My creative life was refreshed two years ago when I finally attended The Alternative Guitar Summit Camp at the Full Moon Resort, Big Indian, New York. I’ve been reading about it and watching videos of different AGS events for such a long time that it felt like going home when I was there.
The five days felt both long and short at the same time. All in all, being surrounded by so many of my musical heroes in person was inspiring to say the least.
Now how do you get a bit of that energy and inspiration if you can’t go to the camp every year?
Well, this new album might just be what the (musical) doctor called for.
Seventeen of the finest guitar players come together in duets that capture the widest musical gamut imaginable for the instrument, all within 52 minutes and 10 tracks.
The album opens with I Know Now I Meant It Even Then presented by Emmanuel Michael and Tim Watson. This effects-drenched duet is both hypnotic and meditative with the textures that both guitarists employ. Sounds swell in and out, notes pop in and out while the theme develops gradually.
Following that we hear Liebeslied, a conversation between Wolfgang Muthspiel and Gilad Hekselman. I first learned about this song from one of my teachers Mick Goodrick back when I was in Berklee, but it was only after the camp in 2024 that I finally decided to learn it. Listening to this masterful performance by two of my favorite players, I again feel compelled to revisit the piece.
The third track on the record surprised me as we hear E.Tennessee Blues with Grant Gordy and Ben Garnett. This was suddenly a bluegrass exploration with bebop licks and yummy inside to outside lines that tickle your ears.
The world changes again with Waiting for the Raptor performed by Wendy Eisenberg and Anthony Pirog. Right then we are out of a secret bluegrass session and now in an experimental sonic duet is as at home at New York art gallery or a basement secret gig in Boston.
Hearing this reminds me of how much I missed using more electronics. At some points I was reminded of David Torn’s What Means Solid, Traveller? (one of my fave albums of all time), which is always a treat. Alternating between high pitched guitar screams to mysterious chords, this track has so much in it.
Rhythmically entering the space, Libreville – a duet between David Gilmore and Cecil Alexander is the first time I’ve heard these two amazing musicians play together. I was at Berklee when David Gilmore just started teaching there but never had the opportunity to study with him. Cecil Alexander is a player who I have obsessively followed since I first discovered him.
Listening to them on this, the groove gets your head nodding and the solos develop with both bebop through-composed-ness and motivic coherence. I love the percussive clarity of the fast lines and how they are contrasted with the pretty melodic themes. I would certainly love to hear a whole album of just duets from David and Cecil – that would be sublime!
In a change of pace, we have In My Life with Bill Frisell and Emmanuel Michael. This is one of my fave tunes from The Beatles and to hear it reimagined like this puts a smile to my face. There’s a nice bounce to their playing both rhythmically and also tonally and the chords pop and swirl around. A treat was also to hear the classic harpsichord solo played as well. For anyone who loves this piece, that solo is as important as the vocal melody parts so it makes sense to have it here. Emmanuel’s playing complements Bill’s signature approach very well in this performance.
Hearing from the producer himself, we get The Ship Set Sail played by Joel Harrison and Cindy Cashdollar. According to Joel in his Substack post about this record:
“I looked at what others had done and tried to write something that was not yet represented on the record. It was geared around Cindy’s open tuned Weissenborn baritone guitar.”
He achieved this as this track takes us somewhere else and the guitar tones blend so well on this track.
Moving on, I get to hear two musicians who have directly shaped how I approach guitar. I took one life-changing lesson with Ben in his apartment years ago in New York City, and with Tronzo, I took two semesters of inspiring lessons in his slide guitar lab and then later in my final semester of private lessons at Berklee back in 2007.
With Ben Monder and David Tronzo, the track is called Don’t Forget Your Guitar. Tronzo sounds, well Tronzo from the first note setting the mood with a riff that is answered with variations developing slowly. Ben goes into higher gain territory providing an opposing force to Tronzo’s single notes.
The song title at some points feels like advice, and at some points feels like a threat. As Tronzo plays his radio (into his pickup I would imagine), Ben starts tremolo picking and the piece envelops us in a blanket of sounds that we don’t often hear together. If I took anything from this performance, it’s to play everything with conviction, embrace the air and to not fear space.
The next piece Montana, is Americana meets mystery meets jazz with Max Light and Greg Belisle-Chi. Parts of this sounds ECM, some parts sound like a Bill Frisell record and a bit of it sound like it could have been a Pat Metheny soundtrack. I love the guitar tones on this too, perhaps as much as the track Joel and Cindy did earlier. This is beautifully performed, recorded and mixed.
Closing the album, we have Lawns performed by Grant Gordy and Ben Garnett. The textures on this are pretty and shows another aspect of how Grant and Ben sound. I love this one more than their blues-bluegrass piece earlier, but that’s more of how I resonate with this kind of sound. Again the guitars are perfect on this and by the last harmonic, we have been on a journey the likes of which you don’t hear on a single record that often.
All in all, this is a seriously beautiful record that deserves your attentive listening. So close those browser windows, open up this album, close your eyes and let them take you on this musical journey. You deserve this.
Congratulations to Joel Harrison for producing this album and to all the great players who agreed to be on this record together. The guitar world is blessed to have this in our universe.
Rating: 5/5
Get the album here: https://agsrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/dont-forget-your-guitar
I received a complimentary download of this album via Joel Harrison’s excellent Substack page. Check that page out here to subscribe to his emails, essays and thoughts.
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