The new releases are coming thick and fast these days. In addition to recordings featuring veterans like Torn, Baggetta, Pirog,and Cline, there are terrific projects from numerous countries by a batch of names new to me.
I am heartened by how it gets harder and harder to pick the best of the year. It means that there are more and more great records of modern guitar being issued all the time. This year was made a little easier by the fact that veteran masters like David Torn, Henry Kaiser, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and Eivind Aarset all appeared on one or more records. The list is rounded out by younger players like Julian Lage, Max Kutner, and Anthony Pirog, as well as the introduction of new faces: Justus West, Rafiq Bhatia, and Igor Osypov.
A brilliantly witty take on the Beatles classic, with much use of the expression pedal on her Line 6 DL4 delay. This was was part of a double LP Black Friday 2018 release from Verve. The label had a group of young jazz practitioners contribute tracks to a compilation of tunes from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Many of the tracks sound like a return to the jazz of that era, but Halvorson’s voice is entirely of this moment.
We all love David Torn’s luxurious, ambient textures, but sometimes it is just fun to hear him tear it down. He plays great stuff throughout this track but the real mayhem begins at 9:20.
