When an artist and session player like Leo Abrahams is continually involved in so many varied and interesting musical endeavors, it is essential to catch up. For the first time we actually spoke rather than emailed and an interview turned into a conversation, starting with a discussion of another wide-ranging guitarist we both love, Chris Spedding (Elton John, Bryan Ferry, John Cale, Robert Gordon et al), before getting into gear and aleatory music concepts.
Rob Jackson A/K/A Crème Douche bypasses pedals, amps, and even laptops, pushing the modern guitar envelope into a world of pure iPad apps. His gorgeous soundscapes are all guitar generated initially, but are morphed by the latest iOS technology into luscious orchestral sounding opuses (opi?) (opera?). As to the provocative name: it just means shower gel.
Every now and again it seems best to record a video interview with a musician who has something to demonstrate that might be lost in print. A video interview appeared a good idea with Avi Bortnick because, aside from being devilishly handsome (sorry about failing to notice we were cutting off the top of your head Avi), it let him show Guitar Moderne readers some of the laptop techniques and plugins he has been employing in the second guitar chair in John Scofield’s Überjam band. We also covered a wide range of other topics including the cool apps he has developed: Time Guru, and Voxbeat. Be sure to check out the videos below for demonstrations of his rhythm guitar genius and laptop effects in action, as well more info on his gear.
It was discovering a video of Jan Bang playing with Marc Ducret that ultimately led to an interview with the third member of the trio: Gunnar Geisse.
Losing the two middle fingers on his right hand in a mountain climbing accident in 1992 may have led Geisse towards composition during his recovery, but, on the evidence of his latest video, it has not slowed down his playing. Check out how he employs Jam Origin’s MIDI Guitar to its full potential and read here about the setup he uses to do it.
If you didn’t get enough of an idea of how cool the new Jam Origin MIDI guitar software is from my Source Audio Hot Hand USB review, or were wondering if it can track fast playing, check out British fusion whiz Tom Qualye’s demo. If you can play that clean, it will track that fast.
Also be sure to check out my full review in the November issue of Electronic Musician magazine. Remember—absolutely no hardware or hex pickup required!