A Man About a Horse

A Man About a Horse

ASIN: B000066IDQ

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
After a pair of extraordinary but esoteric albums with a Tibetan nun and a Norwegian Hardanger fiddle player, respectively, Steve Tibbetts returns to the form of albums like Exploded View. Tibbetts is a shaman with a guitar, although he would cringe at the designation. But what else to make of a musician whose music seems to rip across the fabric of reality, opening up into a sometimes beautiful but often tumultuous world? A student of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibbetts dispels the idea of serene meditation with a sound that rivals the spirit-awakening call of Tibetan trumpets. It's a whiplash mix of throbbing percussion, clangorous samples, plaintive acoustic guitar, and roiling electric fury. Gentle Balinese and finger-picked acoustic guitar segments waft like the scent of jasmine, only to be consumed by thundering drums and electric guitar that ascend from the abyss, spitting hellfire. Like a morphing mandala, A Man About a Horse reveals different aspects and richer details through each listening. --John Diliberto

Tracks:

Lupra
Red Temple
Black Temple
Burning Temple
Glass Everywhere
Lochana
Chandoha
Koshala

Amazon.com

After a pair of extraordinary but esoteric albums with a Tibetan nun and a Norwegian Hardanger fiddle player, respectively, Steve Tibbetts returns to the form of albums like Exploded View. Tibbetts is a shaman with a guitar, although he would cringe at the designation. But what else to make of a musician whose music seems to rip across the fabric of reality, opening up into a sometimes beautiful but often tumultuous world? A student of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibbetts dispels the idea of serene meditation with a sound that rivals the spirit-awakening call of Tibetan trumpets. It's a whiplash mix of throbbing percussion, clangorous samples, plaintive acoustic guitar, and roiling electric fury. Gentle Balinese and finger-picked acoustic guitar segments waft like the scent of jasmine, only to be consumed by thundering drums and electric guitar that ascend from the abyss, spitting hellfire. Like a morphing mandala, A Man About a Horse reveals different aspects and richer details through each listening. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews:

Fusion meets tomorrow.......2007-01-03

Steve Tibbetts is a guitar -- wait -- a music God.

As per his other collections this is yet another step into previously uncharted musical territory. I know of no other music that sounds anything even vaguely like what Tibbetts constructs, this makes it especially hard to describe. This could be a sound track for another world, one where emotions have texture and exhibit color while they make sounds. Against Eastern drums, Tibbetts' guitar work is alternatively etherial and warlike in it's ruthless aggression, only to suddenly fall back to the etherial. If the world were a complex machine directed by a sea of emotion, it might perhaps sound like this. Like I said, this music is difficult to describe -- but it is real and it is music and I like it very very much.

spiritual awakening........2005-01-13

This is one of the best 'jazz' albums I have heard on ECM. It is difficult to explain what I find so compelling about it. It is very different from the other Tibbetts album I have, _Ys_. Tibbetts largely does away with Western jazz conventions here, adopting a much more "Eastern" paradigm -- these compositions unfold in unbroken, monothematic, rising-and-falling shapes. The rhythmic core (two percussions and double-bass) give the album a likelife pulse over which Tibbett's unique, feedback-glazed guitar style is sober and meditative. The track divisions actually seem pretty arbitrary, and whether played continuously in order or on shuffle/random, the album is a fluid journey of emotions and gorgeous imagery. Such is the aural beauty captured here that I cannot hope to explain it with words, but everytime I listen to this album it feels like my heart will burst. highly recommended.

music..........2004-12-26

...that's all you need to call this. One of the keys to appreciating the creativity of Steve Tibbetts is to force yourself to shed any preconceived notions of 'genre'. It's fine in the case of some artists -- but when relating to the music of Tibbetts, it will only impose limitations that are destined to be shattered.

There are elements of assorted styles present in Tibbetts' compositions and playing -- but in the manner of many contemporary classical composers, he has passed through these territories, absorbing and metamorphosing the aspects of them that touched him, emerging with new forms at his command. His guitar is his voice, reflecting the creativity that lives and breathes in his soul. He combines acoustic and electric guitars on this recording -- ably aided by long-time collaborators Marc Andersen (percussion), Marcus Wise (percussion) and Jim Anton (bass) -- into a shimmering audio landscape. The percussion drives the pieces along nicely, without ever overpowering -- the presence of a 'standard' drumkit would be an obstacle, I think, to the mood-generating ability of Tibbetts and crew.

Steve Tibbetts is a master of mood -- the 'story' or 'narrative' aspect of his work is strong as well, but not as overtly presented as in the music of other artists. The listener has to be willing to devote some time and attention to this recording -- but it's more than worth the effort.

MOR Tibbetts.......2004-12-06

A good effort by-in-large, utterly fantastic in places. I couldn't find much thematic continuity in about half of the songs in this outing, but that doesn't seem the main objective of the creative process here -- Tibbett's heavily distorted staccato chords and gut-wrenching guitar soloing mingle with pastoral guitar washes and thoughtful 12 string fingerings and are combined with his collaborater's percussive inputs resulting in music collages of beautiful originallity.

The Red Temple, Burning Temple, Lachana and Chandoha each tell a story or trigger various sensory imaginations to my mind, while the others either lack flow (Black Temple) or never seem to get beyond a vague idea of a story or an emotion. I understand there's a certain 'calculated randomness' to the workings of the universe, but it's not necessarily interesting to listen to except, perhaps, as an uber look into the interpretations on, or construction of randomness from one man's mind...

If you're new to Steve Tibbetts, this is a very decent work to start with. Not his most accesable (his 2nd album, the overtly emotional "YR" easily takes that honor), but it has some astonishing recording dynamics and guitar and percussion muscianship that you'll find in few other places. If you like the more sedate pieces (or pieces of pieces) you hear, travel next to his "Safe Journey" album then his recent effort with Choying Drolma from 2004; if you like the more percussive and electric guitar dynamics then try Exploded View followed by the even more experimental dynamics of "The Fall of us All."

Not His Best, Not His Worst.......2003-01-25

Steve Tibbetts is amazing on ANY recording he has done. I'd like to hear a live album by him. I agree (in part) with one of the reviewers that he is leaning towards directions he as already explored such as Exploded view. I found that this record has no fresh "hook" on it, though he an his fellow musicians are always superb. It is nice to hear him in the 21th century!

Jazz Music:

Jazz Music

Jazz Music