The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet -- nominally lumped into a catch-all classical guitar category -- pays affectionate tribute to a gallery of its members' idols here, with a selection that sweeps across the stylistic board. These players (
John Dearman,
William Kanengiser,
Scott Tennant, and
Andrew York) grew up in the phonograph generation, and their inspirations seem to come from anywhere and everywhere, and they are not shy -- nor should they be -- about picking from such a wide range of heroes. While the goal is to salute and transform their music into something else, not every chosen guitar master undergoes the treatment convincingly. The foursome adopt bluegrass flat-picking techniques to give thanks to
Norman Blake and
Brian Bromberg, and they are very adept at turning
Steve Howe's (of
Yes) "Mood for A Day" into a stirring flamenco showcase. The gypsy jazz soul of
Django Reinhardt makes the transition, thanks in part to the
LAGQ's skillful, idiomatic use of vibrato on "Gypsy Flower." The ambitious "We Know You Know: Reverie for Mahavishnu" tries to track two of the incarnations of
John McLaughlin -- more successfully in the unplugged reminiscences than the
Stravinsky-quoting
Mahavishnu Orchestra mode. Nor does the
Jimi Hendrix tribute make much sense; his electronically altered world simply does not translate to the acoustic guitar -- however hard their playing techniques strive to evoke the
Hendrix sound. Closer to their sound world are
Sergio and
Odair Assad ("Uarekena" and "Pepe Romero," (for their mentor)), and the Romero family ("El Baile de Luis Alonzo," from a zarzuela by Jeronimo Jimenez, performed as written). The CD concludes on a high note with an affectionate, uncanny arrangement for four guitars of the Echoplexed effects on
Chet Atkins' "Blue Ocean Echo" that morphs into a jaunty "Country Gentleman." An enjoyable collection overall, and available in CD and SACD surround formats. (The SACD version is especially dramatic, even mind-blowing, when the multi-channel mix places a guitar in each of four speakers). ~ Richard S. Ginell