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Royce Campbell/Vosbein Magee Big Band: Vagabond
by Jack Bowers
Royce Campbell has an awesome and enviable worldwide reputation--as a jazz guitarist. Who knew he could also write this well, and for a big band, no less. All but one of the eleven engaging songs on Vagabond were composed by Campbell, and every one of the impressive charts was penned by his cousin and mentor, the late Carroll DeCamp, who had done the same for Stan Kenton and Larry Elgart, among others. Campbell, who was born in ...
Continue ReadingRoyce Campbell: Solo Trane
by Jack Huntley
There are some albums which, on the very first listening, create an immediate auditory union with the musician. Credit ability, musicality, interpretation, song choice, or a blending of each, Royce Campbell's solo guitar tribute to the music of John Coltrane, Solo Trane, is one of those albums. It crackles with energy and creative force as Campbell winds his way through the Coltrane book, adding evocative originals along the way. Campbell, a Washington D.C.-based veteran guitarist whose albums are always musically ...
Continue ReadingRoyce Campbell: The Art of Chord Solo Guitar
by John Patten
Royce Campbell's The Art of Chord Solo Guitar extends his considerable collection of solo guitar releases, this time working on a series of standard tunes.
Campbell's extensive résumé includes stints with everyone from Marvin Gaye and Eddie Harris to Henry Mancini, and it's clear he's used his professional time to gain the skills necessary to create interesting and fresh arrangements on these tunes. Harmonizing such pearls as “In a Sentimental Mood" or “The Girl from Ipanema" requires an ...
Continue ReadingRoyce Campbell: Get Happy
by Jim Santella
Guitarist Royce Campbell collected songs with happy themes for this trio recording. Featuring violinist Joe Kennedy (1923-2004), the session swings in the mood intended, with an acoustic timbre and an open resonance to match. String jazz gets too little attention; yet, the violin has been with jazz since its inception. Guitar and double-bass remain integral elements of the jazz mainstream today, but violin has been removed far away to its peripheral edges.
One of the first violinists to ...
Continue ReadingRoyce Campbell: Elegy to a Friend
by Jim Santella
A versatile guitarist, Royce Campbell is equally at home with straight-ahead jazz and pure blues. When he got this group of Indianapolis jazz artists together in September 1990, it was to explore a different region altogether: jazz's modern mainstream. This allowed the quartet to explore, through original compositions, the more creative aspects of their music. Each musician stretches out considerably, and when they come together, it's with imaginative musical statements. Everybody solos prolifically.
The drummer for this session, ...
Continue ReadingRoyce Campbell: Gypsy Soul
by Jim Santella
In a program of originals that recalls the spirit of Django Reinhardt, the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, and other masters of early acoustic swing, guitarist Royce Campbell turns to the heartfelt spirit that feeds our soul.
Born in Indiana, Campbell issued his first recording in 1983. As Henry Mancini's guitarist, he toured and became acquainted with many aspects of songwriting. His work has always remained fresh and original. Campbell's discography, which includes tributes to Wes ...
Continue ReadingRoyce Campbell: Royce Campbell Plays for Lovers
by Jim Santella
Royce Campbell's warm interpretations of seven romantic jazz standards and two originals moves nice and slow, as the smooth edges from his guitar strings give his audience a natural timbre to soak up in time. Antony and Cleopatra must have enjoyed a similar experience, since Campbell's velvety-smooth guitar melodies sail gently as if on a warm ocean breeze. Of course, legendary characters from our literature didn't have the benefit of Bill Evans' “Waltz for Debby or Royce Campbell's “I Feel ...
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