14/02/2024
"A spectacular release! A real jewel, enjoyable, enthralling and surprising, one that excites and triggers fantastic emotions!"
A terrific review of “In A Dream” from the Italian music journal Free Zone, by Giannini Zuretti: here’s the translation:
Andy Aledort is a name that may be unknown to most. He is actually well known for his transcriptions, his educational columns and his DVDs; he has also toured for the past two decades with Dickey Betts and the Jimi Hendrix Tribute. His penultimate double album, “Light of Love,” contained 17 original songs and a cover of the Muddy Waters classic, “You Shook Me,” as well as including the song “Have Mercy On Me,” recorded with Stevie Ray Vaughan's legendary Double Trouble rhythm section, with Tommy Shannon on bass and Chris Layton on drums.
He is also the co-author with Alan Paul of the New York Times best-selling biography, “Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan” published in 2020. Now, through Fabrizio Perissinotto's Long Song Records, is this amazing CD entitled “In A Dream,” a record that contains tracks influenced by musicians with whom Andy played and wrote about, from Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and Frank Zappa to John Scofield, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, all filtered, however, through a personal style that shines through on the one hand in all his stylistic ability, on the other his originality in tackling a very difficult task, which could be reduced to a pure exercise in style easily falling into banality.
Instead, the results are spectacular thanks to the amazing musicians who accompany him in this series of recordings made on 13 and 14 September 2022 at Firehouse 12, in New Haven, Connecticut. They respond brilliantly to Aledort on guitar, voice and also bass on “Moonwaves,” and David Grissom, a formidable musician alongside Joe Ely (and I limit myself to the single quote) who adds second lead guitar on Albert King’s “Can't You See What You're Doing To Me.”
The players are Joe Fonda, bass on seven of the eight songs (as well as being a member of the J&F Band with Allman Brothers drummer Jaimoe Johansson), the amazing Tiziano Tononi on drums—a war machine, a musician for whom definitions risk being reductive in the presence of an overflowing class—Jon Irabagon, formidable saxophonist well known in the field Jazz, and P*e Wee Durante on keyboards, a gentleman who played alongside bluesmen of the caliber of Nick Becattini and Rudy Rotta but also with Ben E King, Eddie Floyd, The Miracles, Percy Sledge, Martha Reeves just to name a few.
The story of this album is that three of the five original songs came to Andy in a dream, representing a perfect fusion of many musical ideas and traditions that came together in his subconscious mind, emerging completely. The rest came by itself, as the musicians in the studio became familiar with each other. The result is a real jewel, enjoyable, enthralling, surprising right from the initial “Lawdy Mama” made famous by Cream in 1966 on their debut album, “Fresh Cream.”
From here on, and we are talking about 67 minutes of swirling and bewitching music. Goosebumps emotions follow one another, like when the STRATOSPHERIC version arrives of “Pali Gap,” a piece by Jimi Hendrix, included on Rainbow Bridge (1971). This famous piece takes inspiration from Nu'uanu Pali, the famous cliff on the island of O'ahu in Hawaii which years ago even the excellent Tolo Marton had ennobled with his own version.
How do you make such a beautiful piece personal? Simple; add a stunning sax entrance, and the piece takes on bright colours. A masterpiece.
Now, I don't know how Fabrizio Perissinotto came up with the idea of making records like this, but what might seem like madness, I must say that to us (and I think I can also speak on behalf of many enthusiasts), excites and triggers fantastic emotions.
A dive into a dream……well, don't wake me please.
https://www.giannizuretti.com/.../andy-aledort-in-a.../...
Andy Aledort - In a Dream. Long Song Records 2024 DL/CD