Standards

The music and the song flow profusely from the gifted hands of Mimi Fox on Standards. As she proves throughout, anybody who can breathe so much new life into yet another version of "All Blues," and truly make the number her own, can PLAY. Done wisely on an acoustic guitar, the choice of so many of the early bluesman, the number is first cast as a Delta blues with Fox scat singing in unison with some bad solo blues lines. Symmetrically, modern chords are introduced and the unique and wonderfully warped reading of the famous melody begins, giving way to a simply fantastic solo. Flowing effortlessly from chords to arpeggios to more unison lines with voice to Milesian references to the melody, this number works on every level. "Lady Byrd" is an effective demonstration of the guitar as a linear instrument in the Parker/Coltrane tradition. Trane's own "Naima" is a reverant reading of this deeply spiritual masterpiece, consisting solely of harmonic and rhythmic variations on the theme. "Footprints," done here on a twelve string guitar, is simply astonishing - and that's just the melody! Blues, classical, new-age, folk and middle eastern sounds come together perfectly in this truly virtuoso performance. "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" proves a point that the masters of this music from Armstrong, Parker, Evans and Davis lived by - the most inane music can be transformed to profound levels through careful Jazz interpretation. To say Mimi Fox's touch, sound, sensitivity and understanding of the guitar as a solo vehicle of expression is masterful would be an understatement. This is simply some of the best guitar music I've heard.