Gerald Gradwohl - Tritone Barrier (2007)

Gerald Gradwohl from Austria is a guitarist of extraordinary depth and sensitivity. Gradwohl plays with the same kind of abandon as Scott Henderson, and is able to portray the same gracefulness as Frank Gambale, showing a solid command for his jazz meets rock guitar stylings, in part, he can play in technically demanding jazz/classical modes, and add enough rock mutations to separate him from the far less interesting players out there. 'Tritone Barrier' is the follow up album to 'ABQ' from 2003 feat. The late, talented saxman Bob Berg and the Tribal Tech rhythm section, Kirk Covington and Gary Willis - and you will be strucked by the freshness of playing, the variety of tunes and arrangements, and the musical scope of the album. With his new trio: Joe Lackner on bass and Farid Al-Shami on drums plus special guests: Scott Henderson (guitar), Kirk Covington (drums), Frank Itt & Harald Weinkum / bass, Gradwohl continues with another guitar masterpiece. The playing throughout is of course stunning. The compositions are varied in style - sometimes jazzy, heavy, complex, and funky - but always entertaining. It actually sounds like the musicians were really enjoying themselves while making such a wonderful album. With 'Tritone Barriers' Gerald Gradwohl covers a lot of fusion territory, from straight-ahead, to funked up Tech, to slow jazz, to aggressive funk, to instrumental rock.