Trey Gunn Band

"The role of the bass player is foundational, and the role of the lead guitarist is to be a frontline feature. Everything in between is textual and/or a response to the stimuli of the feature and foundational roles. And by 'everything else' I mean rhythmic parts, swells, sonic touches and more," reveals Trey Gunn, conduit of the mysterious Warr guitar - a device with more than one personality. The Warr guitar is both an electric guitar and a bass that is struck with finger or pick; a surrealistic "piano" of harmonic sonic doom, appearing as if designed by Dali and Escher - oozing patterns of right angles and smooth tonal curves. "A bass player and guitar player roles have completely different ways of thinking. It's not possible to be both at the same time," says Gunn. "I realise that is what the Warr guitar and its precursor, the Chapman Stick, were invented for: to play a solo and a bass line simultaneously. While there are satisfying solo jazz pianists about, you still can't beat a jazz pianist with an upright bassist, add a drummer and you're really talking something hot! I can play any of the three roles; I can shift from one to the other in a split second." In this live recording, (Joe Mendelson on additional Warr guitar, guitar shredder Tony Geballe and drummer Bob Muller), ground is broken, as jazz and funk are melded into a ubiquitous, ambient psychiatric experiment that functions as a musical warfare campaign for achieving transcendental saturnalia. To fully experience them, you are definitely going to need a bigger sub-woofer, one the size of the Hubble Space Telescope.