Twelve studio improvisations between Kadima-label leader JC Jones playing on a lap-steel plugged in Spanish guitar and French guitarist & improviser Raymond Boni, also performing on harmonica and electronics, where Jones, leveraging his history of work as a double bassist, often takes on the role of percussive/rhythmic foundation against Boni's incredible explorations.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2018 Country: Israel Packaging: Cardboard sleeve, sealed Recorded at Kadima studio, in Jerusalem, Israel, between 2016 and 2018, by JC Jones.
"Although Visions of Sound may appear to be a standard dual guitar session, only one player, Montpellier-based Raymond Boni, plays the regular guitar, as well as electronics and harmonica. Meanwhile Boni, a veteran French string sound explorer, who has worked with fellow experimenters such as Joëlle Léandre and André Jaume, is hooked up here with Jerusalem's Jean Claude (JC) Jones, who percussively plays a lap-style, plugged-in, Spanish guitar, A champion of free music in Israel for many years, Jones has played with the likes of Léandre and John Zorn.
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Jones' lap-style guitar takes the place of percussion on Visions of Sound. And the keen rhythmic sense displayed is no surprise from a musician who was a double bass player for most of his life. At the same time the percussion rebounds he creates on a track like "Duo 2" provide the backing for the chiming and bottleneck-guitar-like distortions and contribute to circular tone elaborations. The jagged, slack key and in-between tone discursions Boni adds to his exposition provide perfect counterpoint to Jones' strategies. Although sometimes both drop the rhythmic role and try to outdo one another as on "Duo 6" with off-centre, almost out-of-tune string duets. Boni's electronics rarely interfere with the narratives, while his harmonica playing is primitive enough to provide paced wah-wah echoes on "Duo 3" and "Duo 8". However on the second tune, the mouth-organ's whistles and reedy blowing serves as high-pitched accompaniment for Jones' perhaps mallet helped smacks and rebounds that play up the percussive properties of his lap-style arrangement. While the swift and sharp string picking on "Duo 9" could be heard as a classic dual guitar showcase one would expect from the Delmore Brothers or Muddy Waters-Jimmy Rogers, by the last few tracks the two prove their exploratory bone fides by mixing trebly distortions and unexplained effects with straight-ahead strumming and slurred fingering. Knife-style vibrations, high-pitched cries and contorted flanges are prominent on the concluding "Duo 12" with dual output tapering into echoing tones by the finale. [...]"-Ken Waxman, JazzWord