Customer Reviews

Triple Stop

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Triple Stop is a fine showcase of technique and seamless integration of styles. One of my favorites on the album is the Theme from Perry Mason. At first I wanted the guitar line to be dirtier and nastier for such a film noir tune, but after the head the song breaks into a double-time straight four jazz which he develops very nicely, applying those amazing chops very tastefully in some creative and harmonically complex lines. But chops seems to be mostly what Anderson is about. Some songs, like Boog's Boogie are more a showcase for a daring young man on the flying Telecaster trapeze than anything emotional or cerebral. But oh, what gymnastics those are. He attacks scales and arpeggios at Mach 2. The licks that stand head and shoulders over simple speed, though, are the wonderment of how he plays diad lines so fast. And the 16th-note-triplet octave line in the middle of the Perry Mason solo is simply superhuman. Sweet Sue is a nice old tune played with a mastered fingerpicking style, possibly a tribute to but definitely influenced by Chet Atkins. This tune also includes a series of arpeggios at 16th-note triplets, played impossibly cleanly. Anderson seems to give a nod to Carlos Santana on Beautiful Maria of My Soul, with a latin flavor and that crooning style that Carlos first demonstrated on Samba Pa Ti.

I was surprised to read in the liner notes that this is his second solo recording--the first back in 1985!! How I escaped hearing about this guy for the last 17 years I don't know. I first heard a clip from Grabbit on National Public Radio's news show, All Things Considered, and tracked down who it was. Grabbit is an Anderson composition and a real twist from the traditional fabric of most of the CD. It wanders outside harmonically and the pace is brisk and clean.

Those claiming that Scotty is the best guitarist ever are probably guitarists themselves awed by his technique. Technique does not a great musician make, although he does have the best chops I've ever heard. If you are in Cincinnati you can hear him every Wednesday at a little 84-seat club.

Scotty Anderson has been the best kept secret in the music world for the past 15 years. If you like Danny Gatton, you will Love Scotty. They are different players, but share a similar ability to represent American music styles. Scotty is a technical virtuoso but never at the expense of the music. He has mastered and taken to a new level the 3 great American roots music genres of Jazz, Country, and Rockabilly. His skill is only exceeded by his refinement and tastefulness. His timing, phrasing, and tone are impeccable. He is very harmonically sophisticated, using altered tension, extensions, and substitutions in his chord and lead work. His triple stop technique allows him to playing very fast chord solos in conjunction with single note lines. His double and triple stop playing, particularly on his CD "Sleight Of Hand" sound like a pedal steel guitar being played better than you have ever heard. His bends are always perfectly in tune and his phrases are very dynamic. He has masterd using the thumbpick as a flatpick as well as in conjunction with fingerstyle playing and applies it to jazz chord melody as well as "travis style" picking. Scotty is the superior to anyone for cleanliness, speed, and diverse virtuosity. Additionally, his sophistication comes through in his choice of material. Rather than choosing well-worn standards, he covers tunes that are more obscure to a less-than-serious Jazz audience. Witness his playing on Stan Kenton's "Artistry In Rhythm", "Sweet Sue" (a standard popularized in the 1920's), and the wonderful Horace Silver tune "Nuttville". Scotty definitely has done his homework listening to Jazz. He is also a very fine composer. His originals are top quality compositions. Scotty's tunes set very well alongside the brillant compositions that he chooses to cover. For a larger dose of his phenomenal playing and composing, go to his website, sample and order his other 2 CD's "Sleight Of Hand" and "Second Time Around". http://home.fuse.net/pvee/sanderson.html Second Time Around focuses a lot on Scotty's Country/Bluegrass playing. He is hands down the best country/Bluegrass guitarist EVER. "Sleight Of Hand" focuses on Scotty's ability to play all styles. On the disc he plays country, jazz, Big Band, Rockabilly (he plays a SMOKING solo on High Heel Sneakers), and even gets funky on a number. Take my advice and buy this CD, the 2 from his website, and his instructional video today. Finer music has yet to be made on a guitar. 5 stars are not enough. I give this one five stars and a crown! God Bless you Scotty Anderson for your life-long commitment to American roots music! Keep the music pure!

I have heard Scotty Anderson off and on for about 10 years. He is one of a handfull of guitar players that can play a club date and carry the whole load on every song for four sets straight. He plays a guitar with a mini humbucker pickup in the neck position and a middle and bridge pickup, so he can get sounds like a big gibson jazz box or a screaming telecaster and all these sounds are on this CD from his great Thumb and finger style playing on John Henry and Sweet sue to some outstanding Jazz versions of the other songs. I know of no one else that plays the double and triple stop note formations at any where near the speed and clarity that Scotty can do it.

