New York-based free jazz guitarist Bern Nix is one of the few people who are well-versed in Ornette Coleman's "harmolodics" style. He played with Coleman from 1975-1987, and now leads the Bern Nix Trio in New York City. In his compositions and his intriguing covers of standards, he is always looking in the corners of the music for something new.
Kiyoshi Shomura recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of his career as a guitarist, with a series of recitals throughout Japan and the release of his album Milonga del Angel, the latest of his many recordings for the Toshiba EMI Label.
Guitarist Nels Cline, recently named a "Guitar God" by Rolling Stone Magazine, presents a brilliant solo CD that covers an extraordinarily brand range of musical styles, with a surprising acoustic sensibility. The provocative title is misleading as this intensely personal album demonstrates a daring musicianship and a willingness to take musical and emotional risks. Coward blends improvisation and composition with a huge and constantly changing emotional and timbral palette. "Coward" is a musical tour de force.
Habib Koité & Bamada
Habib comes from a noble line of Khassonké griots, traditional troubadors who provide wit, wisdom and musical entertainment at social gatherings and special events. Habib grew up surrounded by seventeen brothers and sisters, and developed his unique guitar style accompanying his griot mother. He inherited his passion for music from his paternal grandfather who played the kamele n'goni, a traditional four-stringed instrument associated with hunters from the Wassolou region of Mali. "Nobody really taught me to sing or to play the guitar," explains Habib, "I watched my parents, and it washed off on me."
Mansour Seck has been a leading figure in Dande Lenon, Baaba Maal's band, for many years, and performed on many of Baaba Maal's recordings. Seck has released disks under his own name, as well. Mansour Seck and Baba Maal come from the same town, Podor, in Northern Senegal.
The ud, or oud, is a bit like a lute, sonically. The musical modes are very different from the lute played by guitarist Julian Bream, of course...but the instrument does resemble the lute somewhat. Yurdal Tokcan is my absolute favorite oud player. He's stunningly great! This 11-minute video's from Yurdal's February 2009 concert.
Blues guitarist-singer B.B. King and "Hootenanny" folk singer Mary Travers (Peter, Paul, and Mary) sing "House of the Rising Sun" as a conversation. I don't think Mary "gets it." Her voice drags, seems dead, unconvincing, overly romantic. Strange. B,B.'s okay ~ at least when his fingers are walkin' and Lucille's doin' the talking, Odd. Corny. Worth a listen.
Information about Vicente Amigo at Pandora.com. Pandora is the Internet radio service that helps you find new music based on your old and current favorites.
Now living in the USA, Arto has performed and recorded with an array of outstanding jazz and world music artists, including popular Greek artists such as Eleftheria Arvanitaki, as well as the Spanish guitarist Gerardo Nuñez, and Joe Zawinul, Al Di Meola,
Listen to his strings (vocal, dan, n'goni, guitar) with his fellow citizens (Salif Keita, Ali Farka Touré, Habib Koïté, Oumou Sangaré, Guerebou Kounkan …) as well as on Mali lovers' artists (hip hop globetrotter Kwal, fiddled pop of Toma Side...
Since moving to Canada, Liu Fang has explored beyond Chinese classical pipa music, and collaborated with a slide guitarist from India, a cellist from Eastern Europe, a shakuhachi player from Japan, a zither player from Vietnam, an oud musician from the Middle East, and has recorded these multiculti collaborations with the Montreal-based Philmultic label.
For an interesting comparison of these two seminal, virtuosic guitarists, listen to Jimi Hendrix on Little Wing (he wrote it), and then Vaughan's cover. Very cool exercise.
Nearly a year in the making and brimming with a newfound focus on original material, Already Free is The Derek Trucks Band's natural evolution as they move forward integrating influences that span a variety of musical genres. Known for their blues roots, the group takes this album well beyond blues to incorporate the larger sounds of rock & soul. Already Free features a stirring cover of Bob Dylan's Down In The Flood as well as the new songs, Down Don't Bother Me and Get What You Deserve.
Group items tagged 
Cached