Instrumental

Album
bluehand

The Blue House

  • Artist

    The Blue Hand

  • Released

    2001

  • Genre

    Instrumental

This CD is inspirational, solo, instrumental guitar played aggresively with percussional fingerstyle licks and runs and solos. The melodies are catchy and rhythmic, the improvisations are sophisticated and multi-faceted. You can never predict what journey each song will take, but it’s always a delightful surprise! Each song is an energetic expression in a pure original form…a true blend of everything Dan has listened to and played over the past 30 years. It is a masterpiece worth a listen for anyone who loves the guitar.

“Dan is a great player, a virtuoso who cannot allow his technique to prevail on the sensibility of the tunes.” — Massimo Ferro, RADIO VOCE SPAZIO, Diocesi di Alessandria, Italy“Dan’s playing is highly individualistic,sometimes relaxed, in a groove, often full of stabbing odd turns and immediately recognizable.” — James Sallis, The Guitar in Jazz
Album
theclearing

The Clearing

  • Artist

    Dan Lambert

  • Released

    1997

  • Genre

    Instrumental

The Clearing is a collection of acoustic guitar pieces written and performed by Dan Lambert. James Sollis, author of The Guitar in Jazz and The Guitar Players states in the liner notes to The Clearing, “…some influences are obvious, others not. Robert Nighthawk still peeks out from time to time, as do Leo Kottke, Django, Don Rich, Keith Jarret, Bix and Trane, and the rock Dan grew up with. The most recent strong influence, evident in virtually every piece here, is Celtic music. Dan’s spent a lot of time of late in the UK, in Scotland, Northern England and Wales, and he’s been listening fulltilt to fiddle players, bagpipes, small pipes, accordians.”In discussing the pieces on The Clearing, Dan writes about “High Moors”, I’m fascinated by the high, open moorland of the UK. Walking by myself up on the hills, the springy feel of the heather underfoot – the isolation or aloneness is intensified in those high, craggy, rolling, sometimes featureless expanses. I feel at home, like I belong. The middle section of this song has a mid-Eastern, African, Moorish feel.”
“Like Lonnie Johnson, like Bix, Bird or Ornette Coleman, Dan Lambert exists to bring something into the world that’s not been there before. As with any serious artist, his reach forever exceeds his grasp – and we’re all the richer for it.” — James Sollis author of The Guitar in Jazz and The Guitar Players
Album
Plaids

Plaids

  • Artist

    Dan Lambert

  • Released

    1998

  • Genre

    Instrumental

Acoustic instrumental guitar. Dan himself says in the liner notes to Plaids, “You can hear the storied footsteps of the Celts haunting these tunes along with the melodies, rhythms and harmonies of jazz, country, music from the mid-East and Eastern Europe and yeah, my heart still belongs to rock and roll. It is this coming together that is Plaids. In a sense, everything that has had its effect on what I write and play are the diverse bits and shapes and I am the structure, the pattern that organizes it all.”

“From the bittersweet tenderness of ‘I Wish I Was’ to the acoustic stylings of ‘Spruced Up (Old Wood)’, Lambert allows us to share in some of the influences that make his brand of creativity so interesting… InPlaids he displays the great musicianship that has come to be expected of all of his works.”
Album
ddtcover

The Double Drum Trio

  • Artist

    Dan Lambert

  • Released

    2010

In some circles, El Paso-based guitarist Dan Lambert would be called a “cul- ture traveler” for his ability to traverse different music styles with ease. With percussionists Ricardo Amaya and Erik Hickerson, the band is boldly eclectic, as heard on the opening track, “Wadi a Go Go.” Lambert plays surf and progressive licks on an electric over a wildly tribal beat, and during the solo there’s even a pronounced Grateful Dead vibe in these free-ranging improvs.

On “India Long Distance,” Lambert grabs a sarod for an Eastern jam, while he employs an 11-string oud for “Oud Player’s Lament.” “Mother Country,” however, has a swinging jazz feel and nice, exploratory solos that are not quite bebop but close enough for rock and roll. In places, Lambert comes across as a veritable Third World Jerry Garcia, leading the Double Drum Trio through interesting realms of improvisational sound and style. While his guitar is over- compressed throughout the recording (compression is usually preferable when it’s not heard), the record has a nice, loose feel and bodes more interesting music ahead. – PP

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