Olaf Tarenskeen  -  Missing Link with  Acoustic Trio. Dessa Music TEKVND-102

Olaf Tarenskeen, is a superb nylon string guitarist from Holland who won

the national  jazz award called The Wessel Ilcken Prize. Since than he

really played with a lot of famous people like Kevin Eubanks. Earlier on

he released two solo guitar albums Decisions and Human Download,

at Acoustic Music Records, which gave him a lot of excellent reviews.

Now his new album Missing Link is out on which he plays in an acoustic

trio setting with a very well known double bass player Harry Emmery and

percussionist/drummer Joshua Samson. The title track Missing Link has

a very nice intimate setting with additional keyboard, which reminds one

of the best guitar ballads of Al Di Meola. On I hear a Bossa you hear

Olaf Tarenskeens ability to create great melody lines and he really can

improvise in a great way on a musical theme. Chinese Melody a work

with an enormous lot of emotion and great balance  between him and his

bassist and percussionist and keyboard player. End of the Puzzle is one

of my favorites, you hear Olafs great way to create intimate moods in

imaginary landscapes created with softness, balance, great technique

and expression which goes under your skin, the interaction with his

bassist and percussionist are fabulous and with depth, the percussive

thumbing technique of his bassist Harry Emmery is great and the string

quartet gives this piece an extra dimension. Yesterdays History has

some influences from Jan Akkermans best ballads he made together

with Focus. Also typical Al Di Meola influences, but what the best of this

album is that Olaf Tarenskeen and his trio knows to fully absorb you in

their sublime dynamic compositions, with balance between expression

and great guitar techniques in a nice melancholic scenery .He certainly

belongs to the great composers and players like Al Di Meola.

Henk te Veldhuis.

Pierre Bensusan Intuite 2002- Acoustic Music Records.

Pierre Bensusan is a world famous guitar player who mainly writes

his guitar music In DADGAD open tunings. Therefore he knows to

create a musical atmosphere , that is different than the average

fingerstyle guitarists, although now plenty guitarists play in open

tunings. But if you hear Pierre playing you forget about open tunings

and open your heart for his creative playing and you will not hear he

is playing not in standard tuning. Pierre does not focus on his tunings,

but mainly on strong melodies and perfect compositions, which are

really full of techniques and touch different styles, as jazz, folk, finger-

style, classic and alternate music. His first track on Intuite is called

Kadourimdou which has jazzy feelings and a strong melody line.

The Welsh Arrow shows his ability to play folk and Irish music.

So Long Michael is a tribute to the late Michael Hedges which name

is a standard in acoustic guitar music. You hear some minor influences

of Hedges as Bensusan does his own music with blended melodies and

melancholic settings. La Hora Espanola has Spanish influences but

has that typical Bensusan sound, with classic references in jazzy land-

scapes. Silent Partner is the last track of this album, and shows his

ability to write music without borders. Intuite is Pierre Bensusan's

first solo album an acoustic guitar and it tastes like a good French wine.

Philippe Fouquet Ouvrir Big Sky Music 2003

Philippe Fouquet is a French guitarist and he just released

his first album Ouvrir. Fouquet has his roots from music

like Marcel Dadi, John Renbourn and Pierre Bensusan.

His music sounds like poetry and he knows to touch the

listener. The first track of Ouvrir is called Fenêtre which

shows his classical techniques and Baroque playing abilities.

The Blue Dreamer is a beautiful composition with overtones

and shows his ability to create a melody and compose in well

structured melodies, this track has a typical Hedges intimate

style. Le Indicible moves you in a well balanced melody.

Triptyque is a composition with nice arpeggios in an Irish

ambiance. Prelude Hirondelle has fantastic classic influences

but Philippe just makes more than only classic music, he has a

lyrical approach. On The Morning Walk he really creates a

neoclassical sphere with typical modern fingerstyle ingredients,

he has many moods in his melodies, although the recording

is dubbed with a second guitar the result is overwhelming.

Philippe Fouquet is a really versatile guitarist, he has so many

techniques, playing styles and he knows to capture the listener

from the begin to the end of the album in passionate melodies.

Adrian Legg Guitar Bones on Favored Nations Acoustic Label LNA5060-2

Adrian Legg has a long history as an acoustic guitar player.

