{"id":652,"date":"2013-04-29T18:26:45","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T22:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onemanz.com\/guitar\/?page_id=652"},"modified":"2013-05-19T18:27:20","modified_gmt":"2013-05-19T22:27:20","slug":"howard-emerson-it-aint-necessarily-so-new","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/onemanz.com\/guitar\/artist-on-record\/howard-emerson-it-aint-necessarily-so-new\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard Emerson, It Ain&#8217;t Necessarily So"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Fingerstyle guitarist Howard Emerson\u2019s latest CD, <em>It Ain&#8217;t Necessarily So<\/em>, opens with the easy going groove of \u201cBut I digress\u2026\u201d The listener is immediately pulled in and set up nicely for this album of mainly solo guitar pieces. The artist\u2019s knack for catchy rhythms and string-bending phrases lit up with tasty licks are all there on what sounds like an unhurried stroll through a pleasant, sun-dappled afternoon.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The second tune<em> It Ain&#8217;t Necessarily So<\/em> is the thematic \u201cSit Calm, Leigh,\u201d which quickens the pace, but is even more cheerful with its strong, chiming melody that repeats across descending bass notes, until the lively refrain takes over in the trebles. This song-without-words would make a great soundtrack for the opening credits of a weekend radio program, or perhaps even a popular television series.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Howard Emerson\u2019s style is easily recognizable by its authoritative thumb-driven rhythms matched with an intelligent use of mid range and treble that weave texture and highlight around simple yet fresh melodies. Well-oiled but unhurried, regardless of how fast the tempo, nothing appears superfluous or showy, even at its most complicated. And there is always that impeccable timing, with flow and tension, space suddenly appearing and just as quickly filling up again. That is all notably present on tunes like \u201cPop Top\u201d and \u201cThat\u2019s What She Said.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As with his previous album, Emerson includes some brief interludes that act like musical palate cleansers between the longer compositions. The first on the new record is the whimsical \u201cPablo\u2019s Crew,\u201d a funky minute of music with a tinge of Latin flavor. And later, there is the quietly evocative \u201cTruth in Lies,\u201d which might have been even more satisfying if it were developed into a longer piece.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But then, the artist has crafted this record keeping in mind the old adage of \u201cleave \u2018em wanting more,\u201d rather than exhausting the possibilities by dredging up too many codas, as seems often the case with certain other fingerstylists.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The title track gets down and dirty with some suspenseful bassy chords before a spidery melody line crawls up over top. This sparse and languid rendition of the old Gershwin tune sounds like it was arranged for Billie Holiday rather than Cab Callowy.\u00a0The ring of his maple guitar, custom made by David Flammang, provides the fat, chiming trebles on par with the round bass and clear mids that allow the registers to sound like a trio of musicians joining together or stepping up when inspired.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Emerson\u2019s first CD, <i>Crossing Crystal Lake<\/i>, is likewise a collection of well-craft instrumentals for solo guitar. The follow up, <i>A Tale to Tell<\/i>, included some songs featuring the artists singing voice, as well as overdubbed guitar solos and occasionally a rhythm section of bass and drums.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the new CD there is one actual song, \u201cCrazy Mamma.\u201d Prefaced by the interlude \u201cPack Your Trackage,\u201d which sounds a bit like an Appalachian fiddle tune, Crazy Mama comes off like the cooler, big city cousin and centers on the lament, \u201cCrazy Mama, where you been so long?\u201d While there are three verses of singing, there is plenty of room for bluesy instrumental breaks that say as much or more for the fella looking for his long lost baby.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Where \u201cCrazy Mamma\u201d is the loan vocal, \u201cHello Calliope\u201d contains the only multi-track overdubbing of guitars on the record, as at least two guitars appear, tuned or cappoed to different registers. They produce something that sounds like a 12-string guitar in cahoots with a zither, playing a jaunty march in lockstep, as if accompanying a procession of preened thoroughbreds cantering in their ornate harness and raiment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Emerson\u2019s music has an overall sense of Americana about it, but isn&#8217;t easily slotted into any particular genre. There are wisps or reflections of R&amp;B, historical folk songs and Old Time country tunes, Ragtime and traditional Blues, and in certain cases Latin and Rock n Roll. And at times a single tune may suggest more than one of them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">While some tracks are bluesier than others, some are more poppy, or even churchy. Many are written in alternate tunings, and most of those are cross-tuned so the key is something other than the root of the tuning itself (no small feat when done with such mastery.) But all are neatly constructed and expertly rendered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">And that includes Emerson\u2019s occasional arrangement of other people\u2019s compositions. The other cover appearing on this record is a meditative rendition of \u201cI Can\u2019t Help Falling In Love With You,\u201d the 60s ballad based closely on the eighteenth century classical piece \u201cPlaisir d&#8217;amour.\u201d Here it is played with sustained chords tied together by brief strings of lilting notes, which give it the quality of a Methodist hymn.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The final tune is \u201cWound Tight.\u201d It&#8217;s clipped and urban edginess ends abruptly and leaves this listener with a sudden sense of loss.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">And that says a lot right there, since many instrumental guitar albums can be satisfying, but are more than enough of a good thing by the time they end. This one often sends me back to the playlist to start it a second time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">And that is one man\u2019s word on Howard Emerson\u2019s latest CD, <em>It<\/em> <i>Ain\u2019t Necessarily So<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Excerpts from this and other CDs can be heard at <a href=\"http:\/\/howardemerson.com\/\">www.howardemerson.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fingerstyle guitarist Howard Emerson\u2019s latest CD, It Ain&#8217;t Necessarily So, opens with the easy going groove of \u201cBut I digress\u2026\u201d The listener is immediately pulled &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":340,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-652","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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