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Joe Beck Joe Beck has been playing guitar as a leader and sideman for over 40 years with a variety of artists including Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Paul Simon, & Steely Dan. "Relaxin' is a smooth swinging trio date with Grady Tate and Jay Leonhart. Friends harkened Beck back to his fusion phase while featuring guests Michael Brecker, Steve Gadd, & Mark Egan. Back To Beck stressed Beck's steel string acoustic & well crafted horn charts for Lou Soloff and George Young while The Journey, with bassist Chip Jackson, drummer Terry Clarke, and vibist Dave Samuels, includes spontaneous arrangements of standards and originals." - Guitar World Available Releases: Joe Beck Joe Beck Joe Beck Joe Beck Joe Beck & Ali Ryerson Joe Beck & Ali Ryerson The renowned guitarist Joe Beck together with premier jazz flutist Ali Ryerson have teamed to create a remarkably accessible new sound by pairing alto flute and a unique new guitar approach with compelling arrangements that emphasize beauty and melody. Percussionist Steve Davis joins Beck & Ryerson on half of the pop, jazz, and folk standards. Alto is the first commercial recording captured with Sony and Philip's Direct Stream Digital (DSD) technology. See tech talk for more information on DSD. Available Releases: Joe Beck & Ali Ryerson Review by Anneke Toomey The sound of the Beck/Ryerson duo: smooth, with an ethereal aura... The first commercial recording to use Direct Stream Digital (DSD) technology (which extends frequency response and dynamic range), Alto glimmers and shimmers along from start to finish. It's not "Easy Listening," but it is easy to listen to, and would appeal to the most inexperienced ears. The Beck/Ryerson duo is accented and augmented on about half the tracks by the percussion of Steve Davis. Along with some of the more standard standards are some originals by Mr. Beck and a cover of "Scarborough Fair/Norwegian Wood." Both Beck and Ryerson's instruments are unusual and worth noting here: Ms. Ryerson plays the alto flute, which has a curved head joint and carries a richer sonority than the standard C-flute. It melds quite nicely with Mr. Beck's one-of-a-kind guitar, which he designed specifically for his work with Ryerson. This guitar is capable of producing the fattest of chords, as it has three pairs of strings pitched in three separate registers. This is the first release from the duo, but each player is a veteran. Ryerson has recorded nine CDs, and Beck a healthy dozen. Ryerson, a cum laude graduate from Hartt School of Music in Connecticut, has performed at many major festivals and at Carnegie Hall's Centennial Celebration; Beck has been playing guitar as a leader and sideman for over 40 years with a variety of artists including Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Paul Simon, and Steely Dan. Reprinted with permission from the Green Mountain Jazz Messenger. |
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