BanjoRama

Multi-instrumentalist Woody Simmons is best known for her extraordinary modal banjo style, and in the past she has always included a banjo instrumental or two on each of her albums. Banjorama collects some of these, and by adding in new banjo pieces, Simmons has finally created the banjo album that many of her fans have been asking her to put together for some 20 years. Although she has a vaguely traditional and Appalachian feel to her playing, Simmons is not some string band refugee, and there is as much or more Ornette Coleman and Ravi Shankar in these banjo instrumentals as there is, say, Clarence Ashley. The end result is a wonderfully bright, melodic, airy sequence of absolutely lovely tracks, several of which ("Raga Rama," "Banjo Raga," "Ashtavakra's Tune") have a distinct Far Eastern feel. Simmons has an unerring ability to continually suggest traditional modal banjo styles, even as she adds in jazz touches (including a saxophone on "Sally Walks the Dog"), hints at bluegrass (in the joyous, chiming "Trolley Car"), or creates what can only be called her own experimental banjo thing ("Door to the Infinite"). In the end, Banjorama has the feel of a whole work (even though it was recorded in bits and pieces over a 22-year span), a Crescent or A Love Supreme for the five-string banjo, if you will, and once the first notes sound, a completely amazing soundscape unfolds, making this one of the finest banjo albums ever recorded.