Wayne Krantz: Howie 61 (2012)

Ever-evolving and improvisational New York guitarist Wayne Krantz has re-invented himself yet again with a stunningly creative recording, and a bold new direction, Howie 61, through Abstract Logix Records.

Better known for his preference of the trio format, the musical main-stay now enlists a multitude of world-class musicians in a variety of lineups, including Vinnie Colaiuta (Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa, Sting), Tal Wilkenfeld (Jeff Beck, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock), Pino Palladino (Jeff Beck, The Who, Eric Clapton), and Anton Fig of The Letterman Show's ''World s Most Dangerous Band'', among many others (Keith Carlock, James Genus, Nate Wood, Henry Hey, Owen Biddle, Charley Drayton, John Patitucci, John Beasley, Jeremy Stacey, Paul Stacey, Yasushi Miura, David Binney, Kenny Wollesen and Gabriela Anders).

Though Krantz has utilized vocals in his music before - most notably on his last album, Krantz Carlock Lefebvre - on Howie 61 Krantz pushes this aspect of his artistry a step further by incorporating vocal content in his music in a manner that is more complete and tightly integrated than anything he has done in the past. ''I'm very excited about this record,'' says Krantz, ''It's another step in a direction that I've been making since Long To Be Loose really; Long To Be Loose was an instrumental version of this record. I've been trying to figure out how to get words into my music for the longest time, and it took so much trial and error just to get to the point where I could use just a few words on a song, and have it feel integrated with the music. I'm super excited because I'm kind of cracking it - this record is not the completion of that journey at all, but it is a step in the direction that's been in my head now for a really long time.''

From riff-driven rock and funk, to stirring ballads, Krantz hits many moods on Howie 61, all the while retaining the harmonic and rhythmic acuity he's well known for. Highlights include rockers such as The Bad Guys and Can't Stand To Rock - both high energy tracks propelled by Krantz's searing guitar work. On the tongue-in-cheek U Strip It, David Binney, a frequent Krantz collaborator, delivers a burning sax solo over a playful, driving groove. Son Of A Scientist features legendary drummer Vinnie Colaiuta weaving in and around Krantz's deep rhythm and lines. It's one of two tracks that feature Colaiuta with bass phenom Tal Wilkenfeld.

On Check Yo Self Krantz hearkens back to his group-improv ethos with drummer Keith Carlock and bassist James Genus for a funky, stripped-down instrumental take on the Ice Cube-meets-Grandmaster Flash classic. At the opposite end of the spectrum, a second instrumental track entitled beLls features Krantz at his most evocative with a clean-tone, largely chordal piece, perfectly enhanced by well-placed effects and drummer Anton Fig's embellishments. The somber I'm Afraid That I'm Dead begins as a haunting piano ballad, before morphing into a ''zombie dream'' state courtesy of sonic alchemist Yasushi Miura. On How The West Was Left, Paul Stacey's slide guitar work provides a great augmentation to one of Krantz's most lyrical and dynamic offerings ever.

With Howie 61, Krantz demonstrates once again that he is more than just a guitar player, more than just an improviser; he is, in fact, a genre-defying visionary whose musicality is expressible in a myriad of ways. By combining that vision with an all-star cast and a stunning collection of engrossing, smart compositions, Howie 61 may be the most significant album of Krantz's career.

Tracklist:

01. Howie 61

02. The Bad Guys

03. Check Yo Self

04. I'm Afraid That I'm Dead

05. Son of a Scientist

06. Can't Stand to Rock

07. I'd Like to Thank My Body

08. U Strip It

09. Bells

10. How the West Was Left

Personnel:

Wayne Krantz: guitars (1-3, 5-10), vocals (1, 2, 4-8, 10), piano (4), ring modulator (9)

Henry Hey: piano (1)

Owen Biddle: bass (1)

Nate Wood: drums (1)

John Beasley: piano (2, 5, 6, 8, 10)

John Patitucci: bass (2, 8)

Charley Drayton: drums (2, 8)

James Genus: bass (3)

Keith Carlock: drums (3)

Yasushi Miura: sonics (4)

Tal Wilkenfeld: bass (5, 6)

Vinnie Colaiuta: drums (5, 6)

Gabriela Anders: vocals (5, 7, 10)

Kenny Wollesen: drums (7)

David Binney: saxophone (8)

Anton Fig: drums (9)

Paul Stacey: slide guitar (10)

Pino Palladino: bass (10)

Jeremy Stacey: drums (10)

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[By Request] PSP: Vigilante (2010)

This is the new opus of PSP (Simon Phillips, Pino Paladino and Philippe Saisse) released on 2010.

Simon Phillips: In 2009, Phillips joined with keyboardist Philippe Saisse and bassist Pino Palladino in forming an instrumental jazz/funk rock trio: Phillips Saisse Palladino or PSP, who toured in Europe in 2009 through 2010, spotlighting the talents of each performer in the songs chosen for their set list. Phillips also performed on Joe Satriani's album Super Colossal, appearing on multiple tracks. Phillips appears in Alan Parsons' Art & Science of Sound Recording educational video series, as well as the program's single "All Our Yesterdays". He played in the Michael Schenker Group album In the Midst of Beauty and took part to the band's 30th Anniversary world tour in 2010. Phillips is featured on Hiromi Uehara's 2011 album, Voice.

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Steve Lukather: Luke (1997)

"Welcome to the 3rd installment. You will find this record to be a bit of a departure from my other two because I really wanted to do something different. Maybe because my life is just different now and when I began writing and recording for this record I was in a rather introspective, life-evaluating space. Consequently, my approach to the whole reord, musically and sonically, just seemed to take another direction. I was inspired by all the music I grew up listening to and how it has influenced and chronicled different phases of my life and it came out liberally and deliberately on the record. In fact, I think this record is the closest amalgamation of all the different facets of me than anything I have recorded in the past, thus the original title. I experimented with some different instrumentation and recording techniques this time. All the tracks were recorded live except for vocals and a few other oddities. The solos that I do have on the record like Tears of my own shame and Blue bird were kept intact with all their imperfections as to keep the approach REAL and honest. I decided to focus on other aspects of my music this time. You hear sounds like pedal steel guitar, harmonicas, Mellotrons and some different guitar tones and rawer-sounding bass and drum parts. I mixed all this in with some modern recording techniques. I even purposefully distorted the vocals on some occasions... so there is nothing wrong with your system (haha). I think we captured the spirit of where I seem to be coming from at this time. I want to thank ALL of the musicians and Tom for their input and keeping me from myself when it was necessary, for making me keep things I would normally "fix" and maybe "fix" the edge right out of. I also want to thank Elliot Scheiner for coming in and mixing my album and putting some fresh ears on it.

See ya on the road!!" (Luke)
Tracklist:1 The real truth (Lukather, Waybill)
2 Broken machine (Lukather, Soussan)
3 Tears of my own shame (Lukather, Soussan)
4 Love the things you hate (Lukather, Soussan)
5 Hate everything about you (Lukather, R. Crowell)
6 Reservations to live (The way it is) (Lukather, Waybill)
7 Don't hang me on (Lukather, Soussan)
8 Always be there for me (Lukather)
9 Open your heart (Lukather, Goodrum)
10 Bag o'tales (Lukather, Soussan)
11 Blue bird (Stephen Stills)
Personnel:

Steve Lukather, Gregg Bissonette, John Pierce, Jim Cox, Phil Soussan, Maxie Anderson, Alfie Silas Duno, J.D. Maness, Pino Palladino, David Paich.

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