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Jesse Cook - Free Fall Audio CD

A fair review of the Jesse Cook "Free Fall" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Jesse Cook reviews here, or go back to the Jesse Cook tabs.

Jesse Cook Band: Jesse Cook
Title: Free Fall
Rating:
Release Date: 2000-09-26
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Switchback 2: Air 3: Virtue 4: Free Fall 5: Paloma 6: Incantation 7: All That Remains 8: On Walks the Night 9: Querido Amigo 10: Viva 11: Fall at Your Feet

Highly original and excellent
Jesse Cook again comes across as a guitar virtuoso and a highly original musician. Very good record. If you are looking for highly relaxing guitar music that is a blend of flamenco, Latin and middle eastern influences this is your record. If you are looking for something fresh out of mainstream and very unique this is it. You owe it to yourself to give it a try. This record illustrates Jesse's eclectic musical taste. I think his next record is better but "Free Fall" maybe easier to swallow to uninitiated. Highly recommended.


Purely Stunning!
His command of the fretboard surpasses maniacal practice and trancends into something only the gifted are capable of, and which leaves the rest of us scorned and ready to burn our instruments. What Jesse is able to accomplish is jaw droppingly inhuman. And again he demonstrates nonchalently that Flamenco has so many ancestors that's it's perfectly fluent in virtually any style. Years from now when historians and educators look back on the procession of Flamenco scions and I think this generation will be his. .


great cd!
I'm enjoying this cd and will probably order another one of Jesse Cook's cds soon.


A hybrid built on a hybrid
Flamenco itself is a fusion of Spanish, Gypsy, Moorish, and Jewish musical influences, not a pure-bred style. I had to chuckle at the irony of reviewers who criticized this recording for not being flamenco-ish enough. In addition, Cook is not from the old school of Sabicas, Serrano, or Heredia. Cook plays nouveau flamenco, which is itself an update of the traditional style and instrumentation. So, why is an futher experimentation by a modernizer of a hybrid music an artistic faux pas?

I love the stylistic explorations and fusions on this CD, just as I do on Ottmar Liebert's "Solo Para Ti. " I like this recording better than Gravity, which had too much flashy technique masking the passion of flamenco for my taste. Here, Cook's technical skills are evident, but so is the soul of the music. The silences in the slow pieces frame emotional music. The slow, spare beginning of "Free Fall," for example, evokes the cool pre-dawn of the Arabian desert, while the busier passages reminded me of belly dances, with coins clinking against against each other on the dancers' costumes. By the middle of the piece, I was swaying, my energy rising and falling in sync with the progression of the song. "Incantation" is exactly that, a pensive, meditative mood-setter. The melancholy in "All That Remains" is palpable, and I wondered whether Cook was mourning a lost love or a grand city reduced to rubble. And I enjoyed "At Your Feet" for what it is: a fine, latin-tinged pop song.

I can understand that some reviewers don't like the middle-eastern flavors in some of the songs. Perhaps Cook's composition and playing is too derivative for the most discerning of listeners. But to criticize the artist for going beyond his stylistic roots is just plain close-minded. Not only has this CD passed the "one-week" test, it will get regular play in my stereo, computer, and car.


Best Jesse Album

I have all of Jesse's albums, and this one has by far the highest quality of musical essence. In two words: truly awsome. I've read a number of negative reviews for this album, and that urged me to give my 2c's, as I felt they were grossly unfair to this genius piece of art. I've enjoyed this album for almost 2 years already, and it is still the one I listen to the most and cannot get tired of repeated listening.

Not flamenco, some say. Well, they apparently have not listened to the CD even though they say they have, because that claim is a gross exagaration. It is true that there are a couple of (5 to be exact) songs that stray from the well-established genre, but I commend Jesse for his brave exploration of unfamiliar territory. The non-flamenco tracks are great for certain mood-setting occasions and are still carry JC's signiture guitar virtuoso. These tracks are Free Fall, Incantation, All That Remains and On Walks The Night and the vocals song, Fall at your Feet.

But, before bashing this CD, think of its gems, the truly unique and best songs I have ever listened to: Air, Virtue, Paloma, Viva. Just these 4 songs alone justify paying 3x the price of the CD.


You can see a complete list of all Jesse Cook discography, or go back to the Jesse Cook tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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