Word: guitarists
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...Charlap has built on that blueprint in a succession of beguiling and acclaimed CDs on the Blue Note label. Written in the Stars (2000) samples Porter, Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Harold Arlen, among others. Stardust (2003), on which the trio is augmented by such guests as Tony Bennett and guitarist Jim Hall, is all Hoagy Carmichael. The best so far, this year's Somewhere, focuses on the theater songs of Leonard Bernstein...
Somewhere, Joe Strummer must be smiling. Twenty-two years after the late guitarist and his band, the Clash, released the classic single Rock the Casbah, Franco-Algerian singer Rachid Taha has taken the title literally - with a cover of the 1982 hit that blends ringing electric guitars with Arab woodwinds and strings to give it a distinctively north African flavor. In a sense, Taha's take on Rock the Casbah on his new CD answers the provocative question posed by the title track, Tékitoi? (Who Are You?). "I'm a French rock 'n' roller with deep Arab roots...
...texture," he muses. "But when an Arab does that, it's said to be traditional and exotic." Tékitoi? might seem like an attempt to cross over; after all, the title track is sung mostly in French, and Taha continues to use producer Steve Hillage - a former guitarist with the 1970s band Gong who has since produced groups including Simple Minds. But Tékitoi? retains a strong north African flavor and reaffirms Taha's reputation as a politically engaged singer. In H'asbu-hum (Demand Their Accounting), Taha denounces the "murderers, oppressors, traitors, envious and rotten" who work...
...scatting. The synthesizer/keyboardist produced old-school laser and space sounds while also beating a rhythm on an electronic drum pad, creating a tightly-controlled and intricate duet with the drummer, whose face was contorted as he wove a precise drum beat throughout the pieces that they played. The guitarist generated the most diverse array of sounds, as his many effects pedals churned out the sounds of tinkling glass and resonating pan pipes, along with more traditional distorted effects...
...handful of tracks from her debut CD Things We Do, and her band provided lush backing to her slightly raspy, occasionally soulful vocals. The performance set the stage for the rest of the night: behind the ethereal music and her slightly quirky vocals, the band rocked out, with her guitarist seeming even to borrow some moves from R.E.M. axe-man Peter Buck...