{"id":4001,"date":"2017-11-02T16:06:57","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T16:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/?p=4001"},"modified":"2017-11-02T16:06:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T16:06:57","slug":"huffington-post-ralph-a-miriello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/huffington-post-ralph-a-miriello\/","title":{"rendered":"Huffington Post – Ralph A. Miriello"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

“…the guitarist has managed to bring his own European flavor to this genre.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For those who love a good old school band; a tight no-nonsense grooving ensemble with funk-driven bass and drums, a wizard on keyboards and an extraordinarily tasteful guitarist with his own signature sound, then go no further than Dutch guitarist Marnix Busstra\u2019s latest\u00a0Old School Band<\/em>. While the music is derivative the guitarist has managed to bring his own European flavor to this genre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Busstra is an accomplished musician who plays acoustic and electric guitar, Irish bouzouki and electric sitar. He leads several bands including the heralded Mike Maineri\/Busstra Marnix quartet, a collaboration with the\u00a0Steps Ahead<\/em>\u00a0vibraphonist that goes back to 2003.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

His\u00a0Old School Band<\/em>\u00a0includes longtime collaborator, bassist Norbert Sollewijn Gelpke, the organist Eric Van De Bovenkamp and the drummer Mark Stoop. The album features nine of Busstra\u2019s compositions that are thoroughly entertaining. The band plays with a deeply intuitive sense of unity. Busstra is the lead voice on a majority of the album and his floating, viscous style weaves into the group voice without ever overpowering it. His guitar playing somehow manages to walk a line between syncopation and flow, without ever sacrificing either one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

On this album, Busstra gives a nod to his early influences and gone back to the basics, the reliable, often funky, jazz guitar\/organ\/bass\/drums format. The group follows in the footsteps of guitarist John Scofield\u2019s outings with avant-jazz-funk, jam band Medeski, Martin &amp; Wood, popularized by their album from 1998\u00a0A Go Go<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The likeness is more homage than imitation with Busstra\u2019s guitar sounding like an amalgam of Scofield, Metheny and Dire Straights\u2019 guitarist Mark Knopfler to my ears. His music has an infectious lilt to it that you can be swept up in. Take a listen to funky drum intro on the opener \u201cMedium Rare\u201d and the bouncy melody that Busstra plucks out of his electric guitar. Pure fun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Or get down with the swelling organ chops of Bovenkamp and the booming bottom of Gelpke\u2019s bass on the funky \u201cTen Euro Skunk,\u201d one of my favorites, and you\u2019ll get the idea. These guys are having fun while digging a deep groove, and their precision is marvelous. \u00a0If you don\u2019t find yourself following the beat with some part of your body than check your pulse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

On \u201cNo Solution,\u201d a softly swaying shuffle that is right in Busstra\u2019s wheelhouse, we find the guitarist at his most lyrical. His note choices are fluid and soulful. When he solos each note almost bleeds into the following notes as if part of a rushing current. Gelpke\u2019s tasty bass solo is a welcome addition and \u00a0Bovenkamp proves he is an accomplished accompanist as he spins some magical sounds on his keyboard \u00a0at the fading coda.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cOut of the In Crowd\u201d is the composition where Busstra\u2019s guitar and band comes closest to the Scofield funk sound. \u00a0Gelpke\u2019s funky bass lines bringing it down home as Bovenkamp delights with some of his most inspired gritty keyboard work on the album. Drummer Stoop\u2019s snare-heavy beat sprinkled with some creative fills carries this rhythm with an assured panache.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The whole album is just plain fun and If you\u2019re like me, you be inspired to tap your feet and bop your head.\u00a0\u201cLittle White Lie,\u201d features some adventurous serpentine guitar lines by Busstra with the band roiling behind him. \u201cToo Hot Tub\u201d is a slow, exaggerated walking blues that allows Bovenkamp to use some of his arsenal of sounds to great effect. Stoop\u2019s is given an extended drum solo that is just a wellspring of percussive creativity without ever being unnecessarily bombastic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cA Good Day\u201d is another one of those songs that gets stuck in your head. Stoop demonstrates he is up on some of the most modern drum styles, varying his technique as the music demands. Busstra features his rhythm section, particularly Bovenkamp, for a majority of this song preferring to allow the music to establish and hold onto a groove. His solo about two thirds through is sparse and tasteful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The set ends with \u201cNew Canal of the Emperors\u201d an evocative composition that reminds me a bit of some of the music of Dixie Dreggs\u2019 keyboard player T. Lavitz and the jagged \u201cF**king Speedbumps\u201d a raucous ride that funks you up and then leaves you hanging in mid-air when the band shuts it down like turning off a light switch. Grab some Dutch funk for yourself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“…the guitarist has managed to bring his own European flavor to this genre.” For those who love a good old school band; a tight no-nonsense grooving ensemble with funk-driven bass and drums, a wizard on keyboards and an extraordinarily tasteful guitarist with his own signature sound, then go no further than Dutch guitarist Marnix Busstra\u2019s latest\u00a0Old School Band. While the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rev-old-school-band"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4002,"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4001\/revisions\/4002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marnixbusstra.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}