ORDER IT NOW
ORDER IT NOW
FALL 1995
Renowned acoustic instrumentalist and songwriter Harvey Reid has released his
11th solo album on Woodpecker Records, a collection of 21 pieces played on 6
&12-string banjo. Artistry of the 6-String Banjo is the first album ever
devoted entirely to this instrument, and may prove to be the definitive one.
From Scott Joplin to old-timey to Bach to blues, jigs and rags, flamenco and
Chuck Berry-style riffs, Reid puts this instrument through its paces and demonstrates
once and for all that the 6-string banjo is a real instrument with its own techniques
and repertoire.
The 6-string banjo, essentially a guitar neck on a banjo body, has existed
in a small corner of the music world for over a century, never having become
either popular or rare. The instrument has been made sporadically by various
man ers over the years, and is one of many members of the banjo family;
the 5-string being the most common, fol lowed by the 4-string (used in Dixieland
and Celtic music), plus a number of unusual bass, baritone, ukelele and
mandolin-banjos.
Reid says "Playing the 6-string banjo it is not simply a matter of playing
guitar music to get a different sound, since it responds very differently than
a guitar. It seems to frustrate both banjo players and guitar players, who can't
seem to make it sound like either instrument. Though the 6-string is often ignored
as a mutant hybrid, I find it to be an alive, subtle, sensitive and expressive
instrument with many voices, capable of expressing the various moods of classiccal,
folk, old-time, bluegrass, celtic, ragtime, blues, and even rock & roll
music. I have been constantly surprised by what music works well on it, and
also by what doesn't."
Artistry of the 6-String Banjo showcases Reid's arrangements of traditional
pieces as well as his own compositions, and in cludes 3 cuts with 12-string
banjo (*), including a slide blues, 4 selections he has previously recorded
on guitar, as well as 7 written for the banjo. Reid attributes his success with
this instrument to his 25 years playing fingerstyle & flatpicked guitar,
bluegrass, blues and Celtic music, his invention of the use of a partial capo
on guitar to achieve drone effects similar to a 5-string banjo, and to the re-design
of the instrument by Deering Banjos of Lemon Grove, CA.
Artistry of the 6-String Banjo is catalog #110, available in CD (retail
$16.95) and cassette ($12.95) by mail, phone, fax, e-mail (orders@woodpecker.com)
and from specialty stores nationwide. In quire about dealer and distributor
pricing. [add $1 per item for mail order shipping in US and Canada] Harvey's
other 8 recordings are also available at the same pricing.
SELECTIONS:
The Entertainer, Jesse James, The Gaoler's Jig*, Six-Shooter Stomp, Minuet
In G, Mock Orange, The Sailor's Hornpipe, Sitting On Top Of The World*,
Rickett's Hornpipe/Boys From Bluehill, Bill Bailey, Andelusia Revisited,
Suite: For The Duchess, Old Black Joe, Good For Nothin' Blues, Chanoyu,
Cindy/Cripple Creek, Bonaparte Crossing The Rhine*, Pieces Of Eight, Canal
Street Strut, The Cuckoo, The Unknown Soldier
****
for more information about Harvey's 6-String Banjo (he plays an MB6 Maple
Blossom), contact
Deering Banjos 3733 Kenora Dr Spring Valley, CA, 91977-1829 800-845-7791
619-464-8252 fax: 619-464-0833
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