If you’ve attempted to keep up with the news cycle in recent years, then Conundrum, the title of the Alex Skolnick Trio’s new album from Palmetto Records/MRI, should be a no-brainer. “It represents the sense of confusion many of us are feeling in the midst of the strangest sociopolitical upheavals of our lifetimes,” says Skolnick, the guitarist and composer who helped define thrash metal as a founding member of Testament, before establishing himself on the international jazz scene. “This album captures many styles in an effort to channel that angst into art and inspire others to do likewise.”
Photo by Nelson Oh, Electric Eyes Photography (electriceyesphotography.blogspot.com)
Ironically, given its globally pertinent message, Conundrum is in many ways Skolnick’s most intimate record yet. It is the trio’s first new studio album since 2011’s Veritas, and it features original music almost exclusively, with six compositions by Skolnick, one apiece by bassist Nathan Peck and drummer Matt Zebroski, and a gorgeous interpretation of maverick composer Erik Satie’s “Gymnopédie No. 1.”
Far removed from the musical tunnel vision of “guitar” or “shred” albums, Conundrumreflects Skolnick’s wide-ranging knowledge as a player and, even more important, as a listener. “What would I want to hear, regardless of the instrument and regardless of technique?” he asks. “That’s the type of music I try to create as an improviser and composer.”
The multi-layer, multi-section songs that resulted are, in a word, sweeping— and include plenty for guitar heads to dig into after all. Skolnick’s “Unbound,” part of which originated on piano, kicks off Conundrum with springy slapped harmonics. Beautiful chordal work follows, as well as soloing that lays out the guitarist’s m.o. as a lead player: to tell a story by varying his attack, tone, intensity and harmonic approach with masterful control. “Django Tango,” which Skolnick originally wrote for his acclaimed world-music project Planetary Coalition, is precisely what it proclaims to be—a sensual commingling of Reinhardt and Piazzolla (plus, Skolnick notes, a touch of downtown attitude via Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos).
The record’s title track feels open and airy, with inspiration culled from Chick Corea’s Spanish-influenced acoustic tunes. (The melodies are so whimsical that you might not notice the section in 5/4, or that the solos’ order upends jazz tradition.) Peck steps away from his double bass, proving a nimble presence on the electric bass here and on a couple of other tunes. A lover of classical piano, Skolnick plays Satie’s melancholy reverie on steel-string acoustic, atop Peck and Zebroski’s suitably graceful, empathetic backing.
“Culture Shock,” on which Skolnick alternates between hollowbody and Telecaster, is a go-for-broke mashup that flies from Nashville to Dubai and back again; it’s also one of the album’s tunes where the title puts Skolnick’s social and political ideas in plain sight.
Zebroski’s “Dodge the Bamboula” borrows its changes from “Dodge the Dodo,” by the late Swedish pianist-composer Esbjörn Svensson, and applies them to the much-overlooked bamboula rhythm that became a cornerstone of New Orleans’ second-line groove. During a middle section, Skolnick picks up a Gypsy-jazz guitar and we’re transported to a café in ’30s-era Paris. Skolnick’s “Key of Sea,” crafted toward the end of the album’s writing session, takes its cinematic textures from the ambient-music innovator Brian Eno and from ECM Records. (Like so many jazz devotees, Skolnick was ecstatic when ECM began streaming its entire catalog last fall; “Key of Sea” was particularly influenced by one of the label’s curated playlists, “ECM Atmospheres.”) “I think I realized not every tune needs a super-singable melody,” Skolnick comments. The album’s last two tunes find the trio more firmly on jazz terrain: “A Question of Moral Ambiguity” is a hip midtempo swinger that allows Skolnick and company to get their blues fix; and “Protect the Dream” (not to be confused with the Grover Washington Jr. tune of the same name) finds Peck, its composer, digging deep into post-Wayne Shorter harmony. Skolnick spends most of the track on steel-string acoustic, but goes full electric tilt to close, per Peck’s request.
