Author's Notes
Mark Hanson
Besides being a performer, teacher, and arranger, Mark Hanson is also a skilled composer. This CD highlights mostly his own songs, with a few extras added for good measure.
The CD begins with a solo guitar piece entitled Unicycle. Starting on a thrumming bass, it evolves into chordal flashes and snatches of melody that gradually evolve into a whirling piece of music that is classical in its scope and development yet purely accessible in its material. Enjoy!
Hanson then skips to You Don't Know Me, that most memorable hit for Ray Charles. Here we get slow and soulful solo guitar on a song that obviously means quite a bit to the performer. You can always count on Mark Hanson to treat a song with sensitivity and respect, getting straight to its core.
Next Hanson tips his hat (absent in this particular cover photo!) to his occasional duo partner Doug Smith with Beeline. This is an up-tempo solo guitar song that slides along happily over transparently beautiful open voicings that really make his Collings SJ sing.
For The Wad Hanson adds not only his own bass playing, but a Hammond B-3 (George Mitchell) and drums (Carlton Jackson). Clearly Hanson knows how to find sympathetic souls in other musicians as this fuller track has all of the great laid-back groove of the earlier tracks. It is also a fine frame for several wonderful sounding guitars.
Postscript takes us back to solo guitar in Hanson's most romantic style and the same one that will be featured on Love Songs for Guitar. With its simple melody and straightforward harmonization, Mark Hanson works real musical magic here in a song that will keep you rapt.
Keys to the Kingdom then ups the tempo with a quick-stepping tune that still has the inner calm exuded by this entire collection. Calm, happy, virtuosic - what a great combination!
The arranger in Hanson cannot keep away from a CD it seems, and he is certainly at the top of his game with his lovely arrangement of Water Is Wide. This water drifts placidly along at its own pace, shimmering and sparkling in the sunlight. Even in the shade this tune never becomes sad or sombre in Hanson's caring hands.
Mt. Tabor Breeze returns us to a mid-tempo mover. The entire length of the guitar seems to small for Hanson's sliding fingers here, as they seem to leap into the stratosphere with the culminating harmonics. Another fun one.
Foggy Dew is another of Hanson's arrangements of a traditional song. This is a more impressionistic piece, with the fog almost palpable. The low placement of the melody paints a vivid picture of this fog holding low to the ground, almost oppressive in its weight. Even the harmonics feel held down, until we get some slight relief in the middle section. Then the incredible low harmonics return, bringing back the fog.
The fog lifts with the spirited Sweet Rotunda. This is a tune that you may already know as Mark Hanson has had a 'hit' with it on national television, where it was featured on Martha Stewart Living, as well as on a French-Canadian TV show and several fishing shows! I think that you will agree that it deserves even wider recognition.
We are off to Hawaii with Sprouting Horn/Waimea Canyon Medley. Here we are treated to "a bit of ki ho'lu" which is Hawaiin Slack Key Tuning. The term slack key refers to the lowering of one or more strings for a more open sound. Here Hanson uses C Wahine, which lowers the 6th string to C and the 5th to G. Once again, although these songs have a very Hawaiin flavour they are still pure Mark Hanson and fit perfectly with this collection - quietly peaceful and joyful.
Taylor's Ferry has a bit of an old-time feel to it and perhaps a Doc Watson homage hidden somewhere? This is what fingerstyle guitar is all about, with seemingly perpetual motion and lightning fast rolls.
Out comes Hanson's National Tri-Cone Resonator guitar for Grease Monkey. Hason proves a dab hand at slide playing here, from the raucous opening to the subtler shades that he brings to the different verses. If this truly is, as he claims a "Mechanic's nightmare" then it is just as surely a slide player's dream. Its non-stop energy is liable to make you overlook his flawless intonation, not easy on slide! (For the guitar players, that's open G he's playing in.)
The CD ends with a bonus track: Grapevine. Mitchell and Jackson return for a full-band instrumental version of I Heard It Through the Grapevine. This is a fine ending to the CD, and also answers the question: "Where the heck has the band been?" This is a rousing and swinging way to end a great CD.
In summary, this is one of the best CDs that you may have missed. Ever sensitive to his audience, Mark Hanson seems to have realized that you might be uncertain about an entire CD of his original music, and so he adds in two terrific arrangements of traditional songs, as well as a couple of great covers. He even adds in a full band for those leary of a pure solo guitar CD. Perhaps he is right about the general audience, but in any case the result is a wonderful CD that will thrill most guitar players as well as those that just love music.
Let's hope he does another soon!
Order your copy from Accent on Music at http://www.accentonmusic.com/cd_detail.asp?qID=129