It is getting hard to keep up with all the terrific new releases. Modern guitar continues to make inroads in places as far-flung as Argentina, Switzerland, and Tasmania. The pandemic has resulted in works that are largely solo or remote collaborations, but no less successful than the in person collabs.
Shahzad Ismaily is a multi-instrumentalist perhaps best known for his bass work with Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog. He has also worked with Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, Tom Waits, John Zorn, Shelley Hirsch, Nels Cline, Graham Haynes, Billy Martin (of Medeski Martin and Wood), and Burnt Sugar, among many others. Thanks to Jam Pedals we have this fascinating interview.
Joe and I go back decades. He is responsible for jump-starting my career as a music journalist. He has played guitar with PJ Harvey, Tracey Chapman, and Tom Waits, been an editor at Guitar Player Magazine and Premier Guitar, worked on guitar-based things for Apple’s Logic, and designed pedals. He just released his terrific first solo record, Falling Through Time: Music From The 1300s. A collection of ancient music played on modern instruments. We talk about everything under the sun.
It seems that, prior to 2015, I was able to embed YouTube videos with http in the embed code. At some point since then YouTube and or Word Press decided that unless the code was https the videos would no longer appear. I assume this has something to do with security, so fine. I just had to go back and change all the http code to htttps, and now the videos are back again.
If you have visited any of those early posts and wondered where the videos were that is what happened. Feel free to revisit them and check out the videos. If you discover any missing videos post 2015, please let me know. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about the videos that say “No longer available.” Those have been taken down by YouTube, the artist or the manufacturer.
Despite periodic lockdowns around the world, recordings continue apace. Lots of new names this month, which bodes well for the state of modern guitar.
