The Anthony Pirog Interview II

Anthony Pirog is a modern guitar hero on the level of his heroes Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, et al. In some ways he transcends them in his ability to deftly navigate a variety of genres—Jazz, Rock, Noise, Country, Ambient—genuinely but with his own take. At the time of this interview, his latest release is a collection of ambient guitar duos with Nels Cline, John Frusciante, Luke Stewart, Andy Summers, Janel Leppin, Brandon Ross, Wendy Eisenberg and Ryan Ferreira called on Otherly Love Records called The Nepenthe Series Vol. I.

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The Oz Noy Interview

Oz Noy and I go back 20 some years. From the beginning, it was obvious that he was unfettered by the limitations of technique—the guy could play anything from SRV blues to avant sonic explorations. We talk about his new record with Dennis Chambers and Jimmy Haslip, the second Ozone Squeeze record, and much more.

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Oz Noy Honors Monk

One commenter on this video laments Oz Noy’s use of effects for this tune as self-indulgent.  What they apparently fail to understand is that by pushing the sounds into the future, Oz is honoring another pioneer. Thelonious Monk was often misunderstood during his lifetime by people who wanted to keep hearing the basic swing of an Oscar Peterson or an Earl Hines. Many performers of Monk tunes over the years miss the spirit of his quirky style and merely play standard bebop and blues licks over the changes (Bill Frisell being a notable exception). Oz’s work here displays a mastery of modern effects, as well as blazing chops.

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Jazz à Junas: Nils Petter Molvær performs Khmer.

For my big birthday (75), I decided to brave a festival.

I hadn’t seen a true concert in over three years. A show at the Jazz a Junas festival seemed ideal: small, outdoors, 40 minutes away from our apartment in Nîmes over mostly non-life-threatening roads.

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Cool Gear Alert: Deimel LesLee Guitar.

I have been following Deimel Guitarworks on Instagram for a while. With creative wiring, pickups behind the bridge, and Piezos embedded at various points in the guitar, Frank Deimel has been in the forefront of creating instruments for experimental guitarists. His latest, the Firestar LesLee Synchronizer, combines a fascinating, built-in Leslie effect created by automatically switching between pickups, as well as the ability to synch with modular synths, or any device that uses CV.

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