One November Night
Aglaophone
If a compilation of tone-heavy instrumental electric guitar music were ever issued (“Titans of Tone” would be a great title), it would have to include cuts by artists such as the Hellecasters, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, Steve Morse, Johnny Hiland, Jazz Is Dead, Ronnie Earl, Steve Howe, Redd Volkaert, Albert Lee, Danny Gatton — and Johnny A.
On this live CD/DVD, the former Peter Wolf sideman who followed his all-instrumental muse performs at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston. The ultratight bass-and-drum accompaniment leaves the virtuoso plenty of room between notes, and the direct recording yields stunningly clean audio.
Delay, reverb, wah-wah, fuzz, whammy bar and string-bending figure prominently in Johnny A.’s playing. Also impressive is the use of his middle and ring fingers to pluck notes while holding a pick between his thumb and index finger, enabling him to supercharge the melody’s dynamics. He also often plucks rather than picks chords, something especially handy on jazz numbers.
A couple of other things going for him: 1) his uncanny ability to emulate the vocal melody, a background vocal part and the rhythm section; and 2) the Johnny A. Signature Model Gibson, which gives him a hollow body and resists feedback but still rocks.
The multigenre tracklist consists of original instrumental material and choice instrumental covers culled from his two studio albums (2001’s “Sometime Tuesday Morning” and 2004’s “Get Inside”), plus four new songs: the Beatles’ “The Night Before,” Chuck Berry’s “Memphis, Tennessee,” his own “Jimi Jam” (which, by the way, is not just another lame note-for-note rehash of Hendrix licks) and the Left Banke’s “Walk Away Renée.”
The CD has four songs that aren’t on the DVD. The DVD has one song not found on the CD.
Tracks
1. I Had To Laugh
2. Sing Singin’
3. The Wind Cries Mary
*
4. Tex Critter
5. Lullabye For Nicole
6. Two Wheel Horse
7. Get Inside
8. The Night Before
*
9. Krea Gata
10. Ignorance Is Bliss
11. Wichita Lineman
*
12. Memphis, Tennessee
*
13. Jimi Jam
14. Walk Away Renée #
* CD only
# DVD only
Total CD time: 1:10:14
Total DVD time: 1:05:26
External links
artist’s website
amazon.com (mp3 only)
