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John Abercrombie Interview

August 13, 2007 By modernguitarist

A lengthy and very informative interview with jazz guitarist John Abercromie has recently been published by All About Jazz. Here’s a snippet:

AAJ: What kind of gear do you take on the road? One or two guitars? Do you bring an amp or backline one?

J.Abercrombie: I always backline. You can’t bring amps on the road anymore. You can barely even get your guitar on the plane these days. Lately I just take this Brian Moore guitar and a little box with some effects. The main effect I use, and I’ve been using it for about twenty years, is little stereo effects processor made by the Boss company, which is a subdivision of Roland, called the SE-50. It’s just a little half-rack unit that has multi-effects—reverb, delay, chorus and a lot of really useless stuff that I don’t use like distortion and compression. I just generally use it for the reverb and the delay and sometimes maybe a very little bit of chorusing. That’s changed over the years. I used to use a lot more of that effect. During the eighties, I was using more chorus; I was addicted to it. As I get older, I find that that sounds like too much to me. My sound is getting a little more pure over the years—less effected, more direct.

Read the full interview here.

Filed Under: Jazz

Machan: Motion of Love

August 12, 2007 By modernguitarist

Songwriter and guitarist Machan’s second album, “Motion of Love“, was released last July by Nu Groove Records. The album includes ten songs, nine of which are her own creation. Born in Japan and now based in New York, Machan has shared stages with artists ranging from Pat Benatar, Aretha Franklin, George Benson to Pink Floyd, Hiroshima and Sting. Her experience in the pop and jazz worlds has marked her eclectic voice as a songwriter. “Motion of Love” is an album with both a pop and a Brazilian vibe, where the breeze of bossa novas and the sound of nylon string guitars are combined with pop and rock melodies with catchy arrangements. The CD features guest appearances by jazz greats Randy Brecker, John Medeski, John Scofiled, and Brazilian percussionist Portinho, as well as from Government Mule’s Danny Louis.

Tunes that stand out: “Motion of Love”, “More”, “Extraordinary thing”, “In your word”, “A Broken Heart Like This”.

Track Listing:

1. Motion Of Love
2. More
3. Everyday
4. Beautifully Broken
5. Broken Heart Like This, A
6. Extraordinary Thing
7. Little Bird
8. In Your Word
9. Without Your Smile
10. Vulnerable

Filed Under: Jazz Tagged With: Jazz, Machan, Pop

Rage Against the Machine In New York

July 30, 2007 By modernguitarist

After seven years of separation, Rage Against the Machine made its first appearance in New York this past Saturday, July 28, at the “Rock the Bells” festival. This was the first of two shows in a festival that drew around 70,000 fans and included hip-hop artists Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, the Roots and Talib Kweli. Another concert featuring Rage Against the Machine at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin on August 24 has also been announced with Queens of the Stone Age. However, when asked if the band were planning on recording a new album, Morello answered:

“There are no plans to do that. That’s a whole other ball of wax right there. Writing and recording albums is a whole different thing than getting back on the bike (laughs), you know, and playing these songs. But I think that the one thing about the Rage catalog is that to me none of it feels dated. You know, it doesn’t feel at all like a nostalgia show. It feels like these are songs that were born and bred to be played now.”

Filed Under: Rock

Living Colour: New DVD & Tour Dates

June 8, 2007 By modernguitarist

Last May 8, 2007 Living Colour released a DVD called “On Stage At World Cafe Live!”. The DVD includes material from their latest record “CollideOscope” as well as material from previous albums (“Desperate People” has been posted on YouTube). It was recorded at the “World Cafe Live” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 16, 2005. Reid, Glover, Calhoun and Wimbish have announced that a new record will be released sometime this year..

They have also announced more tour dates for 2007:

Jul. 06 – Main Stage at Drava River – Lent Festival – Slovenia
Jul. 07 – Porgy & Bess – Wien, Austria
Jul. 08 – Zolt Pardon – Budapest, Hungary
Jul. 09 – Transilvania – Milano, Italy
Jul. 10 – Treibhaus – Innsbruck, Austria
Jul. 11 – Bluesiana Summer Stage @ Casineum – Austria
Jul. 13 – Stravinski Hall – Montreux Jazz Festival – Switzerland
Jul. 14 – Plato, Netherlands
Jul. 15 – Jazz Cafe, London, UK
Jul. 16 – Spirit of 66 Verviers, Belgium
Jul. 18 – New Morning – Paris, France
Jul. 19 – New Morning – Paris, France
Jul. 20 – Waerdse Tempel, Grote Zaal, Netherlands
Jul. 21 – Colos Saal Aschaffenburg, Germany
Jul. 22 – Spectrum – Augsburg, Germany
Jul. 25 – San Sebastian Jazz Festival – San Sebastian, Spain
Aug. 11 – Sully’s Pub – 2nd annual Wimbash – Hartford, CT

Filed Under: Rock

Vignola Plays Gershwin

June 5, 2007 By modernguitarist

“Vignola Plays Gershwin“, the latest CD from guitarist Frank Vignola, reached #2 on the JazzWeek Jazz Album Chart for May 21, 2007 (the JazzWeek charts measure radio airplay in North America). Vignola’s quartet includes Joe Ascione on drums, bassist Tom Kennedy and Corey Christiansen on guitar. With twelve released albums as a leader, he is a versatile guitarist capable of playing everything from gypsy jazz and commercial pop-jazz to hard bop, post-bop and swing. On “Vignola Plays Gershwin” he leans towards a gypsy jazz direction, bringing a Django mood to the Gershwin melodies. He states he has been influenced by guitarists Django Reinhardt, Joe Pass, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and Charlie Christian. For an extra treat, check out the Joey DeFrancesco Trio featuring Vignola on YouTube.

