Dana Gaynor:  Jazztronaut

Real Thing Records 2005

          Jazztronaut represents a piece of art entirely conceived and executed by the artist. That’s an important concept, art.  Lead guitar is an art form within musical expression. Both in tone and notes played, the lead guitarist seeks to take you on an adventure of sound. That being stated, let’s talk about how this album was put together.

          Tunes selected for Jazztronaut represent classic pieces of music. With the tunes selected, Dana set up arrangements, programmed the computer for the drums, then added  bass and keyboards. This gave her a platform to explore with her guitar.  The album was recorded on computer.  Her guitars; a variety of Steinbergers, were run into the computer directly using Digitech and Korg processors.

          Many of the tunes on Jazztronaut were not originally written for the guitar. What this means to the guitarist is to capture the feel of the melody and express it on an instrument with different tonal qualities than the primary instruments used on the original recordings.

          For instance, Chameleon, the first tune on this album, was written by Herbie Hancock and appeared on his Headhunters; a 1973 release. There is no guitar on Headhunters. What Dana did was take the elements of that tune and arrange it for guitar. What was a very keyboard oriented tune becomes one perfectly adapted for the guitar. Another tune is Mr. Magic, this tune was a Grover Washington standard. The primary instrument on the original recording was a saxphone. The original arrangement began with an electric piano lead in which was understated and then a guitar intro. Dana’s arrangement of Mr. Magic is vastly different and very powerful. Throughout Jazztronaut you will hear these cleaver arrangements.

          A guitarist’s style is a subjective thing. The guitar is capable of bending and changing the tonal quality of notes by how the guitarist manipulates the strings. Sounds simple, but in the hands of a master guitarist the guitar is able to produce sounds which can not be written down on a staff of music. What this means to the listener is an elation of sound. This is what the guitar is all about and that is what this album is about. I recommend Jazztronaut.  If you like feeling elated by guitar playing, give it a try.

Jay Pors – WLVR (DJ)         September 14, 2005