Fabio Mittino | Live+

VIDEO: “Kanashimi” from Fabio Mittino’s latest album: Simple Music for Difficult People, Vol. 4.
VIDEO: “Karakuri” featuring Stealth Acoustic 6-string guitar.

Fabio Mittino continues to record and produce music with exceptional production values and attention to detail. This is an extraordinary achievement for an independent artist creating in an ultra-specific solo electric guitar instrumental niche. Managing writing, recording, touring, travel, video production, and record label responsibilities is a massive project.

Fabio, thank you for all that you do — we see you — we appreciate you!

I love the testimonial (below) from Ahmad Jamal. Increasingly over the past several years, my personal listening time is deeply immersed in jazz recordings from the 1950’s and 1960’s. That was such an astonishing period of musical achievement. The improvisational skill of those musicians is difficult for us to fully comprehend today, because we live in an era where artistic output is shaped primarily in post-production, during the editing process. There was a decade or so when virtuosic playing enmeshed with spontaneous composition, often performed and recorded live: one take, first pass.

Ahmad Jamal was a master in that genre, and I am sad to learn of his passing earlier this year. As the cosmic winds scatter our ashes, may your fingers eternally tickle the celestial ivories, my friend.

PROMO: Catch Fabio Mittino live Sunday, June 25, 2023 at Kennedy Martin Stelle Farmstead, Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

Henry Kaiser Plays Sea Monster

VIDEO: Henry Kaiser Quarterly #1 performance for 2023. Watch from the beginning for some delicious Zappa, or dive directly into “Sea Monster Blues” (solo guitar) beginning at 10:44 — featuring Henry playing Sea Monster amidst a backdrop of Crevalle jack and Bigeye trevally. No fish were harmed in the making of this video.

I really love what Henry Kaiser is doing.

Bringing together friends and featured artists to pre-record a quarterly concert. Players are together in person, or contributing from wherever they may be in the world at the moment. Visual artists adding their skills as well, including Henry’s partner Brandy Gale. Check out her work…synesthete art!

There is such joy of life infusing this entire venture. You can feel the energy of friends reconnecting.

WHAT A GREAT GUITAR
evaluating its functionality just as a “strat” it is an EXCEEDINGLY great strat.  So solid sonically and great for all genres of strat-expressions.

BUT THIS PISCES TREMOLO knocks it out of the park and onto one of the Moons of Mars.
SUPER ULTRA-TERRIFIC
as soon as I finish mastering today
I will have lots of playing time for it and video shoot time
and I will be back with much more feedback (both written and electro-acoustic)

THANK YOU SO MUCH for sending it over (Henry Kaiser)

Deeply grateful to Henry for his friendship and his willingness to invest time exploring Sea Monster. Henry, thank you for all of your video work. Also, thank you Killick and Chris Buono for introducing us. More adventures to follow…

Harmonic Convergence

VIDEO: Steve Sjuggerud coaxes fingerstyle harmonics from the neck pickup of Birdseye Pisces™ guitar then shares first impressions. Steve flew in last weekend for two excellent days together exploring the new tremolo and discussing next steps.

Live @ Triumph Brewing Company

IMAGE: Full-length live album is in the works. Read on…
VIDEO: Rehearsal on December 6, 2022. Chris Buono fretless guitar & music. Cody McCorry bass. Anibal Rojas sax. Faye Fadem drums. Fretless guitar and Orchid bass built by Rick Toone.

Coastal air off the Atlantic seeps in under Sandy Hook, slyly flirting with Navesink River dampness, the extended New York metro tang of NJ Turnpike combustion and chemical refineries. Onshore, offshore. Giants to the north, Eagles to the south. Manhattan commuters. Money.

Chris Buono will flit through this mist, reaching up with (funk you) Jersey Attitude™ to grab Big Apple brass and polish it against shore prog rhythms. Triumph Brewing Company, Red Bank, New Jersey is our venue, as he prepares to take onstage residency for the next several months.

Risk is real…

He’s coming in cold, struggling—rehabilitating—excruciating left arm pain via pinched nerves in his spine. This band is total raw bar, two hours of rehearsal and digital chord charts as guidance through an improv jazz wilderness marshland.

Chris debuting two new guitars I built for him: his custom multiscale fretless “Fragile” and “Green Monster” who is also holding my tremolo. Cody McCorry is playing another build so fresh the finish is still drying: “Orchid” bass. New and unfamiliar instruments for both of these masterful players. And a chance to capture their sounds live, in the wild.

We are in this together. Tonight is opening night.

With the recording, I am seeking to capture the village vanguard intimacy of Bill Evans. Snapshot this moment. Band banter. Audience chatter, barstools and glasses. 1961 turns 2022. Killick Hinds beautifully brings his touch to the mixing and mastering. Deeply grateful we had this opportunity to work together.

Credits:

Chris Buono — music & guitar
Anibal Rojas — synth sax
Cody McCorry — bass
Faye Fadem — drums

Killick Hinds — mixing & mastering
Rick Toone — recording & production

“If I died right now I would want you to show the world ‘Raining Caterpillars’ and say this what I truly sounded like when I was dialed in. For that I’m indebted to you both.” (Chris Buono)

VIDEO: (Audio only) live recording of “Raining Caterpillars” @ Triumph Brewing Company on December 8, 2022. Orchid bass and Green Monster guitar are the duet heard here.

Sea Monster

IMAGES: Swamp ash, quarter-sawn one piece AAA flame maple. Advantage™ neck profile. Polished stainless steel frets. Carbon fiber. Precision machined components from aircraft aluminum and stainless steel. DiMarzio noiseless pickups designed by Steve Blucher.
PHOTO: Sea Monster Pisces™ 6-string guitar.
VIDEO: Overview introduction of the new tremolo system.