Review: The Danny John Trio - Mr. Twister

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/

Review: Evan Cobb – Falling Up

There is this old joke that goes like this: One musician asks another, “Do you read music?”  The other replies, “Not enough to hurt my playing.”

With a master’s degree in Jazz studies Evan Cobb lays this old adage to rest. Not only is he well educated in Jazz he also teaches college.  On this album Falling Up professor Cobb schools us in the subject of how to make a great Jazz CD.

Evan Cobb leads the monthly jam sessions at the Nashville Jazz Workshop and many of these songs were born from his preparations for that.

There is a great lineup of musicians on this album: Matt White (trumpet), Bruce Dudley (piano), Jonathan Wires (bass), Joshua Hunt (drums) & special guest Jeff Coffin (tenor saxophone). 

My favorite track on Falling Up is “Tip Tap Toe”. It starts with a nice piano roll into some Bossa Nova style  comping, in come the drums and the upright bass walking all over the planet. After the mood is laid out, the sax and trumpet duet begins. They play some catchy riffs in harmony and then branch off into some amazing solos.  First sax, then piano, trumpet, bass and then back into the main riff and clean finish.

“Eastern Bell Feel” has a great start with sparse cymbal, upright bass and left hand piano in half time. The trumpet and sax come in playing a lick that I would hesitate to call melodic and yet, it is in its own outside way. The piece kicks into full tempo and sounds like your traditional Jazz song with walking bass and catchy melody. The piece switches in and out of the two styles with various solos over the top, ending with quick stabs by the rhythm section, littered with sax and trumpet runs in-between and finally a drum roll and a crash cymbal to end.

I won’t question a college professor’s misspelling of “modernism”; because “Mahdernism” seems to be the way you spell exquisite in Jazz speak. This number starts with a tenor sax/baritone sax duet followed by some great piano doubled by the bass. It sounds like the perfect back drop to a spy movie. Cobb mixes it up a bit and then starts the solos. First we hear from the piano which is a pretty straight forward bebop style solo, followed by tenor sax, baritone sax, then the tenor and baritone trade of riffs, and then start playing over each other. Madness ensues when the trumpet decides to weigh in to the already cacophonous fight between the baritone and tenor saxophones. The horns hit their peak, trail off and then things get really quiet with an upright bass solo. The drummer plays behind him quietly hitting rim shots and cymbals.  All the instruments come back in to play the original theme, change it up a few times and end with a nice sting.

Falling Up combines classic bebop style Jazz with more modern Avant Garde style solos. The tone that Cobb’s get with his sax is very rich and soothing. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes Be-bop style Jazz.

4.5/5 Stars

Key Tracks: Tip Tap Toe, Eastern Bell Feel, Mahdernism

Kirk Bullough

Tracks: 1. Tip Tap Toe 2. None.Half.All 3. Eastern Bell Feel 4. The Cosmonaut 5. In Ran Roy 6. Mahdernism 7. Crescent City Ditty 8. Don't Hold Your Breath

 
Artists: Evan Cobb
Title: Falling Up
Genre: Jazz
Label: CDBY
Website: http://www.evancobbjazz.com