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WHAT’ D I
NES
BY JIM HY
“I was standin’ at the train station with a guitar in my hand
Then I went to the airport with a guitar in my hand”
—C L A R EN C E “GAT EMOUTH” B ROW N
Cassandra
Wilson
Guitar in My Hand
MA RCO G L AVI AN O
T
HIS ARRAY OF MUSIC REMINDS
me of a conversation
between Gatemouth and
Johnny Copeland when
the oft cantankerous Gatemouth
was berating Copeland because
“you just play blues while I
play American music—all kinds
of it.” I guess Gatemouth had
dismissed Copeland’s Bringing
It All Back Home, fusing East
African music and blues, and
Copeland’s vocals on Randy
Weston’s Volcano Blues. The
range of music played by the
artists here certainly extends
beyond the blues, or as Melvin
Taylor might say, Beyond the
Burning Guitar.
Melvin Taylor broke new
ground with that 2010 release,
two discs of instrumentals
fusing blues, jazz and rock. His
new release, Sweet Taste of Guitar, continues to blend genres,
and finds Taylor playing all
instruments, as well as composing, arranging and producing
the album’s ten songs. Taylor
layers the guitar parts thick,
augmented by keys and rhythm.
It’s as if you’re hearing Wes
Montgomery and Jimi Hendrix
not only in the same session but
often in the same track.
Seth Walker is best known
in Americana circles but is
primarily a singer/songwriter
wielding a blues axe. With
Time Can Change, he makes a
left turn into jazzy, blue-eyed
soul with a stripped-down
collection of gorgeous ballads.
While the themes and underlying tones are bluesy, you won’t
find extended guitar solos and
stomping fare. Walker is a
great vocalist and his elegant,
clean guitar fills mostly frame
his vocals. Standout tracks
include “Stronger Than You
Need to Be,” “Before it Breaks”
and “More Days Like This.”
The incomparable vocalist
Cassandra Wilson has enlisted the
talents of marvelous guitarists
like Marvin Sewell, Marc Ribot
and Colin Linden, among others,
through her glorious run of
Blue Note recordings. For her
latest, Another Country, Wilson
brought on Fabrizio Sotti, who
also co-produced her 2003
album, Glamoured. The small
combo on Another Country emits
an intimate sound that inevitably
spotlights either Wilson or Sotti,
who does two pure instrumentals himself. Although we hear
electric guitar on the first two
tracks, “Red Guitar” and “No
More Blues,” the majority is
acoustic finger-picking, fusing
Latin jazz and classical with
touches of blues and Italian motifs. Wilson has certainly carved
out a reputation for defying
genres. Here, she proves again to
be a genre unto herself.
The twin guitars of Mike
Zito and Devon Allman,
combined with drums and
percussion, indeed make
Royal Southern Brotherhood
sound like the Allman Brothers, fronted of course by
Devon’s father, Gregg. But with
Cyril Neville on vocals, bassist
Charlie Wooton and drummer
Yonrico Scott, Royal Southern
Brotherhood certainly fills out
its own sound. Zito, Neville
and Allman each take turns
penning tunes or collaborating
on them, as well as sharing
vocal duties, further enriching
the band’s multifaceted attack.
“Ways About You” and Neville’s
playful “Sweet Jelly Donut” are
the highlights among a batch of
good but not great songs. Inevitably though, you’ll return to
those classic Neville Brothers
and Allman Brothers records.
That’s part of the idea. Check
out RSB—you’ll hear and enjoy
songs both new and classic
from this supergroup.
Leave it to Debbie Davies to
give us fluid, stinging Tele-
caster blues. Her debut for M.C.
Records, After the Fall, takes its
name from Davies’ own broken
arm and her mourning for the
passing of Robin Rogers, her
friend and collaborator. With
a career marked by stints with
John Mayall and Albert Collins,
Davies has long been acknowledged as a killer guitarist and
vocalist. She doesn’t disappoint
here. Aided by Bruce Katz’s B3,
Davies’ unrelenting groove is
best exemplified in “True Blue
Fool” and the Rogers tribute,
“Down Home Girl.” Davies may
not be as adventurous as some,
but as we explore these new
offerings, Davies is there with
guitar in hand to remind us why
we love the blues so much.
Elmore | November/December 2012
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10/18/12 1:48 PM