Dark Stream Records in Lynnwood, Washington brings Scott Lindenmuth to the guitar world. Lindenmuth, a definite jazz-rock voice, is a versatile guitar player who fuses rock, jazz and classical chops into a forum of accessible music that is getting a considerable amount of air play for such a small label. Lindenmuth's first release Another Side, Another Time (DS1001), is a dynamic recording of superior fusion, occasionally reminiscent of Return To Forever and often feeling like Lou Alder's late sixties band Spirit (san vocals). The music has a California attitude and the band, The Scott Lindenmuth Group, plays tight and energetic at all times.
Lindenmuth has a new record set for release in the fall on Dark Stream Records entitled Changing Rhythm. It indicates on Dark Stream a definite growth of the group and a clear expansion into the more sophisticated jazz of the future. The music stages effects, synthesizers and pure electric guitar kindled neatly in a fire of driving rhythms and moody, mutating soundscapes. Lindenmuth has superb control of the electric and all of its intrinsic delicacies. The band has a definite roughness that gives it authenticity and transports the experienced listener through a spectrum of the pioneering genres of rock and jazz.
In the tradition of Charlie Christian, who was the first true jazz outlet for the electric guitar, these creative musicians carry on the legacy of this incredible instrument. But it will be only in the hands of truly creative and caring musicians that the new technology of guitar synthesizers and computer assisted music will mature to it's appointed destiny.
Musicianship quality cannot dwindle as the technology advances. Guitar music is human, compassionate, emotive and energetic. Most of all, the jazz guitar cannot prevail without the ingenuity of new players. The guitarists discussed here are shaping the future of electric guitar in technology, musicianship and composition and they will maintain the quality.
-Ed Legare