What a pleasure it is to review Guitarist by Laurence Juber. This is one of my all-time favourite CDs, and it will be on my "desert island" list of CDs when I finally post that.
If you have not heard this amazing CD, look for the titles on YouTube and with luck you will find LJ playing them live. I consider this to be the consummate solo guitar CD for a number of reasons. First, LJ is one of the finest guitarists alive today, and since I cringe at calling anyone "the best" since taste is so subjective, I'll just say that he is my favourite guitarist and leave it at that.
Although it would be enough to have a CD by a great player, there is more to Guitarist. LJ wrote ALL of the songs on it, and they are terrific. Most are so tuneful that you walk away humming them. LJ is also one of the very best arrangers for the guitar, and this makes the songs more like "compositions" - they move with purpose through some complex territory.
The CD gets off to a great start with Breaking Point. The bass really gets things moving with its insistent line that grows in intensity, leading into the melody. The fullness of the texture belies the fact that it is only two parts, the melody and bass! The driven tension keeps up throughout, finally reaching "the breaking point" at the very end.
Green Kitchen shows us a more mellow, laid back side of LJ. The happy main theme pervades most of the song, until the funkier middle section moves in, but even it dissolves back into the light-hearted mood, and we are back to the original theme again. The sound here is particularly rich thanks to LJ's use of CGDGAD tuning. (Listen to that great last bass note!)
Next we slide into the frenetic 5:55 - one of those songs that I just had to learn to play after hearing it! If you like to classify songs by genre you'll have a tough time with this one. Although it starts off like a 'classic fingerstyle' tune (if there even is such a thing) the middle improvisation by LJ, as well as the end, is pure jazz. A wonderful blending of genres. That's LJ! (Listen for the vibrato on the last chord. If you've seen LJ in concert you know that it is his 'arm vibrato' - using his right forearm to touch the face of the guitar and create a vibrato sound.)
Cannery Row gets back to the mellow tone, with some very fancy fingerwork keeping the song moving along. More lush chords surface in the middle section, which barely changes the continuous motion. The song has the feel of a very active contentment, surely a man who loves his job!
Love at First Sight is an exceptional song. A beautiful love song, it seems too full to be played on one guitar. Here's the reason to use tunings like this song's DADGAD: the gorgeous harp-like arpeggios that fill out the texture here. The wonderful structure that underlies this seemingly rhapsodic piece makes me want to call this a "composition" rather than just 'a song'. The subtlety of the variations when material is repeated is just wonderful, and repays multiple, careful listening. My analysis of this song is here.
Along the Way is a very personable companion for some of the delights of fingerstlye guitar. The ease with which LJ plays belies the difficulty of the music, and I doubt that the composer could find a better interpreter of his own music.
Catch! is another technical tour de force. Those slamming octaves at the start are played by LJ 'tapping' the strings with his right hand, with great vigour. The focus is tossed back and forth between the bass and upper chords, until they come together in a closer, but still syncopated tune. You can be forgiven for thinking that you are hearing a bass player accompany a guitar on this one, but it is an amazing solo effort.
With Liquid Amber it feels like we are in an empty jazz club in the early hours of the morning, after all of the fans have left and the guitarist is alone in the wings, playing for his own need to play. This is a wonderfully refreshing blues, with none of the stale cliches and chord progressions that we've all heard too many times. There are just so many great things to hear in this song - from the way the theme emerges in rubato at the beginning, to the scintillating chords at the end - you'll just have to listen for them yourself.
Buffalo Nickel is a delightful trip back to the old-time music of the early twentieth century, with a few modernizing touches. Yet another testament to the breadth of stylistic diversity in the pen and under the fingers of Mr. Juber.
Eye of the Storm is the centre of gravity for the entire CD. From the ominous opening and melody, the storm gathers. In the center, we have the calm melody that floats in the middle of swirling chordal winds. Again, the CGDGAD tuning adds a literal profundity to the bass. When the storm breaks in earnest, there are echoes of it in the centre, but the centre remains calm. This reaches its calmest in the ghostly sound of the melody played solo and flautando - a guitar technique that makes the notes sound oddly hollow. The centre continues calm until the storm blows itself out.
After the intensity of Eye of the Storm, Blues for Now gives us what sounds like a master guitarist improvising on a standard blues progression. One last tune to bring us back to earth before setting us free. This is not the artful presentation of Liquid Amber, but straight-ahead blues that says "That's all for now, folks."
And certainly, it has been more than enough. This is an incredible solo guitar CD that any guitar player should have and study. Non-guitarists can just enjoy the music!
CANADIANS, buy it here:
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In the USA, get it here: