Hans Reichel

While Hans Reichel may not be widely known in the U.S., his reputation in Europe and Asia is considerable. He is a master guitarist and improviser, as well as a luthier (guitar maker) of distinction, and the inventor of the daxophone, a musical instrument that is becoming more widely used all the time. On this set, Reichel plays solo guitar throughout. All the guitars he employs, single- and double-necked, are of his own design. These 17 tracks, covering 73 minutes, were recorded as played. There are no overdubs or retakes. The set takes its title from a piece of wood Reichel ran across in a department store. It comes from the quickly disappearing Brazilian rainforests. One of the guitars heard on this CD was made from that piece of wood. What is so striking about Reichel -- apart from and because of his homemade approach to guitar making -- is the tonal freedom this allows him. Without employing effects pedals, digital delays, or the rest of the technological morass, Reichel simply makes guitars that allow him to get the sounds he is reaching for either in scale, color, or tone. His palette is simply astonishing. On Coco Bolo Nights the sounds of sitars, gamelan orchestras, and flutes are heard alongside the more traditional resonances of the guitar, mandolin, bass, and even banjo. But this would not be enough if Reichel weren't as musical as he is sonically gifted. For those who think that the sounds made by Derek Bailey, Henry Kaiser, Fred Frith, and Jim O' Rourke are the spectrum of guitar improvisation, think again. Reichel has dynamic range so sensitive that silences are consciously employed as compositional elements. Western harmonic ideas co-exist peacefully with whole tone, just intonation, and Middle Eastern scale composition -- yes, in the same track sometimes. He moves through ideas, exploring them relentlessly, unpretentiously, and with grace. There is an elegance in his playing that many more "accomplished" traditional musicians would kill for. On Coco Bolo Nights, Reichel places himself nakedly in front of microphones in the FMP studio and goes about the business of creating music from thin air. Using whatever guitar he hears calling him, he makes a kind of magical realism, where texture can be felt coming from the grain of the music itself, which is, in fact, Reichel's "voice." A fantastic introduction to Reichel's music as well as a welcome addition to the music library of anybody interested either in improvisation or the guitar. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide