Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Prasanna: All Terrain Guitar

16

Prasanna: All Terrain Guitar

By

View read count
Prasanna: All Terrain Guitar
As a solo artist, Prasanna (Raga Metal Conversations, Raga Bop Trio) doesn't record that often, but when he does, it's usually an impressive musical statement, incited by his ferocious licks and unique convergence of Indian Carnatic music with a Western muse. For example, check out his previous outing, which is an East-West tribute to Jimi Hendrix —Electric Ganesha Land (2006). With an all-star lineup featuring trumpeter Dave Douglas, pianist Vijay Iyer, alto saxophonists, David Binney and Rudresh Mahanthappa performing on select tracks, Prasanna's lucid alliance of disparate modalities elevate matters into a very special musical space.

Prasanna jumpstarts the program with a blistering bop vamp "Springtime in New York," brimming with intensity and speed, where acclaimed bassist Mike Pope matches the guitarist note for note when executing unison lines amid his fluid solo spot. The musicians segue into a contemporary jazz fusion outlook on "Song for the Wind," highlighted by vocalist Shalini Lakshmi's tuneful, wordless vocals. Nonetheless, the guitarist casts a diverse elixir throughout, as he merges various genres into the mix along with his often mind-numbing technique, sizzling cadenzas and trickling inflections that sound as though he's plucking a sitar.

"Pinch Pennies in Monaco" is launched by Prasanna's funk voicings that mirror a classic James Brown style groove, amped by Mahanthappa's whirling-dervish sax parts. Yet they toggle the flows with a celestial vocal interlude and the leader's wah-wah pedal and distortion-laced breakout. Prasanna closes out the gala with a dub piece "The Keyword is Love," that starts with a tone poem like statement by Douglas, followed by ballsy choruses and Binney's genial and soulful notes. However, the guitarist tosses a curveball into the festivities with his jazz blues acoustic guitar stylizations, tweaked with more of his Carnatic modulations. Other than the artist's cunning merger of Western song-forms and genres into the Eastern component, he could surely be counted among the reigning guitar gods, spanning a global reach.

Track Listing

Springtime in New York; Song for the Wind; Nap of the Earth; Pinch Pennies in Monaco; 31; Final Approach; Electron Dance; The Keyword is Love.

Personnel

Prasanna: electric and acoustic guitar; Shalini Lakshmi: vocals (2,5,9); Natalie John: vocals (8); Dave Douglas: trumpet (2,9); Rudresh Mahanthappa: alto saxophone (5,6,7); David Binney: alto saxophone (2,9); Vijay Iyer: piano (4,6); Mike Pope: electric bass (1,8), acoustic bass (4,6); Bill Urmson: electric bass (2,5,7,9); Rodney Holmes: drums (1,4,6,8); Mauricio Zottarelli: drums (2,5,7,9); Rodney Holmes: drums (1,4,6,8).

Album information

Title: All Terrain Guitar | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Susila Music

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.