Jon Herington - Pulse and Cadence (2008)

This is a bit of a puzzler, I've been a Jon Herington fan for 16 years or so, since I first heard the "Chroma" CD (and DVD) where he plays a few great solos in an all star band that includes Mike Stern. I purchased his first release on Glass House Records (Japan) called "The Complete Rhyming Dictionary", which has been out of print for a long time. It is one of the great unknown guitar discs out there, and Herington plays fantastic creative solos over his own interesting fusion ditties with a great band. I haven't met more than a handful of people who've heard that album, and that's a shame! Well, "Pulse and Cadence" was released last week, and even though all the song titles are different, it is essentially "The Complete Rhyming Dictionary". I can only assume there was a licensing or publishing issue, I can't imagine Jon would deceptively re-release without something saying so on the packaging (it doesn't). It is all good news anyway, cause I'm almost 100% sure that he either re recorded all his solos, or these are alternate takes. Further, these solos are even better than the originals! I think the band may be different too, though I'm not sure without looking at the liner notes to each. Regardless, this is an outstanding example of modern electric jazz fusion, with echoes of Weather Report, Vital Information, and Jim Beard's great music (and Jim is heavily featured here also, Jim and Jon own a studio together in Manhattan). This belongs in every guitar freaks collection, Jon is an elegant, extremely tasteful guitarist who combines the raunch of early Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck with the harmonic sophistication of George Benson and Michael Brecker. Anyone who has seen or heard Steely Dan (or Donald Fagen solo) live in the past 8 years already knows that Jon is one of the finest rock guitarists out there. He rips, but once in a while, always leaving the listener wanting more. He bends really well too, plays rock VERY authentically (which some jazz guys don't do very well!) I've heard him dozens of times with Steely live, and he can play a different solo over "Kid Charlemagne" (from Royal Scam) every night and each time is as good or better than the solo Larry Carlton stitched together on the record! I highly recommend this CD, if you are into fabulous rock/jazz guitar, this guy is the real deal!