Guitar Week - Closing Statements (almost)

By Paul Acquaro

Derek plays Eric - A Suite of Soaps and Other Assorted Sceneries (Jazzwerkstatt, 2023) 

The concept of this Berlin based trio is to find a spot somewhere in the continuum of stylistic features and approaches between Derek Bailey on one end and Eric Clapton on the other. A broad spectrum indeed. Bailey, of course, pioneered a free improvisation language on the guitar and developed a philosophy towards improvisation, while Eric Clapton is often credited as a preeminent sculptor of modern rock with the Yardbirds and Cream and has offered at times his own somewhat more suspect philosophies. Anyway, A Suite of Soaps and Other Assorted Sceneries is the second recorded outing from this trio, following their self-titled debut from 2018 and it continues their journey of musical amalgamation. 

 

The group is guitarist Andreas Willers, bassist Jan Roder and drummer Christian Marien, and the program that they've cooked up on Soaps is rich and tasty. The album opens with drummer Paul Motian's 'Tuesday ends Saturday' from 1974's Tribute and which was already a guitar laden slow burner. Here, it is rendered with some reverence but even more grit. This is followed by a Willer's penned suite, itself a steaming stew of musical influences, with a heaping of avant-garde alongside hearty chunks of well marinated jazz-rock. Later in the program, a rendering of Gateway's "May Dance" is impossible not to enjoy - a great song given a worthy re-reading. Possibly the best example of the combination of the group's namesakes can be found in their take of the Beatle's "I Want You (She's so Heavy)," in which the closing track's opening moments are a seeming nod to the deconstruction of standards Bailey performed in his final years with the fiery rock furnace blast that the tune works itself into.

Juanma Trujillo - Howl (Endectomorph Music and Falcon Gumba Records, 2024) 

 

Juanma Trujillo is a guitarist originally from Venezuela who spent ten years in New York studying and honing his voice on the instrument, and now, according to various internet sources, is living in Barcelona. Along the way, he has developed an impressive discography and a core of close musical associates. As his move to Spain may change the some of the nodes in the network, he celebrated his New York connections at least one last time (though that's never truly the case, right?) with the recording of Howl featuring tenor saxophonist Kevin Sun, bassist Andrew Schiller and drummer Matt Honor on drums. Other recordings from Trujillo have featured other NYC fixtures and up-and-comers including Sean Conly and Franciso Mela (Collage, 2022), Kenneth Jimenez and Gerald Cleaver (Contours, 2023), and violinist Leonor Falcón (Imaga Mondo, 2023). 

 

On Howl, what is most interesting is the constraint Trujillo puts on himself - he uses only nylon string guitar. On other recordings, like the ones just mentioned, you may hear him on electric extracting long atmospheric tones or crunchy high-energy solos, or even playing mandolin and cuatro. The nylon string has its own sound-world. There is a difference to how the tones form, sustain and decay, there is a softness and clarity but also a real possibility to create dense thickets of sound. Trujillo's guitar playing does all of this on Howl as his musical partners respond with an equally rich set of tonalities. Opener 'Transient' lurches to life with a jaunty two note figure over which Sun arcs melodically while Trujillo's lightly atonal solo showcases the instrument's delicate side. 'Rojo' begins with a lithe figure and features Schiller's bass and Honor's drumming in an extended, building passage. The melodies seem to sneak up in the deft arrangement and that sparse intro becomes a full band effort by the end. The title track, after a spidery intro from Trujillo and Honor, is shredded by some powerful, free flowing saxophone. The contrast of the guitar and the woodwind is invigorating. Check this one out for sure!

Jessica Ackerley - All Of the Colours Are Singing (AKP, 2024) 

If Trujillo's album is one of saying goodbye to one life before embarking on a new one, then guitarist and composer Jessica Ackerley's could be considered one of transitioning into the new one. Ackerley began working on All of the Colours Are Singing after relocating to Hawaii and beginning a doctoral program. In the liner notes, she writes about both working with new musicians in Hawaii and one in New York City. She also talks about a friend she made after moving to the islands who then passed away from cancer just after completing the album's mixing. Is it an album memorializing loss? Reflecting on change? Celebrating new beginnings? There is a good chance that the answer is simply: 'yes it is.'

 

Suffice to say, what we hear on All of the Colours is a deep, diverse and emotionally imbued sequence of songs that range from the abstract strings of the opening "Introduction" to the power-trio charged explosions that is but one of parts of the closing track "Conclusion: In Four Micro-Parts," and all of the wonderful music in between. For example, the title track begins with a simple melody that bobs and weaves behind an evocative line of distorted legato guitar tones and a sonorous melody from Concetta Abatte's viola. Aaron Edgcomb's drums and Walter Stinson's upright bass provide support for the first half of the song and then the drums take center-stage for the rest. There is also the follow up, "The Dots are the Connection" which is an upbeat avant-jazz-rock tune, Ackerly's guitar leading the way, but it very much the collective work of a guitar-bass-drums trio. Then there is 'Nature Morte: Time is Fleeting,' in which we can basically hear the guitarist, with the help of her string arrangements, contemplating mortality. Each track is layered, the pieces with the strings even more nuanced, and all of the tracks embrace unusual and provocative melodic and rhythmic ideas. It would seem that Ackerley has found inspiration amongst the volcanic outcrops and black sand beaches of her new home.

