"We decided to record a duet album together. . . . Tokio arranged guitar parts and we put down the tracks during his family's visit to our home in January, 2007. The music ranges from blues, rags, folk tunes to original compositions. We're happy with the results. We hope you enjoy the album as much as we did in putting it together." – Stefan Grossman
An exciting collection of 18 arrangements of traditional blues, rags, folk tunes and original compositions.
Track Listing: (click on tracks for mp3 sound samples)
1. Bermuda Triangle Exit
2. Crow Jane
3. Banty Rooster
4. F Rag
5. Black Eye Blues
6. Kawazu
7. Dance of the Man Who Ate Raw Chicken
8. Blues for Clifford
9. Shining Shadows
10. Pig Meat Strut
11. Keep It Clean
12. Freight Train
13. Jesse James
14. Tribute to Lonnie Johnson
15. Special Rider Blues
16. Struttin' Rag
17. Candyman
18. My Creole Belle
Review: Stefan Grossman has spent a lifetime teaching as well as playing guitar - championing the styles of past greats, founding a couple of record labels, and typically including tablature booklets as part of his releases. And if all that instruction had yielded only one ace student, in Tokia Uchida, it would have been worth it.
Uchida contacted Grossman in the '80s, seeking guitar lessons, and a friendship developed, as well as a teacher-student relationship. In 2006, the pair finally performed onstage together in Japan, and a year later they cut the 18 instrumentals included here.
Grossman provides a half-dozen originals, but the bulk of the repertoire is public domain (like "Crow Jane") or from country blues artists- Skip James' "Special Rider," Libba Cotten's "Freight Train," Bill Broonzy's "Pig Meat Strut" - with Uchida (who also wrote two) handling most arrangements. The two guitarists' interplay breathes new life into Rev. Gary Davis' "Candyman," and Uchida's slide gives John Hurt's "Creole Belle" a new, Hawaiian-tinged wrinkle.
Bermuda Triangle Exit is a nice addition to Grossman's catalog, which already boasts collaborations with Danny Kalb, John Renbourn, Duck Baker, Rory Block, and others. – Dan Forte/Vintage Guitar
