After a decade with few highlights, Rock music grabbed a new boost of energy with Grunge in the early ’90s. The Spin Doctors were not your average jam band: guitarist Eric Schenkman was a Berklee student, just like Metheny, Frisell, diMeola, Abercrombie and Sco. Pocket full of Kryptonite is a splendid Rock album, and it is a tragedy, though unsurprising, that the band was not able to maintain the same pitch on successive albums. Home Belly Groove is a fine live album too — if you can edit out vocalist Chris Barro’s intertrack wittering (a shame, because he sang very well). The Doctors were something like a finely honed version of Men At Work. An unbelievable rhythm section, too.

Having largely abandoned emerging Rock music, I was captivated by the sound of Echobelly. Glenn Johansson’s playing first cuts, and then rocks. Not a guitar soloist in the grand old mode, but a fine sounding player, nonetheless.

These days, nostalgia aside, I’ve been captivated by the work of Anthony Wilson with Diana Krall on her Live at the Paris Oly DVD. This is quite simply a perfect example of the Jazz form, from the fine orchestra to the immaculate rhythm section. The softer pieces are reminiscent of that peak achieved by the King Cole Trio back in the 1940s. On that note, Oscar Moore’s delicate and stylish touch is a wonder. There are two fine triple CD compilations — somewhat strangely compiled, not according to chronology or musical type — that sell for less than a song: The Great Nat King Cole, volumes 1 and 2. I will now, doubtless, have to dig out Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery recordings. And, yes, I know I should put in a few paragraphs about Django Reinhardt and Joe Pass. And what about Dick Dale and Link Wray? Or Tiny Grimes, Les Paul, Scottie Monroe? And not a word about Steve Cropper? And Roy Buchanan was real guitarist’s guitarist, until one night he got too drunk and hung himself in a police cell. I have to mention Johnny Winter, too. This could take a lifetime, but what better way to spend a lifetime?

Shorter short list

Pressed to name my top picks I would have to list Clapton on Fresh Cream, Hendrix on Electric Ladyland, Beck on Truth, Page on Zep I, Stills on Stephen Stills, Santana on Abraxas, Rory Gallagher’s European Tour, Jack Bruce’s Cities of the Heart, King Crimson’s Beat, Holdsworth on Road Games, David Torn on Cloud About Mercury, McLaughlin’s Live at the Royal Festival Hall, Frisell and Sco on Mark Johnson’s Bass Desires.

On DVD: Hendrix on Jimi Plays Berkeley, The Led Zeppelin DVD, Clapton’s 24 Nights, Rory Gallagher’s Irish Tour, King Crimson Deja Vroom, Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii, Metheny on Joni Mitchell’s Shadows and Light, and Anthony Wilson on Diana Krall’s Live in Paris.

March2004