Standards, Old & New

Recording a solo jazz guitar album is no mean feat and even many of the great players have declined to record a whole album solo. It takes a combination of all your technical skill, instant ideas and the bravery and confidence to execute it, and this being Mimi Fox?s third recording of solo guitar pieces it is evident she has mastered the art. Mimi impressed local audiences with her appearance at the Fremantle Jazz Festival in Jan 2002 and in the ensuing 11 years has cemented her place among the world?s top players. The album opens with a reworking of Woody Guthrie?s ?This Land is Your Land? , Mimi takes the old three chord folk tune on an exciting journey Woody would have been proud of. Her acoustic/electric sound coming from her Heritage guitar through her JazzKat amp is just perfect for solo guitar. One of my favourite tracks is her extended version of ?I Can?t Get Started? , this tune more than any other shows her inventiveness on solo guitar. On ?Have You Met Miss Jones? she starts with an ?Errol Garner? type introduction before stating the melody. I have never heard a solo version of Wes Montgomery?s ?Four On Six?, Mimi makes this track sound more like a group version, superb. This is one of the best solo jazz guitar albums I have heard for some time. I highly recommend it.