Search - Tim Sparks :: Tanz

Guitarist Tim Sparks ponied up one of the best marriages of solo guitar, jazz, and klezmer with his 1999 CD, Neshamah. With Tanz Sparks takes up a slightly different marriage, this time adding bassist Greg Cohen (a mainstay of John Zorn's Masada and countless other bands) and percussionist Cyro Baptista. Sparks's technique is phenomenal, with touches of John Fahey and Leo Kottke atop a thorough knowledge of the guitar's various traditions. He bends and slurs notes when playing uptempo tunes, giving them touches of post-1950s jazz guitar and surf music at once. Cohen holds a steady bass line throughout, and Baptista plays hand percussion, giving Tanz a nimbleness that's tantalizing and altogether excellent. Bill Frisell's expressed his fondness for Sparks's guitar styles, and there's good reason. Sparks has Frisell's sense of drama with prodigious--but never overused--technique. These old klezmer and Eastern European standards haven't sounded like this in a long, long time. --Andrew Bartlett