STYLE... Avant Instrumental

Larry Marotta: acoustic guitar, sourcetracks. BHH: banjoto, dobro, ScIrving 1, prepared guitar, electric mandolin, looped gtr samples, saz.

REVIEWS...

"Bret's duet with Larry Marotta was a unique listening experience for me among the discs in the series as Larry is the one participant that I've seen play live. Larry is local to me (Columbus, Ohio) and I've seen him perform about 4 or 5 times now, each performance being quite different from the other. He's done solo acoustic guitar, a duet with an accordion player, and an electric set with his trio Schtick, who did a cover of Pink Floyd's "One Of These Days" that stands as a model for taking a classic and truly making it your own. And a few years back he played with a local band at a sci fi film marathon performing the soundtrack for the silent classic, The Lost World (I didn't know who he was at the time but remember the performance well). In addition, Larry has been instrumental (no pun intended) in bringing improv artists to Columbus and organizing shows giving Columbus avant-garde artists an opportunity to perform. So this, and having been made privy to Bret's track-by-track notes to Larry, made this an especially fun duet to listen to. Larry provided the acoustic guitar source tracks to which Bret added banjoto, dobro, ScIrving, prepared guitar, electric mandolin, looped guitar, and samples. In most cases I was able to distinguish Larry's parts which are very much in the style of the solo performances I seen him do. Some of the best moments are the most sparse... percussive attacks on a string or the guitar body, often with several seconds between each, allowing each note or sound the opportunity to make its statement. String manipulations that produce harsh or ambient sounds, and run an impressive range of tones and textures. Some tracks even have a dark orchestral sound to them, like an avant-garde symphony performance. Getting to see a musician perform this type of music live is a fascinating experience (particularly for us less than clueful non-musicians) because you gain an understanding of how the range of sounds heard on the recordings are actually made, not to mention the thrill of seeing the artist at work. Larry is definitely a guitarist that free-improv fans should check out, and I hope to hear him contribute additional volumes to the Duets series." --Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY...

David Wortman / Bret Hart
duets - volume one

Bret Hart / Mark Kissinger
duets - volume one

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