Customer Reviews

Speed of Light

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Don Mock is probably best known as the founder of G.I.T. (the Guitar Institute of Technology). Yes, he is an experienced guitar educator, but this CD is evidence that he is also a brilliant player and composer. This is not just some "behold my chops" recording of speed drills. Don's playing occasinally hints at the influence of Mahavishnu-era John McLaughlin with a sprinkling of Scofield, but his voice is completely his own. The songs are great, the playing is flawless, and there's no gratuitous fuzak fluff here. Yes, there are some clever musical constructs ("oooh! didja hear that tasty melodic minor bit?"), and these compositions are somewhat complex. Bear in mind that this man's curriculum educated literally THOUSANDS of pro guitarists. Take a listen and see why he is considered a "player's player".

Since I learned from Don's videotape "The Blues from Rock to Jazz" in the eighties I have been in search for this album. Don is a phenomenally gifted teacher and guitar player with a style of his own. I was hooked by his style learning from the videotape (a tape that I suggest to every player, guitar players mainly of course) and now finally I own this one, which is a rare out of print cd. I found this one on Itunes (Amazon has it too, but I'm in Italy and the download from Amazon is not available) and in a minute I had it. Crazy!, if you think that I searched the world for this one in the passed years! =))) Well now I have it! I'll say that Don write exceptionally beautiful music that really makes this album a "must have" for everyone interested in good, really good music. It is a very jazzy music of course, with a touch of electronic extravaganza that some people may like, some may not. Don is a fabolous soloist, really fabolous, he's a lot into Charlie Parker but he doesn't stop there. His style is well rounded in every idiom ,... but here and there you'll find Bird language. In some tunes, like in the second one, "Robben's bebop blues" that stuff is allround of course. That one is a tune a lot of guitar players may remember because it was in the tape, just at the end of the lesson and he used it, exactly to explain Parker's phrasing on blues progressions. But I was saying Don doesn't stop on Bird. He developed a style which incorporates a lot of influences, John McLaughlin over any one else maybe (listen to "Apache nightmare" for example, ... there's a lot of Al DiMeola too). What really makes this album stand out are the compositions. Really beautiful! The album is various, it goes from bebop blues to acoustic, to fusion type of things, all created and executed at the state of the art level! Some people may like or not Don's use of the synth guitar. I think that he uses it with a lot of taste. And that it adds some spice to the recipe of this album. The thing that to me doesn't work sometimes are the electronic arrangements (electronic programmed drums and keys stuff) that sometimes really are a little dated and sounds too mechanical and artificial. If those tunes were played by real palyers they would be even more great! But I care for the music, ... in a sense for the substance that lies behind, and with Don's there a lot of it! A magnificient player and a magnificient album. Finally I have it.