Legg has had many awards for his great guitarplaying.

He made about 13 albums in about 20 years, Guitar for

Mortals was made in 1992, and Fingers and Thumbs in

1999 where his guitar playing is rather different than

on the new album Guitar Bones. Adrian Leggs influences

reach from country, jazz, folk, rock to classical music.

On Guitar Bones, he returns to his roots his fingerstyle

guitar music.It does not sound he still plays on Guitar Bones

on Ovation guitars, as the sound is much more direct and

warmer than on his earlier Ovation guitars. After his first

warming up song Uncle Adrian, Legg really impresses in a

blues and jazz session on Jam Tomorrow. La Giga Anziana

reminds one of Irish music with a nice melody line which is

very absorbing. On One Eyed Turk a very nice composition

with bottleneck techniques.Old Friends really is an outstan-

ding composition with a very intimate melody line, which

has some outstanding playing techniques. Ghost in the Hills

another great composition with nice nuances and melancholic

voices with outstanding techniques used.Adrian Legg has

succeeded on Guitar Bones to create a very versatile album

whichwill surely impress a critical fingerstyle guitar audience.

Peter Huttlinger Naked Pop- Favored Nations Acoustic FNA5010-2

Peter Huttlinger, born in Washington is now living in Nashville and

studied guitar at Berklee College of Music. He was a guitarist in John

Denvers band, but he played also as a featured artist with the San

Diego and Houston symphonies and is a favorite guest artist of the

Nashville Chamber Orchestra. He recently joined Steve Vai founded

label at Favored Nations Acoustic. Naked Pop is a breathtaking

instrumental showcase of original compositions, traditional fare and

songs made famous by the Beatles, Sting, Judy Garland, Steely Dan,

the Allman Brothers Band and Stevie Wonder. The first track on

Naked Pop is a composition of Peter Huttlinger himself, Brown

Bomber, which shows his dazzling guitar solos and great technique.

Monahadan Jig is a arranged traditional with a very nice chord and

arpeggio structure in a nice melody line. Josie an arrangement of

Donald Fagen of Steely Dan. Yet Peter makes in his own unique style

a new work of Josie, he uses very dynamic rhythmic patterns and

a staccato playing style fingerpicking patterns and so he makes a new

own creation of this song with unique technical playing capabilities.

Little Martha written by Duan Allman of the great Allman Brothers

Band is rewritten by Peter in a very attractive and percussive way.

On Over The Rainbow Peter makes a very jazzy arrangement of

this well known classic song with his percussive way of playing.

One of my favorites is Overjoyed where Peter establishes to create

an intimate sphere, with flageolets and nice chord chances. Fields

of Gold a Sting song is completely rearranged in Peter his unique

guitar style. Elanor Rigby is also a favorite of me, as Peter uses such

several guitar techniques to make this song in a very percussive way,

and divers artificial harmonics to his own masterpiece. Peter Huttlinger

has made on Naked Pop a truly new superb approach to pop and rock

songs.

Alex Houghton is a fingerstyle guitarist\componist from Ottawa,

Canada.The compostions on Happybody are interesting for as

well people who like jazz and folk and certainly guitar lovers,

but especially music lovers in general of all genres.You hear

influences from the late Lenny Breau, Ralph Towner and also

Tomatito,Don Ross and Pierre Bensusan. On Happybody, the

opening composition Shelf Elf, has a very nice groove, caused

by the deep E bass dropped to A, and it has an inviting

dancing character.Through the whole album Alex keeps the

listener attached by attractive melody lines, combined with

great compositions which are very touching, intimate and

challenging.Dear Peace an intimate composition with orches-

tration which iscontributing to the great atmosphere on this

track, but Houghtonalways keeps the leading lady in altered

tunings. On Compression, a breathtaking trumpet solo of Kevin

Turcotte, the sphere does remind one of Chet Baker where

Alex takes you to a journey inside with very challenging guitar

playing. The Getaway song is a very groovy composition again

which mixes bass and melody line to very high standard of

guitar playing. Alex Houghton a new refreshing talent on guitar,

she seems to have no limits in hercreativity, together with her

great talent she is ready to impress any listener.

                                             Henk te Veldhuis.

Don Ross Huron Street 2002

Don Ross is a very well-known fingerstyle guitarist from Canada.

