Jef Lee Johnson & Fareed Haque
Nov 21, 2007 14:42:24 GMT
Post by 2knowtalent on Nov 21, 2007 14:42:24 GMT
Here are two guitarists you SHOULD be aware of...
Start with "Communion" and go from there.
Funk, acid-jazz, Hendrix influenced jamming mofo...
What the critics say:
"In a world where jazz players are in a rush to rummage licks from dead icons, there is Philadelphia guitarist, bassist and vocalist Jef Lee Johnson, a man without a genre. Johnson plays too much funk to be consigned to the jazz bins. He sounds at times like Stevie Wonder, but he's earthier, more dangerous and less commercial.
...But that's too limiting a description of this often-slammin' CD, some of it recorded live at New York's Knitting Factory, a hothouse for new ideas.
...it's consistently entertaining. Johnson isn't afraid to be singularly himself."
- Philadelphia Inquirer
"Close your eyes on 'Ain't Seen Irene' and you'll swear you're listening to a Jimi Hendrix blues outtake. Jazzy, funky, rocking, soulful and just plain out there...Imagine Stevie Wonder as a Knitting Factory badass instead of an inner visionary, or an R&B crooner who stopped making booty calls and started taking guitar lessons from John McLaughlin, and you're not even halfway into Johnson's singular bag."
- City Paper
"...a high-energy recording of his original compositions influenced as much by rock and blues as by jazz. And certainly not by smooth jazz.
...witty and straightforward lyrics based upon real-world experiences, exciting guitar work, faked-out endings, crashing and forceful drum back-up, and an unforced blues sensibility that infuses all of the tracks. As Johnson finally emerges from the shadows of the sideman, his audiences will find a guitarist / composer who has developed his own style - one that communicates intuitively without compromise or dishonesty...to form a personalized statement."
- Jazz News
"...psychedelic blues-rock'n'funk-rolling end phrase scrambled/freaked/boho-ed (live/studio) into something one step-ahead, waiting-for-y'all-to-catch-up. Transcendental moment: Johnson's snarly metal feedback conversations throughout "jungle."
- JazzTimes
This guy is mindblowing... part Al DiMeola, part Django, part Steve Tibbetts
Fareed Haque is a bit of an oddity in the local music scene. The guitarist, best known for his work in jazz-influenced projects such as Garaj Mahal and the Fareed Haque Group, is also an accomplished classical player who was commissioned to compose a guitar concerto for the Fulcrum Point Ensemble--a Chicago-based grouping that experiments with genres from Latin to rock and beyond.
"He reads like a classical musician and plays like a great jazz guitarist," says Howard Levy, who met Haque more than two decades ago while playing saxophone in a park outside of the guitarist's apartment in Evanston and has since recorded with him on numerous occasions. "I'd say those two traits are very rare in one person."
The dichotomy reflects Haque's well traveled childhood. Though most of his schooling took place in and around Chicago, the guitarist (who is of Pakistani and Chilean descent) frequently spent his summers abroad, passing time in Chile, Spain, Pakistan, France and Iran. Much of the globetrotting centered around his father's work; as a microbiologist with the University of Illinois, Haque's dad spent time in Iran as an adviser and crisscrossed the map working for a handful of educational foundations.
Each stop offered another opportunity for Haque to absorb the local culture. In Spain he would listen to lively gypsy waltzes, learning complex song structures that had been passed down through generations. In Iran he studied with a teacher who played Persian guitar, violin and classical guitar, mastering dozens of Iranian folk songs.
"Iran in 1975 was a very culturally diverse place," says Haque, reached in Seattle in the midst of a West Coast tour. "The idea of someone playing Persian folk music, Spanish guitar and Armenian opera was not a big deal. It's something we consider unusual in America, but it's not unusual around the world."
Listening to the Fareed Haque Group's music, one gets the sense that the planet isn't nearly as large as it seems. Composed of a tabla player, Indian violinist, keyboardist and an agile rhythm section, the ensemble marries American jazz with Indian raga. On songs such as "Ragas for Kala," Salar Nader's lively tabla playing dances against a shuffling New Orleans rhythm in an East-meets-West mashup as funky as it is natural.
"I was raised among these sounds. It wasn't that out of my experience," says Haque, who notes that his parents' record collection contained everything from classical to flamenco. "There was all this amazing music from the get-go, so it was difficult not to absorb it in my bones."
Haque, 44, who has been playing guitar since he was 11, studied jazz guitar at Texas State University before transferring to Northwestern University, where he completed his studies in classical guitar. He is currently a professor of jazz and classical guitar studies at Northern Illinois University.
But even in the academic setting, Haque is something of an outsider. "I've taken students' books and burned them. I've thrown them away," says Haque. "It's like, `Dude, you don't need these. If you can't hear you can't play.'
"If I play the notes to a song right I've only learned about 10 percent of it. If I have one mission it's to let people know that music is still something that has to do with the ears. When you get that pocket right you can keep people dancing all night long."
To that end, Haque is giddy as he recalls the previous night's show, a deep funk exploration that was more Parliament-Funkadelic than buttoned-up concerto, saying: "There are people out there who want jazz to be conservatory concert music. I'm not like that. Music needs to live amongst the people."
www.fareed.com/
Start with "Communion" and go from there.
