Slide of Hand

This blast of slide guitar genius deserves to be heard by every rock and jazz guitarist on the planet — twice. Scott Colby plays with extraordinary intelligence, inventiveness, and taste, with material ranging from jazzy blues to frantic hard rock. This is not a typical guitar-hero album; Colby gives his sidemen room to shine, especially agile bassist Willie Lapin, who gets almost as many brilliant lead lines as Colby on tracks like "The World Owes Me a Living." Other noteworthy sidemen also do their part, notably trombonist and Captain Beefheart alumnus Bruce Fowler, guitarist Jesse Ed Davis, and sax player Ben Clatworthy. The ensemble playing is tight and enjoyable, though meditative pieces like "Staring out the Window" show that Colby is perfectly capable of extending the range and mood of his chosen instrument all by himself. The album was produced by Zoogz Rift, whose own work is heavy on provocative discord and weirdness for weirdness' sake. Thank heavens he had the intelligence to do whatever he did to bring out these marvelous and lyrical performances from Colby, who sets the bar for all electric guitarists with this album.