Mar West [Import]

Tony Rice, Tony Rice Unit | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 20, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Vivid Sound
• ASIN: B000066HZT
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #500,793 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Mar West

2. Nardis

3. Waltz For Indira

4. Neon Tetra

5. Is That So

6. Whoa Baby Every Day I Wake Up With The Blues

7. Mar East

8. Untitled As Of Yet

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "New Rolling Stone Record Guide" gave it 5 stars!, May 1, 2004

By 

Walter Flint (Yosemite, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mar West (Audio CD)

Yes, that pantheon of great musical taste (wink wink) gave this album 5 stars in a review from 1981, as it well should. "Mar West" is one of a quartet of great instrumental jazz recordings that Tony Rice made in the late 70's and early 80's and it's now finally available in its entirety on this Japanese import. All the songs on this album, sans "Mar East", are available on the Rounder Records compiltation titled "Devlin". The sound of this import is noticeably better than Rounders compilation with a much greater spaciousness and acoustic timbre. This album marks a real milestone in Tony Rice's long and illustrious career both as guitar player and composer. 7 of the 8 songs are original Rice compositions with the only non-Rice song having been written by Miles Davis.

This is essentially a "blowing" album with plenty of room given to the sidemen to solo and it demonstrates Rices's ability to pick the best musicians to help implement his musical vision. The supporting musicians are Richard Greene on violin, Sam Bush on Mandolin and Todd Phillips on Stand-up Bass. Floridian Mike Marshall also plays mandolin on two cuts without Sam Bush. This is essentially a quartet recording. The heads to the tunes are all very memorable (like all Rice compositions) and Tony sounds confident, positive, and absolutely riveting. Never one to showboat for showboatings sake, Mr. Rice rips your head off at 1:14 on "Is That So", and then almost brings a tear to the eye with the lovely and lillting "Whoa Baby, Every Day I Wake Up With the Blues". Rice's solo on the title song gives aspiring flatpickers a lesson in fast tremelo picking that would surely make Al DiMeola listen twice. In my, and many other peoples opinions, Tony Rice is the greatest and most influential guitar player bluegrass has ever produced. Not limited by the regular bluegrass form in any way, Tony Rice's guitar playing simply transcends catagorization. He is a virtuoso player seething with unparalleled feeling and emotion, and is also a superb interpreter of other peoples's material both instrumentally and vocally. Mr.Rice is an American treasure and deserves to be heard by everyone. If success was measured by actual talent in this country, Tony Rice would be one of the wealthiest musicians in any genre of music. Buy "Mar West", or any other recording by this phenomenal artist, and find out why.

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, February 25, 2011

By 

Keith Stewart - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mar West (Audio CD)

Absolutely the best all acoustic album of Tony. CD is more contemporary so this is not for the hardcore-only bluegrass crowd. I think it's fabulous. The instrumental work by Tony as well as all involved is beyond outstanding.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tony Rice - Mar West, January 9, 2007

By 

Douglas Canady ";bigtreesnotbigstumps" (Hillsboro, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mar West (Audio CD)

A classic. Too expensive from Japan, but interesting format. The CD is packed in what is basically a miniature of the original album. It opens up just the same with the same artwork. Different size packaging also, so it won't fit into your CD case (of course the CD is the same size). Quite an interesting addition to the collection and I see it being a future collector's item.