elf@utcsri.UUCP (Eugene Fiume) (06/10/85)
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A slightly unlikely trio of men to discuss in one message, but they're
all on my mind after giving each of their recent albums another listen
today.
Dan Fogelberg's "High Country Snows" is a refreshing and sincere collection
of country/bluegrass songs. I normally cannot listen to more than ten minutes
of his past efforts, which to my ears smack of over-production and schmaltz.
But this album is restrained and tasteful. Some of the best pickers and
fiddlers in the biz help out. I especially love the dobro work.
Egberto Gismonti and Nana Vasconcelos have recently released an album
called "Duas Vozes" on ECM. Gismonti's primary purpose in his musical
life is to convey some sense of his native Brasil at its most basic and
mysterious. Rhythm. Chant. Amazon Indian folk songs. Sometimes bizarre,
often very beautiful sounds. His latest effort has him usually playing guitar
(a beautiful 10-string) and piano, with the ever-wonderful percussionist
Nana Vasconcelos as partner. This is a more difficult piece of work than
what I consider his masterpiece, "Sol Do Meio Dia", but I can't exactly
put my finger on why. It may be that there's such a strong sense of
mystery in "Duas Vozes" that it requires many more listens. Gorgeous music
all the same, but if it's your first encounter with EG, I'd suggest you get
"Sol Do Meio Dia" first.
Much has been said about Stanley Jordan and his debut, "Magic Touch".
He has developed a new right-hand technique for the electric jazz guitar
that allows him to use the fingers from both hands to stop strings. In
effect, he takes advantage of the easy action and amplification of the
electric guitar to "hammer-on" notes using fingers from either hand.
Now, I'm not particularly interested in debating how novel his technique
really is. He seems, however, to have taken the jazz community by storm.
After hearing his album the first time, I was very excited and tried out
some ideas on my classical guitars. Two broken nails later, I realised that
the technique is limited in application. After listening to this album a
few more times, my excitement has diminished. True, Jordan's playing is
magnificent, but there are some real problems. I must say at the outset
that I consider the electric jazz guitar to be the least tonally interesting
of all guitars, so you may wish to take my opinions with a grain of salt.
So I don't like the music much. I like the technique though. However,
his guitar often loses intonation. Simply put, it often sounds out
of tune when both hands are on the fingerboard. His otherwise superb
version of "Eleanor Rigby" is completely marred by this artifact.
It's not clear this is easy to remedy. Separating the hands might help, so
perhaps using two guitars or a single double-necked guitar would help.
Higher-tension strings might also help, but would make all that hammering
more physically demanding. All in all, this album is recommended for
all the nice ideas; I just wish it sounded better. Maybe two good
guitarists are better than one great one.
Eugene Fiume
{allegra|decvax}!utcsri!elfbrandx@ihlpl.UUCP (h. weisberg) (06/12/85)
> It's not clear this is easy to remedy. Separating the hands might help, so > perhaps using two guitars or a single double-necked guitar would help. > > Eugene Fiume > {allegra|decvax}!utcsri!elf I've seen Stanley play 2 guitars at once before. It was at Bunky's in Madison a few years ago. He was also playing with a bassist (electric and acoustic) and a drummer. Awesome. I wonder why he doesn't do it more often. BTW, in my opinion, I don't care if he plays guitar with 2 hands, 2 feet, a mouthful of teeth, or whatever. All that matters is what he has to say. He can be quite a stunning soloist, as anyone who has seen him can attest to. I do agree, that the tone of his guitar does get to me after a while. He's been using the same tone ffor a long time. I think it's about time he moved on.