Funk, acid-jazz, Hendrix influenced jamming mofo...
What the critics say:
"In a world where jazz players are in a rush to rummage licks from dead icons, there is Philadelphia guitarist, bassist and vocalist Jef Lee Johnson, a man without a genre. Johnson plays too much funk to be consigned to the jazz bins. He sounds at times like Stevie Wonder, but he's earthier, more dangerous and less commercial.
...But that's too limiting a description of this often-slammin' CD, some of it recorded live at New York's Knitting Factory, a hothouse for new ideas.
...it's consistently entertaining. Johnson isn't afraid to be singularly himself."
- Philadelphia Inquirer
"Close your eyes on 'Ain't Seen Irene' and you'll swear you're listening to a Jimi Hendrix blues outtake. Jazzy, funky, rocking, soulful and just plain out there...Imagine Stevie Wonder as a Knitting Factory badass instead of an inner visionary, or an R&B crooner who stopped making booty calls and started taking guitar lessons from John McLaughlin, and you're not even halfway into Johnson's singular bag."
- City Paper
"...a high-energy recording of his original compositions influenced as much by rock and blues as by jazz. And certainly not by smooth jazz.
...witty and straightforward lyrics based upon real-world experiences, exciting guitar work, faked-out endings, crashing and forceful drum back-up, and an unforced blues sensibility that infuses all of the tracks. As Johnson finally emerges from the shadows of the sideman, his audiences will find a guitarist / composer who has developed his own style - one that communicates intuitively without compromise or dishonesty...to form a personalized statement."
- Jazz News
"...psychedelic blues-rock'n'funk-rolling end phrase scrambled/freaked/boho-ed (live/studio) into something one step-ahead, waiting-for-y'all-to-catch-up. Transcendental moment: Johnson's snarly metal feedback conversations throughout "jungle."
- JazzTimes
This guy is mindblowing... part Al DiMeola, part Django, part Steve Tibbetts
Fareed Haque is a bit of an oddity in the local music scene. The guitarist, best known for his work in jazz-influenced projects such as Garaj Mahal and the Fareed Haque Group, is also an accomplished classical player who was commissioned to compose a guitar concerto for the Fulcrum Point Ensemble--a Chicago-based grouping that experiments with genres from Latin to rock and beyond.
"He reads like a classical musician and plays like a great jazz guitarist," says Howard Levy, who met Haque more than two decades ago while playing saxophone in a park outside of the guitarist's apartment in Evanston and has since recorded with him on numerous occasions. "I'd say those two traits are very rare in one person."
The dichotomy reflects Haque's well traveled childhood. Though most of his schooling took place in and around Chicago, the guitarist (who is of Pakistani and Chilean descent) frequently spent his summers abroad, passing time in Chile, Spain, Pakistan, France and Iran. Much of the globetrotting centered around his father's work; as a microbiologist with the University of Illinois, Haque's dad spent time in Iran as an adviser and crisscrossed the map working for a handful of educational foundations.
Each stop offered another opportunity for Haque to absorb the local culture. In Spain he would listen to lively gypsy waltzes, learning complex song structures that had been passed down through generations. In Iran he studied with a teacher who played Persian guitar, violin and classical guitar, mastering dozens of Iranian folk songs.
"Iran in 1975 was a very culturally diverse place," says Haque, reached in Seattle in the midst of a West Coast tour. "The idea of someone playing Persian folk music, Spanish guitar and Armenian opera was not a big deal. It's something we consider unusual in America, but it's not unusual around the world."
Listening to the Fareed Haque Group's music, one gets the sense that the planet isn't nearly as large as it seems. Composed of a tabla player, Indian violinist, keyboardist and an agile rhythm section, the ensemble marries American jazz with Indian raga. On songs such as "Ragas for Kala," Salar Nader's lively tabla playing dances against a shuffling New Orleans rhythm in an East-meets-West mashup as funky as it is natural.
"I was raised among these sounds. It wasn't that out of my experience," says Haque, who notes that his parents' record collection contained everything from classical to flamenco. "There was all this amazing music from the get-go, so it was difficult not to absorb it in my bones."
Haque, 44, who has been playing guitar since he was 11, studied jazz guitar at Texas State University before transferring to Northwestern University, where he completed his studies in classical guitar. He is currently a professor of jazz and classical guitar studies at Northern Illinois University.
But even in the academic setting, Haque is something of an outsider. "I've taken students' books and burned them. I've thrown them away," says Haque. "It's like, `Dude, you don't need these. If you can't hear you can't play.'
"If I play the notes to a song right I've only learned about 10 percent of it. If I have one mission it's to let people know that music is still something that has to do with the ears. When you get that pocket right you can keep people dancing all night long."
To that end, Haque is giddy as he recalls the previous night's show, a deep funk exploration that was more Parliament-Funkadelic than buttoned-up concerto, saying: "There are people out there who want jazz to be conservatory concert music. I'm not like that. Music needs to live amongst the people."
www.fareed.com/