    Track listing:

  • I Got Rhythm
  • Summertime
  • S’Wonderful
  • Our Love Is Here To Stay
  • They Can’t Take That Away From Me
  • The Man I Love
  • Somebody Loves Me
  • Strike Up The Band
  • Nice Work If You Can Get It
  • Fascinating Rhythm
  • Embraceable You
  • Lady Be Good
  • How Long Has This Been Going On
  • But Not For Me

Filed Under: Jazz

Ben Monder: At Night

June 3, 2007 By modernguitarist

A collaboration between jazz guitarist Ben Monder and vocalist Theo Bleckmann called “At Night“, was released in SACD format this past May by Songlines. The album contains original songs, pop covers as well as freeform compositions. Monder and Bleckmann have made several duo recordings in the past, usually with accompanying players. Percussionist Satoshi Takeishi plays on a few tracks here. Their last duo collaboration was “No Boat”, from 1997. Monder has been a member of The Maria Schneider’s Orchestra, Guillermo Klein’s Los Gauchos, and Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band, and has played as a sideman with Lee Konitz, Prism Quartet as well as with several other artists. He has also recorded several albums as a leader including: “Oceana” (2005), “Excavation” (2000), “Dust” (1997) and “Flux” (1995).

    Track listing:

  • Late, by Myself (sample)
  • Sunny Sunday (sample)
  • Carbon
  • Hymenium
  • Animal Planet
  • Swarm
  • Orchard
  • Norwegian Wood
  • At Night
  • Apocryphon

Filed Under: Jazz

The Randall “Lynch Box” Amp

June 2, 2007 By modernguitarist

George Lynch is introducing his new Randall “Lynch Box” head and cabinet. A 5 minute video of George Lynch trying out his new gear has been posted at YouTube. It was recorded during a guitar clinic at a Sam Ash store in Chicago last month. For those interested, Lynch is offering online classes through a guitar program known as the George Lynch Dojo: “Every month begins with a Syllabus outlining the calendar of events happening each day – office hours, to lessons revealed, to unreleased tracks, to student song reviews” (check out the free tour). The 1st annual end of semester seminar will be held June 9th and 10th at a Four Points Sheraton in Los Angeles, California. Tickets can be reserved online through George Lynch’s Mob Shop.

Filed Under: Rock

Tom Morello: One Man Revolution

June 2, 2007 By modernguitarist


The Nightwatchman is the solo act of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello. Described by him as “the black Robin Hood of 21st century music” and “a reaction against illicit wars, first strikes, torture, secret prisons and spying illegally on American citizens”, it resembles the music of artists like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Woody Guthrie. The Nightwatchman One Man Revolution Tour officially began on May 16, 2007 and Tom Morello has added more tour dates beginning on June 17 in Dallas and finishing up on June 27 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Rage Against The Machine has confirmed four dates on the Rock The Bells tour, in late July in New York City and mid-August in California. While there have been rumors of a full tour or permanent reunion since Audioslave broke up, and the group has also reportedly scheduled a concert in East Troy, Wisconsin in August 24, a full tour is not planned (as of June 2007). In April 2007 the band performed together for the first time in 7 years at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Filed Under: Rock

Mike Stern: Reissued

June 1, 2007 By modernguitarist

Wounded Bird, a record label that specializes in the reissue of albums from the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s (on cd only), has begun to reissue Mike Stern’s cd’s that were no longer available on Atlantic Records. These releases are: “Standards (and other songs) from 1993, and “Give And Take” from 1997. “Jigsaw” from 1989 and “Is What It Is” from 1993 will be out in June 2007.
Four remaining titles are expected for the summer. In the US these records can be purchased from amazon.com and Wounded Bird, and outside the US at artist-shop.com or cduniverse.com.

Filed Under: Jazz

Snakes & Arrows: Long Live Rush!

May 31, 2007 By modernguitarist

“Snakes & Arrows”, Rush’s first all new material album since 2002’s “Vapor Trails”, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart with sales of 93,000 copies. This is their highest charting debut album since 1993, when “Counterparts” debuted at No. 2. The disc, has sold 150,000 copies in the U.S. since its May 1 release. Rush will begin a North American tour on June 13 in Atlanta, ending September 22 in Toronto, Canada. They have selected “The Larger Bowl” as the second single from its CD. Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee and Neil Peart have been together since 1974. They recently spoke to the Artisan News Service about their career and recent release. See the YouTube report here.

Filed Under: Rock

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