Beppe Gambetta & Carl Aonzo
Serenata
Gambetta & Aonzo
Acoustic Music
(AMC 1136)
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Beppe Gambetta and Carlo Aonzo are two guys from deep in the long tradition of Italian music, in many of its forms.
Gambetta started in classical music, moved to American-style flatpicking, and now, in this small masterpiece of an album, he delves into turn-of-the-20th-century popular classical themes.
Aonzo is currently the third-chair mandolinist of the La Scala Opera of Milan, and comes to this album with all the intensity and power of a Puccini score. If Gambetta is the Taraffo of flatpicking, Aonzo is the Jethro Burns of the Italian classical mandolin.
This most amazing and moving CD is one of the best acoustic instrumental albums of the last 20 years in America. Incredibly, it's available only on an obscure European label, Acoustic Music (AMC 1136), after being dumped by a very shortsighted American Indie. Get this one, my friends and revel in its obscurity and beauty. And look for Serenata II, due for a Fall 2001 release. DC/2001
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Harvey Reid
Circles
Harvey Reid
Woodpecker Records
(108CD)
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It will surely be a trick of the gods if Harvey Reid does not become the best known traditional artist of his generation in America. He has it all; good writer, mastery of about ten instruments (yes, there is at least one "multi-instrumentalist" in the game who can really play), veteran performer, about a dozen recordings (one-better-than-the-next, all first rate), and he's a virtuosic, inspirational performer.
He's also funny as hell; ask him to do his bit about NBA players taking up the autoharp.
Although he tours nationally and overseas, you're most likely to see him in upper New England, and you should. He'll kill you with flatpicking, slide metal guitar, autoharp (one of the best in the world), mandolin, five- and six-string banjo, and godknowswhat. Occasionally, you can see him and me sharing a bill -- again, usually in New England, and not as often as I would like: Harvey is a player who sets such a high standard it makes you better to appear with him, because you don't want to mess up in the presence of such a giant.
He's also real humble, that's why I can't tell you here how good he really is. DC/2001
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Joel Mabus
Promised Land
Joel Mabus
Fossil
(894CD)
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Joel Mabus is a local hero of Michigan and the upper Midwest, but the really knowledgeable guitar and banjo cognoscenti all over the world know about Joel Mabus, because he's just quietly, stunningly good.
Where shall I begin? First, he's a killer flatpicker who plays everything -- trad, bluegrass, old-time -- and he is certainly one of the greatest Irish tune players in the world. I'm not kidding, he's right up there with Tony McManus, JP Cormier, and anybody else who tops your list as a great player. In addition, he may be the sweetest clawhammer banjo player I ever heard.
But there's more: He writes some of the most outrageous songs ever; funny, biting, poignant. And he can perform an old song like "Pretty Saro" and break your heart with it.
He's a larger-than-life persona who plays his ass off, sings, researches, writes, teaches, performs, and raises the level of class wherever he tours. And incredibly, his CDs are almost as good as his live performances, a rare accomplishment. Once you hear him, you'll order everything he ever recorded. DC/2001
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John Cephas & Phil Wiggins
Dog Days of August
Cephas & Wiggins
Flying Fish
(FF70394)
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You see him standing there, waiting quietly by the stage, and you could be forgiven for assuming he's a bystander, just stopped by to hear a little music, calling no attention to himself. Half an hour later, you realize how much the short walk up to a microphone with a guitar can change what happens to a human being. Because, my friends, the guy is John Cephas, the bluesman with a voice about the size of God's, and a guitar style that resonates about as deep from a scalloped-braced stretch of soundboard spruce wood as any player you ever heard. This is the mighty John Cephas; offstage he's quiet, courtly and dignified, but on it he's 7.5 on the Richter Scale of blues, the phenomenon that Doc Watson called "the greatest bluesman in America."
And I could write a page just on Phil Wiggin's harmonica ... it's indescribable, powerful, complex, musical, entertaining, and unique. Doc and I got into a conversation about hearing Phil Wiggins play, and we agreed that Phil's reputation as an intellectual (first musician I ever met who carries serious poetry around to read on the road) is probably due to the extra oxygen he gets to his brain from all that hyperventilation into a harmonica!
Cephas and Wiggins have toured more countries on earth than anybody I ever heard of, and the response is always the same: audience devastation. Our band California preceded them at a big festival in Denmark in the 90s; we went over okay that night, but when John and Phil walked quietly out and sat down in a couple of folding chairs to play, the place was erupting before their first tune was over. Two thousand folks in a big hall heard the Force move through a couple of Piedmont-style acoustic blues gentlemen, and I guarantee you they still remember being rocked and ravished that night. DC /2001
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Don Stiernberg
Unseasonably Cool
Don Stiernberg
Blue Night
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You should give yourself a musical break from the tedium and the same ol' - same ol' stuff by listening to the very cool and very acoustic music of Mando man Don Stiernberg. This is as musical and satisfying as anything you're going to listen to this year, and it comes from a label to watch and listen to: Blue Night Records, the creation of our pal Steven Briggs. You can read up on them at www.bluenightrecords.com and stay connected to a new source of timeless music. Check 'em out. DC /2001
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