Jorge Nuno - Labirinto (Phonogram Unit, 2024)

There is a certain tactile and aural joy that can be found strumming and plucking a steel string acoustic guitar without, say, a specific musical plan. There are resonances and vibrations that when activated can be a very satisfying feeling. Portuguese guitarist Jorge Nuno, leader of the very electric group Voltaic Trio, seems quite happy to release those vibrations on his solo acoustic guitar recording Labirinto. The 46-minute album is comprised of eight very individual tracks that are full of abstract atonal melodies and very concrete rhythmic inventions. The opener, 'Sombras', begins with a detuning, a sound that guitarists are quite used to, as the pitch of strings are compared against each other as the tuning pegs are slowly turned. Then, the playing evolves into seemingly frenetic statements, but on repeat listens begin to reveal patterns based on other attributes than well-tempered melodies, for example, Nuno uses to great effect, motion, repetitive tonal clusters, and syncopation. The title track begins with non-sounding notes, in which the friction from striking muted strings with vigor create the track's textures. The closer, 'O fim', features a similar approach, at least at first, but with the sound on. One interpretation of the album's title, Labirinto (which means labyrinth) could be interpreted as a trip through the quixotic corridors of the acoustic guitars timbres and tonalities, which would make sense as Nuno is presenting the guitar at its purist. 

 

Flak, Jorge Nuno, José Lencastre, Hernâni Faustino - Break It Down (Phonogram Unit, 2024) 

Let's stick around in Lisbon for a moment - after all, it's a lovely city with its own sounds and labyrinthine streets and corridors - and check out another one featuring Nuno, and this time with his Phonogram Unit label mates, saxophonist José Lencastre and bassist Hermani Faustino, along with guitarist Flak, who was an lynchpin of the Portuguese rock scene with the group Rádio Macau. On Break it Down, the group relies on Flak's analog drum machine work as a basis for their improvisations. Throughout, Lencastre is burbling over with melodic ideas, while Nuno provides both searing and atmospheric electric guitar. Faustino's bass lines throb and thrust, rooting the group with a feel that veers between dub, rock, funk and its own unique thing. The main event is the title track, a nearly 20-minute aural treat, in which Flak's percolating electronics provide constant agitation as Lencastre and Nuno generate energetic waves, and Faustino's punchy bass delivers precise blows. The track ebbs in the middle, leaving the drum and bass to their inventive devices. The group comes together in the final moments, with swelling noise-guitar from Nuno, hand-clap rhythms from Flak and ever-twisting lines from Lencestre. Pure inventive joy. 

 

Samo Salamon with Ronan Guilfoyle & Rafal Mazur - For the Listener Who Listens (Self-Released, 2024) 

Now for something completely different: For the Listener who Listens is a set with Solvenian guitarist Samo Salamon in duo with two different bassists, Ronan Guilfoyle from Ireland and Rafal Mazur from Poland. The tracks are interspersed, Salamon and Guilfoyle on the odd numbered ones and Salamon and Mazur on the evens. Both of the bassists play the acoustic bass, not an upright double bass, but rather the one that looks like an oversized acoustic guitar, and all of duets with Guilfoyle sees Salamon playing the banjo. The sound world of these instruments together is as important as the interactions between the players. On the opening track, The opener, 'A Mind of Winter', the plink plonk of the banjo is taut, focused and cutting, and so is the bass. Each note is distinct and on equal melodic footing. The push-and-pull of the duo is on the delicate side. The following track, 'The Frost', with Mazur is different. Salamon is on his usual semi-hollow body electric, which he plays with a clean, rounded tone and Mazur's notes blend slightly together. Here, the give-and-take builds more quickly as they both exchange tonal clusters and melodic snippets. The dialog of duos continues, each track featuring a different approach from the two musicians involved, and ending with a final duo with Guilfoyle. 'The Nothing that Is" is closing remark on the spacious improvisations that do in fact reward the listener who truly listens - again, and again and again.

Frank Paul Schubert, Kazuhisa Uchihashi & Klaus Kugel - Black Holes Are Hard To Find (Nemu, 2022) 

This is Guitar Week's bonus track. Black Holes Are Hard To Find was released in December of 2022, so it has been out in the world for a bit, and it is a bit tragic that it has had to wait so long to get a well deserved mention here.

 

This international trio is made up of German saxophonist Frank Paul Schubert, Japanese guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi, and German drummer-percussionist Klaus Kugel. The album, Black Holes Are Hard to Find is entirely improvised and showcases an eclectic, genre-blurring style and a contagious synergy between the players. The seven tracks are rich with dynamic interplay, seamlessly shifting through multifaceted musical ideas. To pin-point Uchihashi's contributions on guitar is tricky, as it is the blend of the three that make the album stand out, but special attention could be given to apocalyptic wailing that permeates the title track, especially around minute three, then again towards the final third of 'Explosive Past', and also in the middle of 'Internal Structure.' More importantly though, each piece unfolds with its own internal logic, blending bold textures and timbres into an extremely satisfying sonic dish.