ETTORE SALATI

This month's Artist in Spotlight is Ettore Salati from Italy. Ettore is a sought after session guitarist by many prog musicians not just in Italy but all around the world. He started playing piano at a very young age (mostly classical music) but when he became a teenager and discovered the world of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and 70's rock in general, he was immediately fascinated by guitar... more

KAT EPPLE (Emerald Web)

KAT EPPLE, flautist and composer, is our interview guest this month. She has won 8 Emmy awards, was nominated for a Grammy and she has released 18 albums internationally. Most of you know her as the other half of the legendary ambient/new age duo EMERALD WEB. She has a very large collection (over 200) of flutes that she gathered from all around the world during her travels. Kat composes original New Age/Jazz/World/orchestral music and has produced film scores and television soundtracks for National Geographic, Nova, CNN, Carl Sagan, Another World, The Travel Channel, Turner Broadcasting System, History Channel, HGN, The Guiding Light, PBS, and NASA among others, and was Music Director for the feature-length film, Captiva Island. She also owns a record company and works on both sides of the music industry as a musician and as a business woman... more

New Grass Revival / On The Boulevard

New Grass Revival are one of the pioneers of progressive bluegrass. Formed in 1971 by Sam Bush (mandolin/vocals), Curtis Burch (guitar), Ebo Walker (bass) and Courtney Johnson (banjo), they immediately got the attention from the industry both in a good and bad way. First of all, they were often told that their music was not bluegrass, and they knew it wasn’t “bluegrass” in its traditional sense, and it wasn’t what they were trying to achieve anyways. They were blending rock, soul and blues rhythms with the traditional bluegrass music. They were not wearing suites, but instead they had a more casual style along with long hair... more

NARROW PASS / A ROOM OF THE FAIRY QUEEN'S

Narrow Pass is the project of Italian multi-instrumentalist Mauro Montobbio’s, and joining him on this CD, another multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Valeria Caucino. Their music is a mixture of rock/ambient/celtic and new age. Mostly sounds like a fusion of Marillion, Camel, Pink Floyd and Irish folk songs.

The CD starts with the song “Earth”, with a smooth sax intro in an ambient environment, then comes the voice speaking in French (I am searching for life, it hides in the dreams…time will help find it etc. were the words I was able to catch). The sound of harp mixed with percussions builds up a more medieval sound. Which is pretty cool. The Irish atmosphere intensifies with “A Room of the Fairy Queen’s”, and Valeria’s vocals really fit that.

A switch in genre begins with “The Lord of the Headline”; with Alessandro CORVAGLIA’s (I am assuming that is him on vocals because I was not able to find detailed information about the other musicians involved) vocals. His voice is pretty interesting, somewhere between Phil Collins (Genesis) and Fish (Marillion / The Company). The song reminds me of Marillion’s albums in the 80’s, but then again it also has strong Camel influences.

Going back to Celtic lands with “The Lake” with the sounds of the pipes and flute, and you can almost smell the rain falling on the lake. This instrumental piece ends with the thunder. Another instrumental song follows it with a more Marillion-like sound. This is a very short one, only 1:47 minutes long, and has a sudden, unexpected ending. Next two songs carry traces of early Genesis, Camel and Marillion, especially “Wake Up”, sounds very much like it could have been on “Misplaced Childhood”.

The CD ends with a beautiful duet. It is called “Into The Light”. The parts sang by Corvaglia are like soft, slow rock ballad while Valeria’s parts are new age/folk. The musicianship is great, and although English is not their mother language, I think the lyrics they wrote are pretty neat too. You can purchase this album at:www.narrowpass.net

STEPHANIE BUTLER