Yesterday I had
never even heard of Daniel John and today he is one of my favorite guitarists
ever.
Danny grew up
in Canberra, Australia. He picked up the guitar at age eight and taught himself
to play. After gaining an enthusiastic response in Australia he dropped
everything and moved to Hollywood where he attended Musicians Institute of
Technology. After three years of studying and playing with the best he felt
like he was ready. He moved back to Australia and played with the best
musicians Australia has to offer.
His latest venture “The Danny John Trio”
is Daniel John (Guitars); James Dennett (Drums); Marcos Gil (Bass).
Their second album, Mr. Twister is ablaze with flashy, raucous, intense musical masterpieces. From the moment I hit play I was in guitar shredder heaven.
I hate it when guitar virtuosos put out albums with a bunch of singing with little guitar solos in-between. Mr. Twister delivers everything I ever wanted to hear on an instrumental guitar album. The shortest song is over 5 minutes long.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t just a
bunch of heavy metal shredding for the sake of fitting as many notes into a
measure as you can. No, each song on this album is a treasure trove of diverse
styles, odd meters and vast dynamics, amazingly clean sweep picking, plus
incredible bass and drum solos.
Mr. Twister starts out heavy with “Drift”. A
lone distorted rhythm guitar progresses into a full out attack of guitar
voodoo. It’s a nine minute song, but it never gets boring. “Would” rivals the
group “The Mars Volta” for having the most genres in one song. The title track
“Mr. Twister” is a lesson in playing in every meter except 4/4. “Lighthouse”
makes a game of changing keys every two beats.
This album was
recorded in 17 hours, but you would never guess. It’s a testament to the
amazing talent of these artists. If they were painters this would be their Mona
Lisa. If you are looking for a perfect Rock/ Jazz Fusion album, this is it.
Look no further.
5/5 Stars
Key
Tracks: Drift, Mr. Twister, Lighthouse
Kirk Bullough
|
Tracks: 1. Drift 2. Would 3. Mr. Twister 4. Whole 5. Predilection 6. Badland 7. Lighthouse |
Danny John: Drift Official Music Video Danny John from Danny John on Vimeo.
Artist: Danny John Trio
Title: Mr. Twister
Genre: Progressive Jazz Rock Fusion
Release Date: May 1, 2011
Label: Danny John Trio
Website: http://www.dannyjohntrio.com/
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