Word: virtuoso
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Anticipation hung in the air as the virtuoso sat down, tuned, the concentration evident on his face. Then he tuned to his accompanist, smiled, and began a two hour performance so complete in its exhibition of the skills of the violinist that the audience was left...
...Riders of the Purple Sage - sort of a rockin'-country adjunct to the Grateful Dead - at the Academy of Music. Perhaps my proximity to the mirror ball overhead clouds my judgment, but it is my distinct impression that my skull has been imploded by the virtuoso performance of Buddy Cage, the Riders' pedal steel player. Cage is the real deal, a country veteran who played on Anne Murray's first five albums; in contrast, the Dead's Jerry Garcia, the New Riders' original steel player, was a relative dilettante on the instrument who happened to play the steel break...
...Those looking for some energetic, jam-oriented roots music with lots of good playing would be well advised to check out Sam Bush's latest CD. The mandolin virtuoso has long been a fixture at Telluride's annual bluegrass festival, and "Ice Caps" is a collection of those performances from over the years featuring Bush and a cast of equally gifted guest performers. Among the most notable of these are newgrass veterans Jerry Douglas on dobro (who gets a great ride on "Girl from the North Country") and especially banjoist Bela Fleck, whose inspired playing puts the instrument through paces...
Taking center stage there during the Games will be 23-year-old Australian guitar virtuoso Slava Grigoryan. His recitals next month with the ACO might be up against the gymnastics finals, but Grigoryan's long fingers are just as flexible as a beam artist. The Kazakhstan-born, Melbourne-raised musician combines technical mastery with warmth and the spirit of youth. Tognetti praises his "sensuous style. He's a very organic sort of player...
Nearly as astonishing as Nawahi's achievement is his obscurity. He is not to be found among the 3,300 musicians listed in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. A thrilling new 23-tune set, Hawaiian String Virtuoso (on the Yazoo label), gives ample aural proof that King Bennie deserved his royal honorific as much as jazz gents named Duke and Count. One listens to the set, culled by Armstrong and Sherwin Dunner from rare originals, and the '30s guitarist in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown comes to mind--the one who was right up there with Django Reinhardt...