Reviews

'As always, it was sheer pleasure to observe Robin Hill's remarkable fluent technique: everything looks easy when he plays it.' Colin Cooper- Classical Guitar Magazine ----- 'Wonderful for their (Hill & Wiltschinsky) precision, touch and clarity of sound... refined virtuosity, the achievement of a long interpretive process.' Il Giornale D'Italia (Rome) ----- 'I loved your CD and thought your technique and performance were fabulous...' Rick Wakeman

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Robin Hill and Travis Bean...Rewind to Fast Forward

Whilst taking a break from his guitar practice, Robin found an old cassette, which brought back a lot of memories.
It was the recording of a jam session, in 1984, with one of his bands, 'Hooper', in which Robin is playing his aluminium necked Travis Bean guitar. (As played by Stanley Jordan).
The band members were:

Robin Hill - Electric guitar
Julian Gregory - Violin
Peter Willmott - Bass
Tony Relph - Drums
Vinnie Parker - Keyboards

With the exception of Tony Relph, who very sadly died a few years ago, all the other band members are still actively performing. In fact Julian Gregory and Peter Willmott are both members of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and Julian Gregory is also a member of the progressive rock band, 'Strangefish'.

There were four tracks on this particular cassette and we decided to put one on the blog today.
Whilst the sound quality isn't good, you have to remember it wasn't designed to be released, and has been taken from those old fashioned things called, 'tapes'. However your ear will adjust quickly.

All the tracks are Robin's compositions, and the one you can hear today, is called, 'Fast Forward'.
What I found interesting as I listened, and as Robin explained the piece to me, was that whilst the basic themes and structure were pre-composed, there was much space for improvisation.
As the piece progresses you can hear the virtuosic interplay between the violin and the electric guitar, which is all improvised.
Robin plays a theme and Julian replies.
Robin plays faster, Julian plays faster.
All held together with bass, drums and keyboards.

It would be very exciting to record this piece again using the equipment that is now available.
But for now, I hope you enjoy, Hooper playing 'Fast Forward'. Whilst I repair a problem you can find it in the player situated in the side bar.

1 comment:

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Joe