7907 - ERIC JOHNSON MIKE STERN - ECLECTIC ECLECTIC ECLECTIC (2014)

ERIC JOHNSON/MIKE STERN
''ECLECTIC ECLECTIC ECLECTIC''
OCTOBER 27 2014
71:47

1 Roll With It 05:22
2 Remember 06:23
3 Benny Man’s Blues 04:26
4 Wishing Well 07:34
5 Big Foot (With Intro) (Chris Maresh) 07:04
6 Tidal 05:24
7 You Never Know 06:38
8 Dry Ice (Bill Maddox) 06:48
9 Sometimes 08:05
10 Hullabaloo 03:06
11 Wherever You Go (With Intro 06:03
12 Red House (Jimi Hendrix) 04:49
Tracks By Johnson (3, 6, 10), Mike Stern (1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 11) And As Indicated

Eric Johnson - guitars, synthesizer, piano, vocal
Mike Stern - guitars, vocal
Chris Maresh - electric and acoustic bass
Anton Fig - drums, percussion
Plus special guests:
Malford Milligan - vocal
Christopher Cross - background vocal
Leni Stern - n'goni, vocal
Guy Forsyth - harmonica
James Fenner, Wayne Salzmann II - percussion
Mike Mordecai - trombone
Andrew Johnson - trumpet
John Mills - saxophones

REVIEW
by Steve Leggett
The seed for this project was planted when Eric Johnson played on a few tracks for Mike Stern's 2009 album Big Neighborhood. The two guitarists discovered a shared affinity for jazz and blues, along with those two genres' rambunctious stepchildren, R&B and funk, and both players had always embraced a stylish fusion approach to their respective work. It seems only obvious and natural that they do a full album together. Eclectic was recorded in mostly live takes at Johnson's studio in Austin, Texas, and included a rhythm section of drummer Anton Fig and Johnson's longtime bassist Chris Maresh, along with guest spots from singers Malford Milligan, Leni Stern (Mike Stern's wife), and Christopher Cross, blues harpist Guy Forsyth, and a horn section of John Mills (saxophone), Mike Mordecai (trombone), and Andrew Johnson (trumpet). The versatility on display here from track to track is impressive, ranging from blues to Wes Montgomery-inspired guitar jazz, new age fusion shuffles, and huge-sounding, jazz-inspired big-band imaginary soundtrack themes, and there's no lack of amazing guitar playing, both guitarists blending and flowing together like the two edges of a single river. Highlights include the opener, Stern's driving, jazzy, and funky "Roll with It" (it turns out Stern has a pretty good singing voice, by the way), the lovely, haunting, and chiming "Wishing Well," Johnson's "Hullabaloo" (which sounds like the opening theme to some long-lost Hollywood-based 1960s detective show), Stern's modal "Remember" (modeled on John Coltrane's "Impressions"), and the set's closer, a reverent and vibrant take on Jimi Hendrix's "Red House," which brings everything back to the late-night jazzy approach to the blues that Johnson and Stern both hold so dear.

7124 - ERIC JOHNSON - Europe Live (2014)

ERIC JOHNSON
''EUROPE LIVE''
JUNE 24 2014
70:34

1 /Intro 1:54
2 /Zenland
Eric Johnson 4:22
3 /Austin
Eric Johnson 4:07
4 /Forty Mile Town
Eric Johnson 4:58
5 /Mr. P.C.
John Coltrane 9:38
6 /Manhattan
Eric Johnson 4:50
7 /Zap
Eric Johnson 6:12
8 /Song For Life
Eric Johnson 3:01
9 /Fatdaddy
Eric Johnson 2:45
10 /Last House On the Block
Eric Johnson / Bill Maddox 11:32
11 /Interlude
Eric Johnson 2:00
12 /Cliffs of Dover
Eric Johnson 5:39
13 /Evinrude Fever
Eric Johnson 3:47
14 /Sun Reprise
Eric Johnson 5:49

Eric Johnson /Guitar, Vocals
Chris Maresh /Guitar (Bass)
Wayne Salzmann II /Drums, Vocals (Background)

Europe Live was recorded in venues across Johnson's tour of the continent, with the majority of the album capturing his appearance at Amsterdam's Melkweg along with selections from two dates in Germany at Die Kantine in Köln and Bochum Zeche and the Paris show at New Morning. Each appearance featured a unique set list, offering Johnson the opportunity to cull this track listing from a wealth of repertoire captured.

BIOGRAPHY
by Bill Meredith
Very few musical artists achieve a true signature style -- one that makes comparisons to other musicians impossible. But Texas guitarist Eric Johnson arguably comes as close to this echelon as any musician from the past quarter-century. Like fellow Lone Star State guitarists Johnny Winter, Billy Gibbons, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnson blends the rock style of Jimi Hendrix and the blues power of Albert King. Yet Johnson's wide array of additional influences (from the Beatles and Jeff Beck to jazz and Chet Atkins) makes for a guitar sound as unique as his fingerprints.

