Vicki Genfan, Up Close and Personal
The Jaco Pastorius of the acoustic guitar? Ellen McIlwaine squared? The Pat Metheny of New Jersey? Vicki Genfan may be a little bit of all those things, but primarily she is herself: a guitar wizard with jaw-dropping technique and gushing creativity. Her new double CD consists of an instrumental disc and a singer-songwriter disc. The former is a revelation. In it, Genfan provides a guitar clinic that's not in the least clinical. With her acoustic six-string front and center, and tasteful backing here and there from other top musicians, she takes us through an eleven-song odyssey through the workings of a scarily brilliant musical mind.
By comparison, the best that can be said about the singer-songwriter CD is that it's a solid folk-jazz album that presses Genfan's awesome guitar technique into the service of material that isn't going to blow too many people away. That's not to say it's not a pleasure to listen to, if you're in a contemplative mood. Genfan's vocals are calming and assured. "Don't Give Up" and "Love Thing" with their smooth 70s-style soul-charged choruses owe more to Stevie Wonder and George Winston than Joni Mitchell, and the pretty jazz ballad "When You Are Winter" gets a nice lift from Gil Goldstein's Debussy-inspired piano runs. The jazz strain continues with an ethereal cover of Marvin Gaye's classic "What's Going On," dreamily decorated with an udu drum and a Wurlitzer solo by Goldstein.
On the other hand, neither Genfan's spot-on but laid-back delivery nor the stalwart contributions of her excellent backing musicians can bring the weak Chris Jones song "Ain't Got Love" to life; "Living in the Country" is a potentially nice song that suffers from a creative hesitancy you never hear in her instrumental work; and the cover of The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" is too new-agey for my taste, although its melody - one of the most beautiful ever written, n'est-ce pas? - comes through without damage.
I confess that even the best smooth-jazz stylings have never floated my boat much, so your knottage may vary. About recommending the instrumental CD, I have no reservations whatsoever. You can listen to extended clips of both discs at the release's CD Baby page and decide for yourself. Then, whatever you think of what I think, I'll wager you'll agree that the amazing Vicki Genfan is a guitar-playing force of nature.
OUT AND ABOUT IN NYC: Kirsten DeHaan and Jodi Jett heated up the basement performance space at Club Midway on Tuesday night. Jett's set was spoiled by an unpracticed and out-of-tune backing band, but on her new CD Revelations an easy wryness harks back to Lou Reed and Patti Smith while low-tech, moody arrangements read like early Jefferson Airplane channeled through Liz Phair and the Cowboy Junkies. (How's that for cramming multiple comparisons into one sentence? Just wait, I'll be reviewing the CD in a future column, one not devoted to happy music.)
Article comments
1 - Robby Leblanc
I don't mean to sound so naive, but I have actually never heard of these singers and bands before. sorry... I really must be out of date now... hope you guys can include mp3's of one of their singles next time. I'd love to hear their music and see for myself if I'll like them or not. thanks!
2 - Mark Saleski
the Genfan material sounds like Kaki King meets Michael Hedges.
hey robby (#1)...there are links on the page to places where you can listen. and of course you haven't heard of this stuff: that's sorta the point!
3 - Jon Sobel
Yeah - that's why I put in the "extended clips" links, which usually go to CD Baby. Some indie artists don't have their CDs at Amazon, and even if they do they don't get to have clips there. CD Baby has 2-minute clips of selected songs from every CD they sell.