GREG HOWARD BAND
Lift (Espresso Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Originally formed as a pick up band for a European one-nighter, the new Greg Howard band finds Howard, one of the reigning masters of the Chapman Stick, the ten stringed instrument invented by Emmett Chapman in 1969, fronting three Dutch musicians whose talents are singularly complimentary to his own.

Bassist Jan van Olffen, percussionist Jan Wolfkamp and Hubert Heering, who contributes saxophones, violin and electronic wind instruments to the blend, offer rock, jazz and classical backgrounds to augment Howard's own jazz, rock and jam band inclinations. In combination, the quartet offers music that glides deftly between new age, contemporary jazz and groove jams, without slipping into the less appealing traps that each of those genres offer.

The principle strength of the band, and the reason it rises again and again to the highest expressions of the genres it traverses, is the impressive improvisational skill of each of the players. The interplay between the musicians is on a level that doesn't allow anyone to settle for the cliched lick. That creates an intensity that's too rare in this kind of instrumental music, and makes Lift one of the few albums of its kind that gets played again and again around my place.

The Chapman Stick allows a range of expression that few have been able to exploit effectively. Howard has garnered personal recognition and appreciation from Emmett Chapman, and he deserves it, because in his hands it's an effective and authentic tool for musical expression rather than the new age gimmick it can become in the hands of the less talented. If you've never heard it played right, this is the place to start. [www.greghoward.com]

Track List:

Dissent * Cross Country * The Offering * Still Water * Chrysalis * The Effect Of Marco's First Lekker Bakkie In The Morning * Albatross * Restless * Nord * Blues For Ayman * Experimental Sunrise

© 2001 - Shaun Dale