| Following
up last year's The Island, guitarist Eric T. Johnson has written
12 new compositions which showcase his improvisational abilities
in a variety of settings. The music is yearning, exuberant,
meditative, playful -a multifarious world in which complex counterpoint
and powerful improvisational excursions coexist with the most
pristine, unadorned ballad. Much of the music has Brazilian
influence, paying tribute to Milton Nascimento and Egberto Gismonti.
This time Eric has added the vocals of Brazil's Luciana Souza
to the already rich instrumental texture.
All
compositions by Eric T. Johnson (BMI/Naked Egg Music) Eric
T. Johnson, steel and nylon string guitars, electric guitars;
Carl Clements, soprano and tenor saxophones; Ben Cook, piano
and keyboards; JimWhitney, acoustic and electric basses; Bertram
Lehmann, drums and percussion;Luciana Souza, voice; Ernesto
Diaz, shekere and congas.
“With expert support from
his band... guitarist Eric T. Johnson offers a picturesque,
stylistically varied effort on By The Sea. Although Johnson
favors a Brazilian-breezy, acoustically layered sound on tunes
like the playful album opener ‘Maresia’
and gently melodic ‘A Biera Mar,’ he is also apt
to stretch out in somewhat unexpected directions - ‘Miltonesque,’
a lovely vocalese-driven tribute to Milton Nascimento, breaks
down to a majestic club jazz-styled solo, while ‘Gondwanaland’
meditates in hypnotic deep circles of melody and countermelody
before Johnson breaks things open with a rock-out solo. The
piping ‘Sand in Your Suit’ finds Johnson injecting
just a hint of blues in his guitar line, and ‘The Devil’s
Bridge’ features driving, full-textured 12-string strum,
horns and vocals in powerful parallel strokes.”
- JazzTimes,
March 1998, Vol. 28, No. 2
“I
can imagine Johnson being the best thing on most commercial
Jazz stations. His use of Luciana Souza’s vocals is reminiscent
of Corea’s Return to Forever, and ‘Gondwanaland’
evokes early Weather Report. This is proof that accessible
Jazz need not be mindless.”
- Cadence
Magazine, Oct. 1997, Vol. 23 No. 10
“[Eric
T. Johnson] is at times richly textured and chordal, then
dexterous and masterful with single note lines, then spacious
and supportive beind various soloists. On his recent albums
[w/Crosscurrent] The Island and By the Sea, he is guitarist,
composer, and producer. “
- Northeast
Performer, March 1998
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