Customer Reviews

Live Encounter

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4 star:		(4)
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Live encounter with the Trey Gunn band composed of four amazingly talented and spiritual musicians is one of the most inspiring experiences. But when that is not possible, this album Live Encounter can most closely approximate that situation. It represents live recordings of masterpieces from the band's previous albums, Third Star and The Joy of Molybdenum. Since it is recorded from live performances, it captures that special energy, depth and dimension that only live music can offer. Also, this is the first album exposing Joe Mendelson, who plays another Warr Guitar and who is already well-known to those who were lucky enough to see the band during their two last tours. The album gives us a taste of the band as it is in the present.
Trey Gunn Band' music is deeply moving and inspiring. It is hard to classify as it draws from many different genres, including rock, world music, Middle Eastern tunes, soundscapes and much more, creating a very unique blend. Gunn's solos are astonishing displaying the virtuosity and creativity of the artist. Bob Muller's drumming and use of an amazing variety of percusiion tools give this music richness and power. Tony Geballe adds his signature with his masterful play of the electric guitar and saz. Joe Mendelson gives a heavy edge to the tunes with his 8-string Warr guitar.
This music, powerful and seducing, invinting us to a whole new world, would certainly deeply move and inspire any lover of true art.

How to describe the TGB to someone who hasn't heard them? Imagine a group of Middle Eastern street musicians with thorough jazz training and an affection for the complex interaction of prog rock. As long as we're using our imaginations here, let's have them all telepathically linked so they can effortlessly bounce and weave around each other while staying rooted in a central melody, all without a single word. This may give an idea what there is to hear on Live Encounter. Bob Muller whips up an endlessly inventive stew of percussion over which the others groove, dance and whirl. As for the others - it's hard to even tell who's playing what. The instrument of choice for both Trey and newcomer Joe Mendelson is the Warr guitar, a wide-ranged instrument capable of guitar and bass sounds. Who's playing the bass part there.. the high guitar there? No way to tell. Tony Geballe contributes electric guitar as well as mandolin, saz (a Turkish guitar) and a host of others. However, I don't think the audience is meant to pick the instruments apart. Everything about this music points toward a blending of different talents.

You may have noticed that I'm talking about the music in general terms rather than describing songs themselves; that's because they do sound similar despite the variations between each piece's individual melody. Each TGB album is meant to be an overall listening experience rather than a batch of separate tunes.

Speaking of tunes: the song list is taken half-and-half from Trey's two latest releases (The Third Star and the superb The Joy of Molybdenum) with one new track thrown in. If you have either one of those, this one won't seem redundant; if you have both, then you'll know enough to decide whether you want to hear more. For someone new to the band I'd recommend either TJoM or Live Encounter as a first choice. If the song titles sound like a bunch of New Age dreck, it's only coincidental - this music oversteps boundaries and joins east and west in all the *right* ways.

There isn't much more to say that my fellow reviewers haven't said already. This lastest Trey Gunn offering is perhaps a flawless example of what popular could evolve into if more musicians take the kind of leap of faith Trey has buy charting new territory with a new kind of instrument.

I have often been critical of too much electronics used to produce music because too many people fall into the trap of using technology to cheat and make things easier... However, to actually see Trey Gunn play the Warr guitar leaves me in awe. There is nothing easy about that instrument. The level of mental discipline and coordination required to play what he plays and how he plays it is stagering.

If you don't believe me or even what you hear buy the album just for the two imbeded Quick Time movies of Kuma and Rune... If you're not totally hypnotized buy Trey, watch Bob Muller on drums. You will be stunned buy the shear, flawless professionalism of this band!

Gunn & Co have released a live document of their recent tour and the band features Gunn on 10 string, Mendelsone on 8 string Warr guitar, as well as Tony Geballe on electric and 12 string acoustic guitar, and drums. This is all rhythm and intricate time signatures executed with extraordinary precision. It put me in mind of Thelonius Monk's "Brilliant Corners", not for the sound of the music, but its sheer brilliant dynamics. While the shadow of Fripp and the New Standard Tuning school of guitarcraft hangs heavy in the air, particularly in the hands of both Gunn & Geballe, the results push that approach to the craft in new directions. There are hints of the post-gamelan style of the double trio and double-duo line up of the mighty Crim, there are suggestions of Soundscapes, and there are whole new worlds opened up by this band. This is not swing, blues or dance music (Rick Wakemen's observations notwithstanding). Yet, it is entirely captivating. Well worth a very careful listen and sure to inspire and confound every one playing guitar. Once upon a time, the question was posed whether the Greater Crim could survive Frippless. In Trey Gunn, the venal leader has a worthy successor for the Court.

This mixes elements of various types of music - particularly, rock and Middle Eastern - into a flow that is jazz-like but not jazz. Beyond just being a complex stew, the music is pleasing and challenging. It's much less dry and more engaging than most music of this "type" (third world meets jazz fusion would be a cynical way to describe this sonic palette).

