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MP3 Martin Rigby - Eyewitness

A blend of smooth jazz, blues, latin, funk and rock guitar instrumentals influenced by Larry Carlton, Peter White, Carlos Santana and Gary Moore.

15 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Smooth Jazz, ROCK: Instrumental Rock



Details:
WHATS THIS? - Background

What do the statements ''a diamond sliding down a velvet ribbon'' and ''un vrai joyau atmospherique, un marriage subtile de l''acoustique et de l''electrique'' have in common? Give up? Well, they are both reviews of Martins track ''Pure Azure'' from his 2001 CD ''BLUEPRINT'' which will shortly be available at CD Baby. Tracks from this CD have occupied at various times the top three spots in the smooth jazz, latin jazz and easy listening (oh dear-street credibility zero) charts at https://www.tradebit.com for the last 24 months.

''EYEWITNESS'' is Martins 2003 follow up to this CD. It contains fifteen original compositions and the music falls into the smooth jazz category. It''s guitar instrumental and is based along the same lines as Larry Carlton, Peter White, Jeff Golub, Joyce Cooling and Carlos Santana with a bit of Joe Satriani and Gary Moore thrown in just to wake up those at the back of the class. ''Sound on Sound'' magazine in 2003 described Martins lead guitar work as excellent and said there are skilful solos from other instruments. Which was very nice of them.

For those who are still awake reading this, Martin plays all the guitars on ''EYEWITNESS'' and was also responsible for all the programming and production and even made the tea for himself. The CD features Ibanez, Yamaha and Musicman acoustic / electric / bass guitars with a bit of help from Korg, Yamaha and Roland outboard products (None for free unfortunately).

MARTIN WHO? - History

Martin has been playing guitar and bass since the mid seventies (1970''s just in case you''ve seen my photo and you''re wondering) and has been in more bands than he has had hot cakes. Throughout the nineties and now the noughties Martin has played continuously with the bands ''AZURE'' and ''ECLIPSE''. His early influences were a combination of the funk bass of Larry Graham, Stanley Clarke and Louis Johnson with the rock guitar of Andy Powell, Robin Trower, Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker etc. which probably explains a lot. As he entered his mid life crisis stage he started to mellow into a smooth jazz mood and was influenced by guitarists such as Larry Carlton, Peter White and Steve Oliver.

Martin released a debut cassette ''BIG TROUBLE'' in 1996 which featured twelve original compositions - four instrumental and eight vocal (loosest definition) tracks. One of the instrumental tracks ''Summer Rhythm'' was re-recorded in 2002 and appears as ''Summer Rhythm 02'' on the CD ''EYEWITNESS''. You can click on the track on the left and have a listen, in fact why not have a listen to them all - it''s free, but unfortunately with the 2 minute cut off you''ll miss most of the solos. This debut release was followed up by the CD ''BLUEPRINT'' in late 2001, which was originally available through https://www.tradebit.com. This features seventeen original instrumentals (definitely no vocals) and sets the blueprint (no pun intended) for Martins fusion of smooth jazz, funk, latin and rock guitar style. This was followed up in 2003 by the CD ''EYEWITNESS'' which builds on this style but adds more guitar to the mix. Martin lives in Manchester, England and spends any time that he is not working or playing his guitar taxiing his children about.

CD EYEWITNESS

So that you''ve got some light reading while you''re waiting for the songs to load I''ve included below some comments and insights into each of the songs from the CD. However, being a musician don''t expect Pulitzer Prize winning prose.

TRACK 01: - Beyond The Blue Horizon (4.30)

I originally programmed the latino backing used on this tune for a song I was playing with the group ''AZURE''. I liked the percussion and drum feel so I married it to a chord progression and melody I had loitering around and built a song around this. The song was also influenced by the fact that I had just purchased a yamaha nylon-strung guitar and was listening to a lot of Peter White and Steve Oliver. It marked a slight change of direction for me in that there are only acoustic guitars on the track. I was going cold turkey and having withdrawal symptoms from my electric guitars part way through recording. The tricky guitar bit is the unaccompanied run down at the end of the guitar solo. Well it''s tricky for me, I don''t think Mr Satriani or Mr Vai would be losing sleep.

