Sandy Bull – Inventions
Recorded in 1964, Inventions by the American folk musician Sandy Bull (1941-2001) is simply one of my all-time favorite albums of instrumental string music. On this first CD edition released in 1995, the first section consists of three songs on which Sandy plays solo along with overdubs of himself. “Gavotte” based on “Cello Suite No. 5” by J.S. Bach, progresses from a short intro into a fine example of a slow, stately classical acoustic guitar style. “Manha de Carnival” by Luiz Bonfa benefits from being recorded during the early days of overdubbing as Sandy plucks some mellow melodies on the oud over a sprightly strummed guitar tethered with electric bass. “Triple Ballade” was written in the 14th century by Guillaume de Machout, who had no idea that someone would reinterpret it 600 years later as a “haunting sound of the Gothic age” on oud, banjo and guitar.
At this point in the proceedings, perennial jazz tubster Billy Higgins joins the fun and supplies a sensitively mellow beat during Chuck Berry’s “Memphis, Tennessee” in which a collision of rhythm and blues and country and western are bathed with a generous amount of reverb on electric guitar. On the epic “Blend II,” the ever-searching stringster Sandy Bull mines various and sundry musical minerals–ranging from American jazz to the music of Lebanon, North Africa, Egypt, Pakistan, and Afghanistan–and effortlessly blends them together while whipping up the whole shebang into an immensely pleasurable 24-minute aural smoothie, including a lively drum solo from Billy. And the free, staggered strumming in the final few minutes seals it all up in the most pleasing manner possible. The coda, “Gavotte II,” offers up another brief taste of heavily reverbed electric guitar. Note to vinyl fanatics: If you keep an eye out in thrift stores, you will occasionally run across a copy of the original LP—although most of them are usually pretty beat up.
Label: Timeless Recording Society Catalog Number: TRS 6004-2 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 5 Country: United States Released: 1995 More: Discogs, Wikipedia
Text ©2010 Arcane Candy
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