One sonic reference point is King Crimson, circa 1981-84. The opening track sounds like some type of Robert Fripp experiment circa 1979 as played by the 1984 band. I mean this as a compliment. This sounds a bit like the Crimson of "The Sheltering Sky" but playing compositions with more changes in them.

The quality of the recordings is quite nice, a strong clear sound.

Why buy it? Because it nicely balances aggression and adrenaline with relaxation and an etherial quality, and because it's musically interesting. Why not buy it? I can't see any reason not to.

Compré los discos de Trey Gunn, por lo que, imagino, los compra casi todo el mundo: por ser miembro de King Crimson. Pero tras la escucha atenta de sus cinco discos he de decir que todos, salvo quizás el primero, son excelentes. Suena a KC, sí, pero de una forma personal. Si alguien se preguntó alguna vez si podría existir King Crimson sin Fripp, la respuesta está en estos discos: Sí...liderados por Trey Gunn.

If you've never heard a Warr guitar, Trey Gunn's music, or King Crimson with Trey Gunn, then this album might indeed come as a complete musical revelation, but it is not truly quite as otherworldly as other reviews might lead you to believe. That, of course, doesn't make the disc any less interesting.

"Dziban" opens the disc with an 80s-Crimson gamelan-type guitar pattern. The mood is mellow, but gradually gives way to a searing, skysaw section that shreds. It is here that you hear the trademark Gunn sound, a very growly but clear raspiness that is a joy in itself to listen to. The mood switches back to mellow then, with some pleasant but not overwhelming melodic noodling to close out the piece.

"The Glove", one of the standout tracks on "The Joy of Molybdenum", here gets an extended treatment. Opening with frantic, tabla-like percussion that is jittery and entertaining, eventually a heavy, fuzzed out two power-chord riff comes in to serve as the foundation for Gunn's strasopheric shredding. All kinds of other interesting noises and fills pepper the mix from the remaining musicians. The piece finally fades away to a simple lyrical line that serves as a transition to the next song.

"Kuma", sounding very much like something that belongs on King Crimson's Discipline, is a bouncy, slightly cerebral piece with "eastern" percussion. A heavier second theme reminds you that this isn't just a King Crimson guitarist you're listening to, and then gives way entirely to a minimalist "jazzy" section. The thing about the piece, and perhaps Gunn's band in general, are the various marvelous mixes of guitar tone they put together. And this, unfortunately, is not something describable. You simply have to hear it.

At first, the improbably named "Hierarchtitiptitoploftical" seems like a song from a completely different band. Guitars in the left and right channel swap chords while the bass, in the center, punches its notes in what sounds like a different key. The guitar chords then go dissonant and "progressive" with all kinds of nifty harmonies. The swapping here between the guitarists (hardly any of the notes hit together) is definitely a virtuoso display, but not merely for the sake of showing off. It would probably not be possible for one guitarist to play the combined chord progression (and certainly not with the alternating guitar tones). Gunn then enters on a run to put some spicy noodling over the top of all of this. A very successful (and impressive) piece.

"Sirrah" brings us back to "Dziban" territory, although overall in a mellower mood than the opener, drifting back and forth from more driving gamelan-type guitars to atmospherics and melody. The backing arpeggio during the first solo is especially yummy in execution and tone. This section then repeats, with footpedals amped up a bit, to close the piece.

"Arrakis" opens with a spacy, one wants to say "sci-fi", bit, including touches of Gunn's talk-guitar. Hyper drums and "keyboard" washes (on guitar) set a jittery, semi-ominous mood, followed by a jerky, angular bass section. The bass line proves to be a sample of things to come as a very similar line then pops and jumps all over the frets from the guitar section. A more interesting section of powerfully driving bass follows, with frantically linear guitar lines, first clean and then with signature Warr distortion, buzzing right along, the percussion putting extra oomph into the mix.

"Tehlikeli Madde" follows. Not one of the most inspired songs from "Joy of Molybdenum", the additional energy of being played live doesn't necessarily make it more interesting. A rolling bass line undergirds a rather conventional melody, gives way to a quieter passage, and then returns again with a slightly dull guitar line. The flatness of this piece, of course, is simply in relation to the rest of the album.

"Brief Encounter" opens with an oud-like melody. A full-throated bassline and eastern percussion evoke the Middle East perfectly before Gunn sets off on one of his more inspired solos. Way too many cool guitar noises here (with gorgeous pedal abuse along the way) to name them all; a dropping bass note line toward the end steps the piece up amazingly one more notch, and it is almost impossible not to press replay as the piece ends. This is probably the must-have song on the disc.

"Rune Song" opens mellowy, and with a rather too-chirpy guitar melody that thankfully finally gives way a heavier, straightforard jam where Gunn really gets to show off his stuff (without becoming merely showy), especially at the end of the section. A third section begins with an arpeggiated line that is then shared around the band in various configurations. A few raunchy chords serve as a break from the "melody" before it returns again and ends so suddenly that the crowd doesn't notice the song is over right away.

All around, a very solid sample of the Trey Gunn band live. A good place to start if you've heard good things about him and are curious.

If you like the instrumental Crimsons & Bruford, complex yet grooving rythms, this is the real stuff.