I never heard of Scotty Anderson before I got an email about it. This is one hell of a great instrumental album. It's country, country jazz, jazz, it a combination of all. This guy is the kind of player who fused together many styles and created something new. This is an album that many will play over and over and over again. Unfortunately when an album like this comes around record shops have a hard time clasifing it. On the album it says file under country and pop instrumental and it may be lost in the crowd that way as it also should be under jazz too. Well Amazon has it! I will certainly be looking forward to hearing more from him. If YOU are a guitar player you MUST buy this album. And I'd say write his name down as if the right people hear him this guy is finally going to get the big break he deserves. And in closing, I am just going to enjoy listening - no attempt to begin to figure out how it does it.

Scotty Anderson may be a guitar player's guitar player in that not enough other people know him as well as they should, but the playing on this album was breathtaking! He's no one trick pony either - songs are in a number of styles and grooves and he is amazing on all of them. Any fan of great guitar playing, not just country, should snap this album up. One of the best albums I've gotten all year.

4 3/4 stars.

Scotty Anderson is an unbelievable guitar savant. He has incredible, incredible technique - not just with single note lines, but double, triple stops, jazz chording, finger-picking, you name it. He sounds like he started out playing country, bluegrass, Travis and Atkins style, picked up some rock and blues, and then jumped head first into jazz. A true American stylist. That said, and after countless listenings to his blazing, pyrotechnic solos on this disk and elswhere, I think he needs to get away from the "guitar-freak" approach. If you like jazz and you are fantastically talented, why don't you put together a quartet or quintet of jazz musicians of your caliber, and play true ensemble music? Although his acolytes say he is an incredibly humble, generous guy - and I believe them, he plays a regular gig at a sports bar in Loveland OH for pete's sake - the fact is that he hogs every tune with long, startling solos, and every tune is all about Scotty. Now, Danny Gatton was in a similar position and he put out the memorable New York Stories, where he shared the spotlight with top jazz players. Why don't you try that Scotty?

Extremely tasteful and flawless fingerpicking. Scotty would be more at home playing in a jazz night club, whereas Danny Gatton would more likely be in a blues club. Mr. Anderson has a more mellow tone than most other tele players, which is very welcome to my ears. This cd has a very good variety of musical styles with great organ, horns, and vibraphone arrangements.

I highly recommend Scotty Anderson's "Triple Stop" CD for anyone who appreciates guitar work with clean tones and virtuoso playing. There's none of the myriad pedals and gimmicks employed here that others use, just talent and a tremendous amount of ability. Scotty segues effortlessly from one style to another, with hints of everyone from Chet Atkins, to Django Rinehardt, to Phil Baugh. There's a fabulous backup band, too, featuring great instrumentation, novel arrangements, and a super-tight sound.

Any serious player will appreciate what's being done on this one!

It's obvious that Scotty can play whatever he wants, faster cleaner, and with more advanced melodies and harmonies than 99.999% of his fellow players. Just one thing, though: Another reviewer mentioned a first impression that "Perry Mason" could've been a little dirtier,(but that he changed is mind after hearing the whole piece). I agree with his first impression: I've heard Gatton do this one live, and a little more punch and sustain really made it pop!, in a violin sort-of way. Perhaps my rocked-out ears crave more footpedals(?), but as rule I find guitarists to be -too- 'effected', so it's feels strange to say that perhaps some of these performances could be enhanced with a focus on altered tones more so than pure guitar playng.

I first learned of Scotty Anderson through a Hot Licks video. MY JAW DROPPED! I immediately took my Tele back to the store and asked if they could install the notes HE plays. I don't have them on my axe! Then I heard the CD (sigh). What can I say? Technically, it's brilliant. The song choices are unique (where else are you going to hear an old TV theme as well as a traditional folk piece together on one album, never mind the jazzy stuff). If this were a vinyl it would be worn out by now. I saw the Hellecasters in concert in Montreal a couple of years back and I was impressed. I seriously believe that Scotty Anderson is in the same class as these three axe-slingers. He combines the jazz savy of John Jorgensen, the hot-rod approach of Will Ray and the sweet phrasing of Jerry Donahue. I'm buying his new CD today.