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Howard Alden / Ken Peplowski: Pow-Wow

By Andrew Velez

Whether you were fortunate enough or not to have caught Howard Alden and Ken Peplowski's 2007 reunion art New York's Bargemusic, Pow-Wow will do very nicely to dig these longtime musical good companions. Much of the Barge evening drew upon Pow-Wow, offering a perfect, quietly spectacular skyline setting for these two, both who eschew pyrotechnics. Their playing is exciting enough in its simplicity. Hearing their variety, range and richness can make it seem like listening to more than just two ...

Howard Alden/Bucky Pizzarelli: In a Mellow Tone

By Mitchell Seidel

Good taste never goes out of style and knows no demographic, as this delicate album by two masters of the seven-string demonstrates. The 45-year old Alden and the 77-year old Pizzarelli may be a generation apart, but they are certainly cut from the same cloth.

A great example of how their comping and strumming styles mesh so effortlessly is heard on “Tangerine," where they trade back and forth like one guitarist overdubbed on two tracks. “Cherokee" starts with a tom-tom-inspired ...

Howard Alden: My Shining Hour

By Dave Nathan

There is a small, select group of contemporary jazz musicians who when they release a new album, the question is not whether it's going to be good but rather, “how good". Guitarist Howard Alden falls four square into this community of consummate jazz artists and his position in the group is further solidified by his latest from Concord Jazz, My Shining Hour. Playing the both the electric and acoustic 7 string archtop guitar, Alden gets a fullness, a richness of ...

Howard Alden, Jimmy Bruno, Herb Ellis, Joe Pass: Full Circle

By Jack Bowers

I really do appreciate the easygoing sound of a well–played guitar — even though I couldn’t separate one guitarist from another if they walked up to me, shook hands and introduced themselves. On this new two–disc set from Concord we have not one but four well–played guitars in the capable hands of a quartet of recognized masters — Howard Alden and Jimmy Bruno (Full Circle, recorded in 1995) and Herb Ellis and Joe Pass (Jazz/Concord, from 1972). Full Circle refers ...