We Are All One

Rhythm guitarist Michael Falzarano is a member in good standing of the musical communities of Marin County, CA, and Woodstock, NY, which has brought him steady work with some of the better known musicians of those areas, including stints in latter day configurations of Hot Tuna and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. For his solo albums, of which this is the third, he has no trouble getting his friends to sit in. Here, those friends include the late master fiddler Vassar Clements, in some of his final recordings ("It's My Own Fault," "Candy Man," "When There's Two There's Trouble"), Hot Tuna's (and Jefferson Airplane's) Jorma Kaukonen (lead guitar on "It's Just My Way"), Jefferson Starship's Pete Sears (piano on "It's Just My Way"), the New Riders' pedal steel player Buddy Cage ("New Shirt," "When There's Two There's Trouble," "To Let the Fire Die," "Gonna Power Down Now"), and the Band's Garth Hudson (keyboards on "Last Train Out"). The guests provide some of the instrumental highlights of the disc, but they are only icing on the cake. For the most part, Falzarano leads ensembles anchored by Harvey Sorgen or Ray Grappone on drums, Steve Rust or Pete Bennett on bass, Melvin Seals or Jon Marshall Smith on organ, and Jimmy Eppard or Kerry Kearney on lead guitar. His leadership consists of his sturdy songwriting and singing in a countryish, bluesy vein that will be familiar to fans of the Band and the groups of which he's been a member. His adequate voice is in the conventional rusty, adenoidal style, his tunes are blues and rock staples, and his lyrics touch on the misunderstandings of love and the need for universal brotherhood. The listener does not discover that Falzarano is an undiscovered major talent as a bandleader, but there seems little doubt that, if he were to venture out on a club tour with some of the sidemen who accompany him here, evenings of enjoyable music would result.