| Serenity Knolls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Bill Brovold & Jamie Saft | ||||
| Released | 2017 | |||
| Recorded | March 31, 2017 | |||
| Studio | Potterville International Sound, Kingston, NY | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 76:28 | |||
| Label | RareNoise RNR076 | |||
| Producer | Jamie Saft | |||
| Jamie Saft chronology | ||||
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Serenity Knolls is an album by guitarists Bill Brovold and Jamie Saft released on the RareNoise label in 2017. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| All About Jazz |    [2] |
On All About Jazz, Dan Bilawsky called it "an album of front porch twang-and-strum, evoking peacefulness on the prairies and offering one American idyll after another" noting "Bill Brovold and Jamie Saft have managed to capture the heart, spirit, and sound of a country day in their duo explorations. Heartland, hearth, and home sweet home are well-represented on Serenity Knolls". [2] Chronogram's James Keepnews wrote "Although Kingston-based Rasta polymath Jamie Saft is best known as an accomplished keyboardist and studio maven, his recorded work as a guitarist dates as far back as two decades ... His dobro and lap steel skills get a rare, ample, and ravishing workout in this new collaboration with his fellow local multi-instrumentalist, guitarist Bill Brovold. The album title references the rehab center where Jerry Garcia died, striking a fitting balance for these 12 often stark tone poems—some warm and serene, others as dark and searching as the emotions upon the loss of a loved one. Much of the darkness comes from Brovold's chimes-at-midnight, dirge-y chordal atmospheres enveloping Saft's adept, pealing slide chorales". [3]
All compositions by Bill Brovold and Jamie Saft
Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that reflect characteristics of the human singing voice. It typically involves playing the guitar in the traditional position with the use of a slide fitted on one of the guitarist's fingers. The slide may be a metal or glass tube, such as the neck of a bottle. The term bottleneck was historically used to describe this type of playing. The strings are typically plucked while the slide is moved over the strings to change the pitch. The guitar may also be placed on the player's lap and played with a hand-held bar.
A steel guitar is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar in that it is played without using frets; conceptually, it is somewhat akin to playing a guitar with one finger. Known for its portamento capabilities, gliding smoothly over every pitch between notes, the instrument can produce a sinuous crying sound and deep vibrato emulating the human singing voice. Typically, the strings are plucked by the fingers of the dominant hand, while the steel tone bar is pressed lightly against the strings and moved by the opposite hand.
The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play unlimited glissandi and deep vibrati—characteristics it shares with the human voice. Pedal steel is most commonly associated with American country music and Hawaiian music.
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional acoustic guitar, in which the performer's fingertips press the strings against frets, the pitch of a steel guitar is changed by pressing a polished steel bar against plucked strings. Though the instrument does not have frets, it displays markers that resemble them. Lap steels may differ markedly from one another in external appearance, depending on whether they are acoustic or electric, but in either case, do not have pedals, distinguishing them from pedal steel guitars.
Steve Swallow is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar.
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Grateful Jazz is the fourth album by the instrumental Grateful Dead cover band Jazz Is Dead. The original tracks were recorded in 2004 in Hartford, Connecticut, and were then set aside. In anticipation of the fiftieth anniversary of the Grateful Dead, guitarist Jeff Pevar dug up the recordings, added overdubs by a number of guest musicians, and released them on CD in 2015 via his Pet Peev Music. The album features Pevar along with keyboard player T. Lavitz, bassist David Livolsi, and drummer Rod Morgenstein. The album is dedicated to the memory of T. Lavitz.
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