Search - Elliott Sharp :: Blues for Next

There is a certain feverish creativeness to Elliott Sharp's genre-blurring guitar playing. And nowhere is this intensity more appealing to both general audiences and those who dig free-flying intensity than on Sharp's Blues for Next. Guests Eric Mingus and Dean Bowman create a vocal stir in an expanded version of the Terraplane quartet on one of these two CDs, while the hard-driving foursome handles the other disc in solid fashion. The group's joined by Hubert Sumlin on guitar for a pair of tunes, and it's the latter guest that seems to bring Sharp to the edge of heavy-duty blues power without steering the leader too far away from his core improvised jazzical footing. Of course, this is E-sharp, so there's plenty of squirreling around and swerving, careening guitar maneuvers. Saxophonist Sam Furnace provides brilliant baritone and alto, with drummer Sim Cain pushing the rhythm envelope dutifully on both acoustic and creatively clipped electronic drums. Bowman's wild, skittery vocals have a tremendous oomph, with Mingus keeping a wry poetic delivery that flies aside Sharp's incredible talents. --Andrew Bartlett