp\/B00195BMEI\/?tag=howardmacom-20\">Solar Forge<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0&#8212; play with fire at the edge of musical comprehension and cohesion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.howardmandel.com\" target=\"blank\">howardmandel.com<\/a> <br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/JazzBeyondJazz\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe by Email or  RSS<\/a> <br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/archives.html\" target=\"_blank\"> All JBJ posts <\/a><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/w.sharethis.com\/widget\/?tabs=web%2Cpost%2Cemail&amp;charset=utf-8&amp;style=default&amp;publisher=6ed88875-2235-4b29-aaa3-60183b0bcbcc\"><\/script> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The phenomenon of Guitar Hero\u00c2\u00a0is unaccountable to most musicians. Why would anyone spend hours miming moves with a fake instrument when given similar time investment you could make music yourself, live, and with friends? Nonetheless, the game is the Christmas season&#8217;s most highly anticipated music item. As for\u00c2\u00a0disappointing early sales\u00c2\u00a0reports for\u00c2\u00a0&#8220;World Tour,&#8221;\u00c2\u00a0its just-released new edition, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[114,113,110,109,107,108,111,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"tag-bireli-lagrene","8":"tag-charlie-hunter","9":"tag-dave-fiuczynski","10":"tag-fusion","11":"tag-guitar-hero","12":"tag-jazz-guitar","13":"tag-mary-halvorson","14":"tag-toninho-horta","15":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-2g","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":186,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/04\/post.html","url_meta":{"origin":140,"position":0},"title":"&#8220;Big Three&#8221; jazz guitarists extended to a couple dozen","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In\u00c2\u00a0his article on the collaboration of Jim Hall and Bill Frisell in the April issue of Jazz Times, Evan Haga refers to the \"Big Three\" of current jazz guitarists: Frisell, John Scofield and John McLaughlin.Much as I dig them (and Hall), that designation is a rather typical journalistic foreshortening of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":357,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/12\/seasonal_electricity_jazz_fusi.html","url_meta":{"origin":140,"position":1},"title":"Seasonal electricity: jazz &#8220;fusion&#8221; in NYC","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"December 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Fusion, fission, energy and virtuosity reign supreme over coming holiday weeks as jazzers beyond genre constraints fill New York clubs. Starting tonight (Dec. 9) double-necked guitar madman Dave Fiuczynski fires up Iridium with ripping alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and jam-band idol John Medeski on keybs; jazz sambas and tangos, ex-Milesian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2007\/10\/guitars_and_jazz_tradition_pop.html","url_meta":{"origin":140,"position":2},"title":"Guitars and jazz tradition, popularism, innovation","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"October 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Jazz at Lincoln Center opened its canon to Swing Era guitar heroes Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian last week, while John Scofield, one of the instrument's current avatars, disappointed in performance of This Meets That with his trio + Scohorns. Where does the six-string ax belong, and what's it to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1133,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/12\/2012-top-jazz-beyond-jazz-recordings.html","url_meta":{"origin":140,"position":3},"title":"2012 Top Jazz Beyond Jazz recordings","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"December 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Checking out new recordings is the motivation of much jazz journalism, though at top-10 time having so much new stuff can be a bedevilment, if not a curse. Here's a baker's dozen of my favorites from among the 11-some-hundred sent by record labels, publicists and, increasingly, the artists themselves.\u00c2\u00a0They reward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"cds","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/cds.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/05\/comin_right_up_introducing_mat.html","url_meta":{"origin":140,"position":4},"title":"Comin&#8217; right up &#8212; introducing Matt Miller","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"May 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In a renewed effort to keep readers abreast of good listning, J-B-J introduces Matt Miller, who has some recommendations for places to go, comin' right up. Matt is a 23-year-old tenor saxophonist, graduate of the New School Jazz and Contemporary Music program, who writes for AllAboutJazz-New York and Jazz.com, besides\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;coming&quot;","block_context":{"text":"coming","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/coming"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2219,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2017\/04\/how-charles-lloyd-stays-marvelous.html","url_meta":{"origin":140,"position":5},"title":"How Charles Lloyd stays marvelous","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"During\u00c2\u00a0the 50 years since his breakthrough album Forest Flower (released in February 1967, recorded live at the Monterey Jazz Festival the summer before) -- comparable in some ways\u00c2\u00a0to The Epic success of Kamasi Washington --\u00c2\u00a0saxophonist-flutist Charles Lloyd has been unusually popular for an adventurous jazzman. He showed how he's done\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Charles Lloyd\"","block_context":{"text":"Charles Lloyd","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/tag\/charles-lloyd"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/images-5.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}