Rare is the opportunity to hear legendary guitarist do a solo session, and even rarer the chance to experience his sound and technique in an intimate setting such as The Blue Whale. Those fortunate enough to have been at the concert were reminded immediately what has made Towner one of the most important and influential guitarists of this generation, having grace recordings with his own band Oregon as well as sessions with Paul Winter and Weather Report. I mean, how many guitarists have lunar craters named after their compositions?!?
Seated with his trusty 6 string classical guitar, Towner emphasized music from his recently released album My Foolish Heart, making the strings glisten like a starry night with a dash of Mediterranean romance on the title track, while “Blue As In Bley” created a graceful elegiac journey, with dashes of blues while mixing dark and light textures. More assertive and plucky, “Saunter” had Towner’s fingers created deep resonant notes and the tricky lines sounding much more facile than they looked. With half the strings creating an underlying pulse, “Jamaica Stopover” had the bottom strings mix a rich folk melody with pastoral nuances, using silence as a sound, before ominous hues and strong foreboding chords contrasted with rococo runs on “Anthem.” “I Fall In Love Too Easily” was charmingly desultory and regretful, closing with a dash of samba while Towner himself accurately described “Ubi Sunt” as “some commotion and a story” with intricate and intertwining strings akin to a spider’s web.
Closing with “Dolomiti Dance,” Towner’s digits traipsed through the Northern Italian mountains with delight, capturing the grandiose cliffs. The entire hour long set, in fact was as if his strings were painting pictures of landscapes for the ears. Isn’t that what storytelling minstrels are supposed to do?
Upcoming shows at The Blue Whale include Vardan Ovsepian 03.08, Sinne Eeg 03.09 and Satoko Fujii 03.13