"When I first heard Eric," Winter recalls, "he was only 16, and I remember wishing that I could have played like that at that age." Former Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter says, "If Jimi Hendrix had gone on to study with Howard Roberts for about eight years, you'd have what this kid strikes me as." The Austin prodigy appeared on the cover of Guitar Player magazine while working with Texas jazz/fusion band the Electromagnets and as a session player (Cat Stevens, Carole King, Christopher Cross), and a 1984 performance on the TV show Austin City Limits set his recording career in motion.

Johnson's 1986 debut album, Tones, certainly proved that the hype was warranted. Playing with the ace rhythm section of bassist Roscoe Beck and drummer Tommy Taylor, Johnson mixed blazing instrumentals ("Zap," "Victory") with Beatles-influenced vocal tunes like "Emerald Eyes" and "Bristol Shore." Johnson used the same half-and-half format on the 1990 follow-up, Ah Via Musicom, but a trio of the album's tunes surprisingly made him the first artist to have three instrumentals from the same album to chart in the Top Ten in any format (with "Cliffs of Dover" earning Johnson a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental).

But, if Johnson had a perceived weakness, it was the perfectionism that caused four years to pass between recordings. Even in concert, he would painstakingly tune his guitar between songs, by ear, for minutes on end. With the success of Ah Via Musicom, the guitarist admitted to feeling pressure to raise the bar again. But Johnson's studio nitpicking delayed Venus Isle until 1996, and the disappointing CD contained fewer instrumentals and sounded forced.

A stint on the 1997 G3 tour with fellow headlining guitarists Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, and its resulting live release, breathed new life into Johnson and sparked the idea of a live album. Overhauling his band for the 2000 CD Live and Beyond, Johnson brought in bassist Chris Maresh and drummer Bill Maddox, and concentrated on more of a blues feel. The guitarist still blended instrumentals with his vocal tunes ("Shape I'm In," "Last House on the Block"), but perhaps realized that his thin voice was too one-dimensional for guttural blues or R&B. Guest vocalist Malford Milligan ignites "Don't Cha Know" and "Once a Part of Me," helping Johnson's blazing debut on Vai's Favored Nations label and reestablishing the versatile virtuoso's status for the 21st century. As Vai himself testifies, "Eric has more colorful tone in his fingers than Van Gogh had on his palette."

Souvenir, an album available only through Johnson's website, appeared in 2002, followed by CD and DVD versions of New West's Live from Austin, TX and Bloom, the second album for Vai's Favored Nations imprint, in 2005. Johnson returned in 2010 with Up Close, a studio album that slightly emphasized the guitarist's Texas roots.

OFFICIAL SITE

4624 - ERIC JOHNSON - Live From Austin, Tx '84 (2010)

ERIC JOHNSON
''LIVE FROM AUSTIN TX '84''
NOVEMBER 22 2010
44:37

1. Soulful Terrain/4:20
2. Friends/5:23
3. All I Need/4:07
4. Song For Life/2:37
5. April Comes She Will/2:29
6. Tribute To Jerry Reed/1:36
7. I'm Finding You/4:10
8. Cliffs Of Dover/4:53
9. Down Here On The Ground/3:52
10. Bristol Shores/6:16
11. Spanish Castle Magic/Jimi Hendrix/4:54

Rob Alexander /Bass, Vocals
Eric Johnson /Guitar, Vocals
Steve Meador /Drums

REVIEW
by William Ruhlmann
Eric Johnson is held in such high regard as a guitarist, and his releases of new recordings are so infrequent, that a significant part of his discography has come to consist of juvenilia and other archival recordings. Live from Austin, TX '84 is not to be confused with the 2005 album Live from Austin TX. The earlier album chronicled a 1988 performance by Johnson; this one, as the title indicates, goes back a further four years, though it also chronicles an appearance on Austin City Limits. The difference is notable, since 1984 was two years before Johnson's national debut album, Tones. Here, however, he is already well formed, displaying a remarkable mastery of the guitar and of a variety of styles. He takes an architectural solo on the early instrumental "Friends," then performs a four-song acoustic mini-set that includes "Song for Life," which has a Renaissance flavor; a version of Paul Simon's "April Come She Will"; his "Tribute to Jerry Reed" (later to turn up on an official album); and the intricate "I'm Finding You." The range of his influences is indicated by the inclusions of Lalo Schifrin's jazzy "Down Here on the Ground," a tune written for the 1968 film Cool Hand Luke, and (no surprise) Jimi Hendrix's "Spanish Castle Magic." Fans will want the album simply for the early version of Johnson's hit instrumental "Cliffs of Dover," which is in the Joe Satriani/Steve Vai school of electric guitar workouts.
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