Photo by FotoGOLAB
Born in 1968 and raised in the Bay Area, Alex Skolnick was still a teenager when he made heavy-metal history on Testament’s essential debut, The Legacy. Over his next five years with the band, he cemented his reputation as one of metal’s most gifted lead guitarists, setting chops benchmarks with his work on songs like “Burnt Offerings” and “Practice What You Preach.” He left Testament in 1992 and rejoined in 2005, and following his return the band has released three well-received studio albums and remained a major touring act in heavy music. Most recently Testament has been hitting arenas and amphitheaters as part of Slayer’s blockbuster “Final World Tour.” In 1995, after nearly getting the guitar spot in Ozzy Osbourne’s band — the Prince of Darkness seemed thrilled; his wife/manager Sharon, less so — Skolnick found himself at a crossroads. “The ultimate guitar gig, and then for it not to happen, that was really motivating for me. I really asked myself, ‘What am I going to do?’ Especially in the mid-’90s, when the guitar solo was disappearing from rock. And what do I want to do?”
His interest in jazz had been gathering steam since before he left Testament, so Skolnick headed east toward the end of the decade and enrolled at Manhattan’s venerable New School. It was there that he dug even deeper into recordings by Miles, Trane, Wes, Jim Hall, Scofield, Metheny and more; studied with jazz greats like saxophonist George Garzone and bassist Reggie Workman; and formed his trio, which debuted on record in 2002 with Goodbye to Romance: Standards for a New Generation.
The album, with its wholly convincing jazz makeovers of hard-rock staples by Kiss, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and more, made waves that roiled through the jazz, rock and guitar communities. “The strong melodies lend themselves to improvisation in a way that their composers never imagined,” Tad Hendrickson wrote in The Village Voice. And in DownBeat, Glenn Astarita offered, “Besides the musicians’ technical prowess, they execute these rock tunes with a slant that might imply an antithesis to what was originally conceived.”
Dates at high-profile venues like the Iridium, in Manhattan, Yoshi’s, in Oakland, and the Blue Note Milano followed, as did three more critically lauded studio albums. Each of those contained at least one rock-to-postbop transformation, which has become something of a calling card for the trio. “Doing the cover tunes was something I stumbled upon,” Skolnick says. “There have been so many albums and interpretations of jazz standards and the Great American Songbook, but I really felt a connection to these songs.”
On Conundrum, however, the opportunity to showcase his inspired original music was too good to pass up. “I’m not saying we’ll never do another [rock cover],” Skolnick says, also pointing out that the vinyl version of Conundrum will contain a rendition of Scorpions’ classic ballad “Still Loving You.” “But I always wanted to expand as a composer. I always wanted my instrumental work to reflect that.”
Expansion, progress, the trust that develops within a band—these are concepts Skolnick wades into when discussing the future of the trio, and of his life in music. “With every record we do, every gig, I feel like there’s a sense of improvement,” he says. “I feel like I’m playing circles around where we were when I started improvising. Scofield, Metheny, Jeff Beck— my improvising idols—they’re always developing.”
And while Testament continues to thrive, it’s the trio and its repertoire that Skolnick can see growing old with. “These days I still love playing screaming, loud guitar and heavy metal, though I don’t think I’m going to be one of these guys who’s past social-security age and in a rock band and touring,” he says. “But I can see myself doing these songs with the trio for many years to come.”
Photo by FotoGOLAB
ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO
is promoting the new album performing live
Sept 9 – Chicago, IL (Reggie’s)
Sept 12 &13- New York, NY (The Iridium)
Sept 15- Los Angeles, CA (The Baked Potato) w/ Stu Hamm
Sept 16 – San Diego, CA (Brick By Brick)
Oct 17 – The Woodlands, TX (Dosey Doe)
Oct 18 – San Antonio, TX (Fitzgerald’s)
Oct 20 – McKinney, TX (The Guitar Sanctuary)
Esoteric Recordings has announced that they will be releasing the new Renaissance live 2CD & DVD set. A Symphonic Journey with the Renaissance Chamber Orchestra will be available September 14th, to
coincide with the first Renaissance concerts in Japan in 8 years on 17th & 18th September in Tokyo
I’m looking forward to a weekend of clinics, workshops, jam sessions, and incredible hangs with my fellow string nerds in Atlanta at the ASTA – American String Teachers Association National Conference. Here’s my schedule:
Friday, March 9th. 11 AM: “Finding the Hook-What’s in a Riff?” workshop/panel with David Wallace & Sean Grissom.
Friday, March 9th, 1 P.M: Meet & Greet at Ludwig Masters Publications booth/signing copies of my sheet music for “What’s That Thang?” and “Shock Therapy.”
Saturday, March 10th, 1:30 P.M: “3D Rock!” My solo workshop for string players about sonic architecture and incorporating electronic effects into a song.
(Hanover F Grand Hyatt. Atlanta, GA).