It is probably hardly a country where Don Ross has not performed.

He played with Ed Gerhard, Dylan Fowler, and many other guitarists,

last year he played on the famous Open Strings festival in Germany.

He is always on tour and does recordings for Del Vezeau and many

other guitarists in Canada. Huron Street is Don his last album and

it is always to hear Don Ross play, he taps and slaps and is very

interactive with his listeners and audience. Huron Street contains

12 tracks, some have been earlier released on his earlier albums.

Loaded, Leather Moonroof is a typical Don Ross composition with

a very rhythmic and percussive and has a very nice melody line.

This Dragon wont sleep another percussive and melodic track.

King Street Suite and In from the Cold very well composed

ballads, where Don Ross shows many of his guitar techniques,

as rests, punctuation and balance he knows to create in his

compositions. Lucy Watusi has nice bass lines and an uplifting

melody line. Catherine a lovely ballad with a percussive structure.

Three Hands a very creative composition where Don shows all his

fine strong techniques and melody line/composition capabilities.

Huron Street is an album mainly for pure fingerstyle lovers,

Don Ross shows what talent any guitar player dreams off.

John McKone Times Too -  2003

John McKone is a very special acoustic guitarist.His first album Here it

 is released in 2000 hat a lot of success.On his new album Times Too,

John really is slapping and tapping like I heard never before. His compo-

sitions are real original andhave many influences of Michael Hedges, but

I think John has more balanced melodies than Hedges. You cant compare

this to well as Hedges was a pioneer and if he still had lived who knows..

John has many disciplines, like creating and composing in classical music

as well as many other genres, his music is never dark but the melancholy

is very pleasant to listen too. My favorites are Midnight Moonless,

Too LateSecond Hand and Last Forever as the melodies are very strong

and intimate.On Five OClock John has some Spanish influences created and I guess JohnMcKone will surely impress any guitarist with his playing. So if you want areal other sound than the average guitarist John is an excellent choice.JohnMcKone swings, slaps, taps and is a most versatile guitarist I fell in love with his creativity, balance, timing and melodies, what can one wish more?

Vicki Genfan Outside the Box.

Vicki Genfan is a very versatile musician, she is not only a gifted

fingerstyle guitarist, but she is a very good composer and singer too.

Vicki has been a long time in music and has several styles she can play

and sing, from Jazz to Folk, Funk and World to Classical music. This year

Genfan was on the Open Strings Festival in Osnabrueck, Germany,

where she really got the guitar fans real crazy. The opening song, Catch

Me has some world music influences and her singing reminds one of

Joni Mitchell. Impossinova is a bit like the title says Bossa Nova music.

On New Grass she really slaps and taps like crazy, but amazing how

she creates emotions with her guitar. In a Mood her melancholic melody

lines reflect great inner visions with intimacy in her guitar technique.

She has one cover the traditional Amazing Grace which shows her strong

talent of rearranging a composition to a complete new work. Vicky knows

on this album in 10 open tunings and one standard tuning. She is merrily

a guitarist/composer than a singer who plays guitar. As talented as she

is Vicki Genfan captures a listener in strong compositions with a rich

melancholic taste, she can perform and she is busy writing a guitar book

with tapping and alternate tuning techniques. Cant wait for her next solo

guitar album, but first do enjoy her album Outside the Box.

Bridge Reviews.

Paul Abbott Unsung Rhythmicon Records.

Paul Abbott is a fingerstyle guitarist from California.

He produced his own album and the album Enough Talk

from the San Diego acoustic guitarists. Paul Abbott really

knows to play versatile moods and techniques on Unsung.

His style reminds me of Michael Hedges, he taps a lot and

is a very creative composer. The first track of Unsung is

named after the record company Rhythmicon. The track

has a very moody atmosphere and has melancholic traces.

Any Monkey is certainly a favorite track of me with nice

rhythmic patterns. Habitat has some Celtic influences.

Chapel of the Pines is another great composition with

nice melancholic moods. Milena does remind one of the

acoustic ballads from Doug Smith or Don Ross, a fantastic

composition. Surely Paul Abbott is a top acoustic guitarist

with excellent techniques and very superb melodies.

This album has all that good music needs, music with

good timing and music which really moves you.

Henk te Veldhuis