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 wasnt bluegrass in its traditional sense, and it wasnt 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
TIM BURNESS Tim Burness was born in 1961, into a family of classical musicians. He grew up listening to different types of music including classical but mostly rock: The Beatles, The Monkees, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Genesis (Steve Hackett to be more precise). Between 1978 and 1982 he played in different bands, but did his first studio recordings with the band Crossover. In 1982, Tim contributed guitar parts to two songs recorded by Australian singer Karen Halliday, around the same time he also played with Beverly Craven. He recorded his first solo album that same year (which then became the band Burnessence with the addition of Keith Hastings, Alf Wright and Geoff Law). After a few line up changes, Burnessence recorded their second album in 1984 I Am You Are Me, followed by a tour in England. In 1989 Tim started his own record label Expanding Consciousness and released his first solo single Learning To Fly which had national radio play. This was followed by the release of a solo album in 1990. Three years later Tim made his first studio contribution of music for the ambient band TUU. In 1997, with The Infinite Ocean Tim finally received national and international airplay, meeting with great reviews. Finding New Ways To Love was released in 2004 including Fudge Smith on drums (Pendragon, Steve Hackett, Henry Fool). Tim released his latest solo album in 2007: Vision On. He has a great team of musicians working with him: Fudge Smith again on drums and percussions, Keith Hastings on bass (ex-Burnessence, Andalus, Alan Darby), Monty Oxymoron on keyboards (The Damned), Julian Franks on percussions. Tim plays guitars and keyboards and does the vocals. Tims main interest other than music is psychological astrology (not newspaper horoscopes). His favorite food is fried organic tofu and soy sauce. We asked him what three CDs he currently has in his stereo and he said: Radioheads In Rainbows, Porcupine Trees Fear Of A Blank Planet and lastly Sigur Ros Takk. We sent Tim three songs from three independent bands/artists to review for us, and he was generous with his time to tell us what he thought about them. Please note that our proGuests have no information about the bands other than the songs we select for them. You can visit Tim's website at: www.timburness.com and his myspace page at: www.myspace.com/timburness |
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ANNAFAIR The Weatherman LISTEN |
Good upbeat songwriting, well-arranged vocal harmonies which remind me a bit of Crowded House or The Beatles. I was waiting for the bass and drums to come in but they never did, I guess they're coming from a more folk space than pop or rock... I wish them all the best! Annafairs website is: www.annafaironline.com |
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DAVID PALMER Somnolent Exaltation LISTEN |
You can't beat a bit of jazz noodling now and again. It sounds like a live recording? Very refreshing as I haven't listened to this sort of thing for ages, I used to love a bit of Herbie Hancock or Weather Report. Nice guitar, nice vibe in general, maybe a bit too long for my taste but I like it. Visit David's myspace page at: www.myspace.com/davidjpalmer |
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UTTU Mycelium LISTEN |
This track is probably more up my personal street than the other two, superficially at least. Its a spacey ambient groove, great stuff but I have heard so many people do this sort of thing so much better. The beats seem to be getting a bit lost in the mix, and a bit more development of the musical themes might hold the listener's attention more? Again I wish Uttu all the best, I came back for a few extra listens, a good track to have pulsing away in the background. Visit UTTU at: www.starlight-origin.net You can find our previous proGuests in our ARCHIVES page. |
