(CD: Andreas Öberg, elec. & acoustic 6-string nylon guitars & vocal on Aqui Oh; Kuno Schmid, orchestrations on 4 tracks; Tamir Handelman, keyboards and arr. on 5 tracks; Marian Petrescu, piano; Kevin Axt & Harish Raghavan, bass; Kuno Schmid, keyboard bass; Vic Stevens, drums & percussion)
(DVD Lineup: Öberg, guitar; Marian Petrescu, piano; Harish Raghavan, bass; Vic Stevens, drums)
Andreas Öberg is a not-yet-30 Swedish guitarist whose first American CD this is. He is well established on the Swedish and European scene, playing a wide variety of genres, including gypsy jazz, fusion and rock, but he says he likes modern jazz the most. His favorite player is George Benson, and his style is similar to the straightforward, clean, single-note playing of that artist. In the bonus video he plays a large hollow-body guitar and his tone is far and warm without a lot of special effects pedal use.
For My Favorite Guitars the concept was to record his own versions of tunes by Öberg’s favorite guitarists. George Klabin, the founder of the new Resonance Records label, discovered a YouTube video of one of Öberg’s burning performances and contacted him to be one of the new artists in his Rising Jazz Stars Foundation, including this recording. The production brought in some veteran players to fill out the basic guitar quartet sound, including arranger/keyboardist Kuno Schmid and versatile pianist Tamir Handelman. Öberg even makes a stab at George Benson’s vocal side with his vocalise on Aqui Oh – doing a Slam Stewart-type vocal sound in tune with the melody on his guitar as Stewart did with his bass. For a quick demonstration of Öberg’s masterful chops on the six strings, audition the Wes Montgomery tribute, The Trick Bag.
The guitarists chosen to be honored by Öberg are Django (though Troublant Bolero is not really in a gypsy jazz bag), Toninho Horta, Pat Martino, George Benson, Wes Montgomery, Pat Metheny and Donny Hathaway. AM Call is an Öberg original, as is Le Q on the bonus DVD. Öberg’s hope is to appeal in this album to some listeners who might not normally listen to jazz, while avoiding “doing it too cheesy, or being a sellout,” as he puts it. He and Resonance have been successful.
CD TrackList:
1. “Funky Tango” (Luis Salinas)
2. “Troublant Bolero” (Django Reinhardt)
3. “Waiting for Angela” (Toninho Horta)
4. “Aqui, Oh” (Toninho Horta)
5. “Uptown Down” (Pat Martino)
6. “AM Call” ( Andreas Öberg)(***)
7. “The Changing World” (George Benson, Art Gore)
8. “The Trick Bag” (Wes Montgomery)
9. “Here to Stay” (Pat Metheny)
10. “Endless Love” ( Andreas Öberg)
11. “Villa Hermosa” (Pat Martino)
12. “Valdez in the Country”(Donny Hathaway)
DVD TrackList:
Le Q Theme (Öberg)
AM Call (Öberg)
Blue in Green (Miles Davis, Bill Evans)
– John Henry
