Trey Gunn – I’ll Tell What I Saw (7d Media)

Former King Crimson member Trey Gunn has carved out a nice career for himself as a specialist on the Warr touch guitar, a stringed instrument similar to the Chapman stick that combines guitar and bass frequencies played by tapping. The breadth of that career is the subject of I’ll Tell You What I Saw, a compilation of Gunn’s work over the past couple of decades that showcases not only his acclaimed solo material, but also his work with musicians from Russia, Finland, Italy and Mexico. Falling somewhere between Bill Frisell and Crimson, tunes like “Real Life,” “Contact” and “The Joy of Molybdenum” are good examples of Gunn’s atmospheric compositions, relying more on texture and imaginative arrangements than on instrumental showcases. Rubbery bass meets polyrhythmic percussion, topped by Gunn’s liquid riffs and lead lines on skittering slices of improv progfunk like “Hardwinds,” “Kuma” and the live “Dziban.” With “Down Spin” and “Arrakis,” Gunn and his band manage to make video game music without using any electronics or synths.

But Gunn’s work under his own name is only part of the story. Equally rewarding are his performances with other artists. ITWIS includes relevant cuts from noisy side projects Quodia (“Thick and Thorny”), TU (“Fandango,” “Absinthe & a Cracker,” “Untamed Chicken”), his duo with fellow Crimson alum Pat Mastelotto, and KTU (“Jacaranda”), AKA TU plus Finnish accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen. Gunn also adds his distinctive touch (pun intended) to experimental Mexican composer Alonso Arreola‘s shimmering “Va el Diablo,” session drummer Matt Chamberlain‘s knotty “Cheeky,” Italian project N.Y.X.‘s dissonant “Down in Shadows (Part 1)” and Russian group the Farlanders‘ roaring “Maslenitsa,” not to mention lovely tracks from Farlanders multi-instrumentalist Sergey Klevensky (“Morning Dream.”) and Italian composer Saro Cosentina (“9:47 P.M. Easter Time”). Gunn seems to have a special relationship with Farlanders vocalist Inna Zhelennaya – his undulating touch guitar lines intertwine well with her keening wails on “Drunk” and “Well.”

Gunn brings a certain avant prog flavor to nearly everything he’s involved with, but his collaborations always sound like that just that: collaborations, and not a strong-willed artist imposing his aesthetic on others. I’ll Tell You What I Saw gives us the best of Trey Gunn – not only in its selection of tracks but in its presentation of his musical worldview.

http://www.treygunn.com
http://www.7dmedia.com