Opening with fret master
Andy Summers (
the Police), "Monk Hangs Ten" (from
Synaesthesia),
Guitar Zone sets itself out as a daring and perceptive overview of the most expansive and important work done with guitar composition. Each track is off a full-length CMP release. This is no exhibition of mere solo guitar -- each piece is equally demanding of all the instruments involved. The
Summers piece relies heavily on the talents of drummer
Gregg Bissonette and keyboardist
Mitchel Forman. This example of contemporary progressive rock is well mated with another state of the art creation that shows off guitarist
Allan Holdsworth and drummer
Chad Wackerman. Not everything is over the top and born of modern studio capabilities, though -- the duo of
Miroslav Tadic (guitar and classical slide guitar) and
Mark Nauseef (drums and gongs) gives a sparse, skeletal piece whose serpentine undulations nicely reflect the title of its source album,
The Snake Music. Inexplicably,
Jack Bruce is given three tracks here. Because
Bruce works with excellent personnel (
Eric Clapton and the ex-
Zappa Fowler Brothers horn section) his keyboard-drenched forays sound too '80s compared to the rest of the selections. Also unforgettable is the ubiquitous
Bill Frisell joining
Wayne Horvitz (organ) and
Michael Shrieve (drums). Guitarist extraordinaire
Nicky Skopelitis puts the sounds of over a half-dozen instruments into one three-minute song for a very hopeful and positive-sounding piece.
David Torn makes a one-man show on "Spell Breaks with the Weather." Here "guitars and guitar-like thingies" soar magnificently above deep, deep bass sounds. Also present is
Bernie Worrell (Hammond B-3) and
Buckethead (guitar) on the requiem-like "The Mask." All 16 tracks push the limits of guitar possibility. ~ Tom Schulte