Customer Reviews

Masterpiece Guitars

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is some of Steve Howe's most consistent and well-played guitar I have ever heard. It seems that collaborating with another virtuoso payed off. These songs may feature Steve's incredible signature style and sound gracing everything from Yes to his solo material, but this is not Fragile and not Beginnings and not Turbulence. No keyboards/synthesizers, no vocals, and no nonsense; just two guitars. These songs are the two player's interpretation of jazz, standards and other styles. Easy going and mellow, yet with a bouncy energy. A little more tasteful and restrained, but still with amazing picking techniques. Obviously Martin Taylor is also a major contributor to this duo's accomplishment, and I feel that they work well together, bringing out the best in each other. A couple of song choices/interpretations struck me the wrong way, such as "Moonriver," but overall the cd is a masterwork. Cheers!

The late Scott Chinery was well known as a connisseur of classic guitars, and his collection of one-of-a-kind and vintage guitars was unparalleled.
He contacted guitar legend Steve Howe (Yes, Asia, GTR) about recording an album featuring 50 or 60 of his prized instruments. Steve recruited his good friend jazz guitarist Martin Taylor to join him on the album, and in fact. Taylor plays the lion's share of the pieces.

The set list is a combination of standards and originals, played on everything from late 19th century harp guitars, to early 20th century Lloyd Loar L-5 Gibsons, to D'Angelico and D'Aquisto teardrop shaped models, to Gretsch electric Penguins.

No backing rhythm instruments...just Howe and Taylor working the way through tunes such as "All the Things You Are", "Moon River", "Smile", "Goofus" and originals such as "Two Teardrops", "No Pedestrians", "Tailpiece" and others.

The sounds of these rare and antique instruments are beautifully captured, and Howe's production is flawless.

If you are a fan of all things "guitar", you simply cannot be without this cd.

5 stars.

i wasnt sure what to expect from this recording. it was way better than i could have hoped for. very diverse playing and all very good compositions. the more i play it the better it gets.

Loving every second of it !
We gave our first copy to our sun who also plays the guitar and also loves Martin Taylor, so we have to buy a new copy for ourselves.
If you love guitar music this is an absolute MUST in your collection.

I am a rock and roller going back more than 50 years, and I am familiar with the band Yes, but I am not familiar with Steve Howe's career, and I am not familiar with Martin Taylor. But this is an amazing and eclectic collection of guitar music from two clearly virtuoso players. Someone could come home from a tough day, grab a drink or not, queue this on the player, and sit back and let the fabulous music wash over. But this would leave too much out of the experience.

That the players are virtuosos is indisputable, but the real stars of this collection are the guitars used. Scott Chinery, who is a fascinating story on his own, used his resources to gather one of the most incredible guitar collections, including many of the finest instruments ever created. For more information on the collection, here is a link: [...]. After receiving a commissioned archtop from Jimmy D'Aquisto, arguably the finest luthier in the world at the time, Chinery wanted to honor D'Aquisto (who had apprenticed and worked for and with John D'Angelico) by issuing a challenge to more than 20 of the world's best luthiers to produce an 18" archtop guitar, completely acoustic. D'Aquisto's guitar, the Centura, had a blue finish, so the challenge included using the same blue stain, provided by Chinery. What came out was a fantastic collection of blue guitars (see same link above for more info).

Chinery was extremely generous in sharing his collection, showing it to those who were interested, lending guitars to museums and to these two artists. Chinery commissioned Howe, who included Taylor, to create an album featuring more than 60 classic guitars from the collection. Some of these guitars come from the mid nineteenth century, and some from the early 20th. One of the additions to the collection, recorded after the main body of work, was the tune "Blue Bossa," featuring 19 of the Blue Guitars. Other songs feature the D'Angelico and D'Aquisto teardrop guitars, maybe the most valuable guitars in the world, old Gibsons, Martins, and other guitars, including the one-of-a-kind Bigsby Double Neck (aptly on Howe's piece "TailPiece"). I found it impossible to simply listen to the music; I had to keep the great brochure open to see what was being played and by whom, especially on "Blue Bossa." How Taylor managed to switch from one blue to another after about 16 seconds of play is beyond me, but it was fascinating to watch the time and listen to each instrument. That's how I had to listen to the rest of the album too. There are lots of pictures of the instruments in the brochure. This is a fabulous experience for anyone who enjoys guitar music. On first listening, maybe my favorite instrument is the Wilkonoski or the Larson Prairie State. I wish though that more of the pieces had been a collaboration of the two players; most are done by one or the other.

For more information on these guitars, please see the Blue Guitar, by Ken Vose, (Blue Guitar (Guitar Reference) )and 2000 Guitars, 2,000 Guitars, by Tony Bacon et al. Bacon's book has all the Blue Guitars shown as well as most of the others in the Chinery collection. Please enjoy this album and experience.

I am a life-long Steve Howe fan, so that in itself would cause me to find favor with this record. I'd never heard Martin Taylor before. Let me just briefly say that the music is magical. We loved using this music as background during holiday times in the house, while we decorated or wrapped gifts. The CD is a very welcome addition to our collection and I would highly recommend it to anyone.