Showing posts with label electric guitar concerto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electric guitar concerto. Show all posts

Friday, December 6, 2013

for the guitar lover who has everything






They say all good things must come to an end: the promised twelve months of Electric Vivaldi blogs are officially up!  But what better opportunity to bust out some local legends who, like Nguyên Lê, have taken in a musical panorama that ranges far beyond our humble Colorado mountain setting!

Ron Bucknam is perhaps the most complete experimental guitarist you’ve never heard of, mining deep-seated veins of creativity for rare gems. Taking the same tired over-the-counter implements that overflow the aisles at Guitar Center - in this case, a pair of Applied Research and Technology effects processors he named Art & Bart - he 's dug up some epic cheats. Join his cult following as they disappear down twisted rabbit holes in the quest for avant-garde profundity... never to be heard from again.               Bliss Tech - Ron Bucknam 


Though young at heart, Neil Haverstick’s three-pronged performing, teaching, and publishing attack has kept him for the hunt for the mantle of Elder Statesman of the American Microtonal Guitar. And for any who might not actually reside in his state of dissonance, he also applies earbending tunings to the blues and world music improvisations.  His life-affirming energy can be glimpsed with the Stickman 19-Tone Power Trio, featuring Thomas Blomster on drums and Mary Stribling - on 19-tone bass:  African Stick - Neil Haverstick 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=699SARMy9cE
In the spirit of the season, a brand spanking new Centaur Records enchanced compact disc, Electric Vivaldi: Global Solstice, has just appeared on Amazon and iTunes.  It's a culmination of my own musical travels, but also a medley of holiday favorites mashed-up in the  blender of all the influences we’ve been sharing these past twelve months – the perfect holiday gift for the guitar lover who has everything.   There are even some East Indian Carnatic stylings inspired by my trip to Kerala, India with the Chuck Fryberger Films team: Electric Vivaldi: Largo on YouTube .  May the New Year bring us all even more new unsung guitar heroes to sing and their inspired creative torches to pass!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

the meticulous madness

When Boulder Symphony conductor Devin Patrick Hughes asked me to compose something for his orchestra last year, I remembered Al Pacino's immortal mob metaphor from the Godfather: "Just when I thought that I was out they pull me back in."  I'd grown up playing violin, but in its heart of hearts, the orchestra is an institution that's tried its best to remain unchanged for centuries.  I was also trying to figure out  some of my new guitar effects which were so glitchy I couldn't even get most of the notes to work.  But Devin is one of the only guys I know who will goad me to be more creative than I really am and it was only a matter of time before I came up with [glitch].  As it turned out, even more impressive than coming up with this stuff was how the Boulder Symphony Orchestra was brave enough to actually perform it!

Last month, I was stunned to hear back from maestro Mattias IA Ecklundh, and he was able to update me with the latest: "There's more madness on youtube.com/freakguitartv and loads to come, rest assure... on the run to Berlin to mix an album with Jonas Hellborg, moi and the fabulous Ranjit Barot on drums."

Now the Favored Nations record label that currently distributes Ecklundh's recordings is owned by the one and only Steve Vai, a past master who had originally emerged as Frank Zappa's "stunt guitarist" in the 80s.  This seemingly Zen artiste had proceeded to enlist in the band Alcatrazz after Yngwie Malmsteen, with David Lee Roth after Eddie Van Halen, and in Whitesenake after Vivian Campbell.  Each time proceeding to shred the comparisons with  over-the-top displays that simultaneously re-appropriated and perfected the techniques of his illustrious predecessors.


 In 2002, the eternal quest for ever greater platforms led him to a symphonic phase of his own.  In this clip, there are some interview excerpts where he really sums up what it's like when the musical worlds collide - and peppered with glimpses into his performance and the meticulous madness that is his own righteous gift.