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Barbour mastering the genres
Most people around here don't know about Lee Barbour, but the internationally renowned Joe Beck will give people a chance to learn about Barbour's musical prowess during a show at FIG on Tuesday.
The two jazz guitarists have become musical soulmates since playing together last year at Vintage, where they worked to a standing-room-only crowd. Barbour said FIG is a little bigger, but he expects an even larger turnout.
This year, Beck will sit in with Barbour and Gradual Lean, a progressive jazz band with quite a following around town, at FIG (Food Is Good), a downtown restaurant with a growing legion of fans.
Gradual Lean has played there on Tuesdays for a couple of months, kicking off long-term plans to gradually incorporate live, improvisational music into the eatery's ambience.
Beck said in a telephone interview Friday he was looking forward to returning to Charleston. "I love it there. It's like a little sophisticated palace in the middle of nowhere," he said. What he likes most about here, though, is playing with Barbour.
"It's beyond me how he can be playing at the level he plays and not be a national figure," Beck said. Barbour said he and Beck have plans to make a record. "We tried to do it last year, but because of some facility problems we weren't able to get it done. We're talking about me coming to his home and doing it there."
Beck was Miles Davis' first guitar player, paving the way for a long line to follow that included Pat Metheny, George Benson, John Abercrombie, John McGlaughlin and John Scofield, masters all.
"Last year, he expressed an interest in coming back, so I rounded up these gigs," Barbour said. On Wednesday at 8 p.m., the act, including a clinic, will be at the College of Charleston's Randolph Hall for $10.
Then the group will play the Jazz Corner in Hilton Head on March 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Gradual Lean has been on the Charleston music scene for almost a decade now, always on the cutting edge of repertoire, instrumentation and interpretation. On Tuesday, Ron Wiltrout will play drums and Kevin Hamilton will play bass, along with Beck and Barbour.
The band plays standards, pop tunes, sacred music and originals. It plays in the short and long forms. Its signature is intensity, so sometimes songs build over a long period of time and go through change, after change, after change.
It's very inventive stuff, so it's well suited for Beck.
"His playing bridges the gap between classic jazz guitar and the more modern sound," Barbour said. "He's also a studio musician who has played with other phenomenal musicians. He's really versatile. He can convey other people's music through his own style." Beck does a lot of teaching these days, and is working on a best-of compilation of his work over the years. He works in Waterbury, N.Y., at Nagatuck Valley College near his home. He does clinics and performances all around the world, so he's seen many musicians.
He said of Barbour, "He's chosen some of the most difficult styles to master. He's not like a Stevie Ray Vaughn (great player but master of only one genre, rock-'n'-roll). He's playing Django Rheinhardt (gypsy swing), bebop, all of the styles. He plays fusion of the highest order. It's difficult to play all of them well, but he's great with each and everything in between."
©Jack McCray (Apr 3, 2005)
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