TRACK 02: - Apple Of My Eye (4.58)

Along with ''Sadness'' this is another of my favourite tracks on the CD. On the chorus I have used a descending chord progression which is similar to that used by Gary Moore in a number of his ballads. Bet you''re struggling to keep your eyes open reading this. The second part of the solo has a rockier feel which when I recorded it was a slight change of feel for me. The title of the song, which is about my daughter, was originally to be the CD title, but for some reason that is now lost in the mists of time I changed it whilst producing the cover.

TRACK 03: - Summer Rhythm 02 (4.47)

Summer Rhythm was originally released on my cassette ''BIG TROUBLE'' in 1996. It was a chord progression and melody that I had had floating around for years but I never thought the original version and solo did the tune justice. Consequently I decided to re-record the tune for this CD with a new backing, solo etc. The title comes from the fact that I always thought the tune had a summery feel and the 02 bit is-well I''m sure you''ve guessed.

TRACK 04: - Sunset Silhouette (4.33)

Another slowish tune. Although easy to play, I particularly like the guitar melody that comes in at 2 minutes on this track before the solo.

TRACK 05: - Dragonfly Girl (5.06)

I can remember writing the chord progression for this song on the day of Princess Diana''s funeral. It was originally a more up-tempo song and was actually called ''Princess''. At some point during the programming phase I was listening to a fantastic song called ''Roadhouse'' by the guitarist Neville Marten and the feel of the song changed and so did the title.

TRACK 06: - Urban Eyes (3.45)

This was written when I had my Average White Band funk head on. I was going for their feel with regard to the main horn line but after that it veers off in another direction.

TRACK 07: - Lost In You (6.03)

Along with ''Apple Of My Eye'' this was one of the first tracks I recorded for the CD. It''s another one with a longish solo with a bit of tapping and there are bits of rock rhythm guitar lurking in the background. It also has a nice piano melody on the bridge section before the chorus. Well I think so anyway.

TRACK 08: - Luscious And Peachy (4.42)

This to me always feels like it is the sister track to the tune ''Curvaceous'', which opened my CD ''BLUEPRINT''. I think this is mainly because the drums have a similar funky feel.

TRACK 09: - Rio Nova (3.07)

The chords and melody for this latin number all came together in a flash. I had heard a tune with a similar feel on the radio and that got me started. I programmed the backing and recorded all the guitars on the same day. It''s funny how at certain points you become inspired and you can''t stop writing, but at other times it''s a slow deliberate process. I like the start of the solo on this, which was played on my Ibanez. It was played using tapping and I feel it has a kind of cascading freefalling quality-almost out of control.

TRACK 10: - Kalithea''s in Love (4.27)

This song had been around as a demo for a long time. It''s also had more titles than the royalty. It started off as ''Kalithea'' named after a bar in Cyprus, changed to ''Eyewitness'' and then back to its current title just before the CD pressing. The feel I was looking for on this ballad was similar to the feel the guitarist Jan Cyrka gets on some of his slower tunes. Maybe next time!

TRACK 11: - Bad To The Bone (3.52)

A definite smooth jazz influence creeping in here, particularly the piano melody line which is doubled by the brass later in the tune. There is also a bit of slapped bass (steady on) in the break before the reverb drenched opening note of the solo. I took the title from the film and at one point thought about using it for the CD cover with a close up shot of a lion that I have.

TRACK 12: - Sue Swayed Blues (4.57)

I was at a New Year''s party at my neighbours house in 2002 / 2003 when I got talking to someone about the blues. Although I''m a big blues fan I had never recorded a slow blues number so this simple tune is my first. The guitar solo builds up through the verses becoming both faster and louder. I quite like the alliteration in the song title but that might just be because I''m slightly sad.

TRACK 13: - Timanfaya Meltdown (4.58)

Named after the volcano on Lanzarote this was originally going to be the first track on the CD until I wrote ''Beyond''. There are quite a few keyboards on this track, particularly the funky rock organ which harks back to the ''''Blueprint'' CD.

TRACK 14: - Childs Play (5.18)

This track wasn''t originally going to be included on the CD. I was going to include a track called ''Into The Latin Qu4rter'' which was left over from the ''BLUEPRINT'' CD recording. However, during the repeated listening I had to do to mix the song I grew to like the acoustic solo and so here it is.

TRACK 15: - Sadness Behind The Smile (5.22)

If I had to choose one song of the CD this would probably be my favourite. It''s a slightly unusual format and sound for me and I like the string line and the relaxed beat. It reminds of music for a film (or a supermarket my friend says - some friend). The solo starts on my Yamaha nylon acoustic but then moves to the Ibanez.

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