Sponsored by D’Addario Orchestral
We are thrilled to announce the World Premiere of “Behind the Curtin” by Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, the video will be available exclusively on Power of Progbetween Jan 2nd and Jan 4th after which it will be available worldwide via YouTube Staring Monday, February 5th.
Joe says, “The song is about the rise and downfall of celebrity and the primal fascination we have in building someone up and tearing them down, watching someone suffer. We love to chastise someone while we ourselves often lead double lives, hiding all kinds of skeletons in our closets while pretending we are faultless.”
“Behind the Curtain” features actor Max McGuire “Star-Crossed Lovers” playing different characters and Stratospheerius members Joe Deninzon (electric violin & vocals), Jamie Bishop (bass), Aurelien Budynek (guitar), and drummer Lucianna Padmore wearing neon-colored masks.
In the video, Max plays a tormented wretched old man stuck in an endless maze of corridors in his mind, his own personal hell. Through the video, he opens different doors and enters new worlds where he assumes a different identity in each, putting on a face and playing a role, always returning back into his hallway of hell and searching for a new doorway to open, doomed to do this for eternity. The band represents the demons who continue to hover around and haunt this man, with a nod to the Droogs from Clockwork Orange.
The video was co-produced by renowned MTV producer David P. Levin, Filner at Alpha Wave Studios in East Hanover, NJ, and edited by David Milone and David P. Levin.
The album GUILTY OF INNOCENCE is finding praise for its songwriting, musicianship, vocals, inventiveness, and sounds:
“Joe Deninzon has made a career…wielding his violin like a guitar. In that way, he has pioneered a new standard for rock violin, much the same way Ian Anderson did for flute.”
– PROGRESSION MAGAZINE
”When you put distorted guitars up against a violin you get magic. When you put a violin solo in a metal song, you get Fucking amazing shit! …pure magic!” – Act One Magazine
GUILTY OF INNOCENCE is a howl for justice delivered by virtuosos completely in synch with one another!“ writes – Strings Magazine, the “Bible” for the String music world.
“GUILTY OF INNOCENCE is not only great but one of the most hectic and heart-stopping albums I’ve listened to,” states – Music From the Other Side of the Room Zachary Nathanson.
Stratospheerius has showcased their “frenzied melange of progressive rock, jazz fusion and funkabilly” throughout the world at colleges, festivals, and clubs. They have opened for artists including Alex Skolnick, Gary Hoey, Martin Barre, Tim Reynolds, Mickey Hart, Mike Stern, and John Scofield. The group has played festivals including The Detroit International Jazz Festival, Great South Bay, Chattanooga RiverFest, Harmony Fest a number of times through the years. The band was a winner of the John Lennon International Songwriting Competition the Musicians Atlas Independent Music Awards. They have been featured in Progression, Relix, Downbeat, and Jazziz… Known as the “Jimi Hendrix of violin,” Joe is the author of Mel Bay’s electric violin technique book, “Plugging In: A Guide to Gear and Technique for the 21st Century String Player,” and has recently worked with Bruce Springsteen, Phoebe Snow, Everclear, Peter Criss from KISS, Renaissance, and as a soloist with Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New York City Ballet, and The Muncie Symphony Orchestra on his concerto!
Joe is a keynote speaker at the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Annual Conference.
Clinic: Joe Deninzon 3D ROCK! on March 9 and 10, and performing with Sycamore High School’s Rock Youth Choir on February 16 in Montgomery, Ohio.
April 19, 2018, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius and the band Edensong join forces with legendary radio stations WNYU and WUSB for a live progressive rock summit in New York City.
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TOUR DATES
February 10th, at Sellersville, opening for John 5 (White Zombie)
April, 19th, at Drom, NYC with 2Birds and Edensong
April, 20th, at Olive’s, Nyack with Thrilldriver and Edensong
April, 27th, Mojo’s, Jamestown with Eric Brewer Band.
April, 8yh, TBA with Eric Brewer.
Power of Prog are thrilled to announce that on Friday 2.2.2018 we will premiere the latest video Behind the Curtain by Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius
Behind the Curtain is the second video form the bands latest release Guilty of Innocence released September 29, 2017, via Melodic Revolution Records.
Guilty of Innocence is the 5th studio CD by electric violinist Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius. The album features guest appearances by guitarist Alex Skolnick (Testament), keyboardist Rave Tesar (Renaissance), and guitarist/vocalist Randy McStine(The Fringe).
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