SOTL – Grand Hotel: Guitar : Florent Athénosy Drums : Andy Shoniker Bass : Jordan Scannella SOTL is an instrumental trio based in NYC, although the members hail from three different continents. Because of this, the band likes to playfully call their union a ‘conspiracy’. Florent Athénosy grew up in Paris and started music at a very early age. After classical guitar studies, he began educating hims... »
Russ Pettit hails from California and has been a serious guitarist for 30 years, and an instructor for more than 2 decades. This experience shows in his latest release, Travels of a Falling Leaf, which is a departure from his earlier work, as it is all acoustic instruments. Jeff Beck, Mike Stern, Robben Ford, and Joe Satriani, with whom he studied, are some of his listed heroes. His writing and pl... »
Having heard the live version, by different artists, of what has become somewhat of a “standard”, namely “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” it is remarkable how durable this composition has been throughout a rather long time span of jazz and rock history. My first encounter was this melody was the live version by Charles Mingus himself on double bass, at the very beginning of the 1970s. Mr. Mingus – being an ... »
After a few spins, imagery of Florence, Italy guitarist Alessio Forlani playing a supercharged Ferrari with strings came to mind. And while there isn’t a surfeit of background information on the Internet, it appears that he’s also heavily involved with studio processes and production activities. Here, the guitarist kindles similarities to longtime rock guitar hero Joe Satriani’s ... »
Spectrum was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City in mid-May of 1973. While still in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, drummer Billy Cobham decided to record his own album. Bringing keyboard player Jan Hammer along from Mahavishnu and giving guitarist Tommy Bolin his real first spotlight opportunity proved to be brilliant ideas. Spectrum is full of accessible jazz-rock numbers that instantly... »
A phenomenally skilled jazz and rock drummer, Wackerman’s professional career began in 1978 with the Bill Watrous band. He’s since accumulated an impressive resume, including a seven-year association with Frank Zappa, with whom he toured the USA and Europe and recorded 26 albums, which speaks volumes about Wackerman’s musical talents. Wackerman also recorded six albums and toured... »
Influenced by jazz guitar legends Django Reinhardt and John McLaughlin, Greece-born (now Canada-based) guitarist Strat Andriotis has released his latest CD entitled Less Off Patient, the follow up to Strat’s critically acclaimed 2015 CD, Liars Incorporated. Less Off Patient features eleven original tracks of instrumental guitar music, blending elements of Gypsy jazz and classical music. Strat is j... »
New York’s Brian Kastan seems like an interesting fellow. He is an award-winning nature photographer, has a Masters in Music, and a degree in psychology. He’s a certified clinical hypnotist and a published author. He composes for Hollywood films and TV. He’s also just self-released the all-original Roll the Dice on Life. This is a two-disc set. The first focuses on composition and is s... »
This release, Uros’ third, is quite different than either of its predecessors. Meoldy seems to be the focus this time, and the emphasis on ‘hummable’ bits causes you to want to listen again and again. The sometimes dense and frenetic harmonic information that often plagues recordings of this genre are not found here. A rocking, driving tune would have been nice, but having one in... »
I recently reviewed L.A. based guitarist Allen Hinds’ excellent Fly South for AllAboutJazz.com, and his concurrent release — a trio outing with the band Wonderland Park, Just Get In — provides a contrasting glimpse of the his robust artistic powers. Fans of Jeff Beck, Jimmy Herring and other guitar luminaries should check out Hinds who has made a name for himself as a top-flight session ace,... »