New Music: Mark Lettieri, Julian Lage

Mark Lettieri

Mark Lettieri: Spark and Echo (2016)

Mark Lettieri, guitar player for Snarky Puppy, released an album of his own Spark and Echo (Ropeadope, 2016); a progressive rock album that opens with the upbeat Goonsquad with contributions from drummer Jason Thomas, keyboard players Shaun Martin and Bobby Sparks and bass Wes Stephenson.

The song Little Minx is an uplifting composition bound to have you dancing; just when you think it is going to end, it amps up and soars to another level.

Mark Lettieri slows down the pace a little with Red Racer. He likes to tell his students that country guitar licks sound good over a rock sound and the astute listener would hear a little of that on this cut.

The song Spark and Echo and a lot of the album has a pop radio sound and that is understandable because Mark Lettieri’s guitar has been heard on tour with Erykah Badu and American Idol’s Phillip Phillips and on recordings with Eminem and Adam Levine among others.

The second half of the album might be more appealing to the non-guitar-playing fans: with songs like Slant, Crystal Palace and Montreal, the pace is slowed down, the guitar is more articulate and songs are more accessible to the non-musically-trained mind.

The album ends in a great celebration with Mark Lettieri’s interpretation of a song that everybody loves – the Tears for Fears’ Euro-pop hit, Everybody Wants to Rule the World.

Julian Lage: Arclight (2016)

Julian Lage opens up the album Arclight (Mack Avenue) showing off his guitar-picking skills with the song Fortune Teller. The song Persian Rug is a hand-clapping, foot-stomping jamboree. The song Supera takes the listener to the tropics with a Caribbean feel. It opens with the congos of Kenny Wollesen. And Kenny Wollesen’s vibraphone substitutes for the Trinidad steel drum.

Julian Lage has put together a sparse, efficient 11-song CD here. With all the songs short, the listener can get through in a breeze but doesn’t feel cheated.

Though only 28-years-old, it feels like Julian Lage has been around forever. He gained a bit of fame and survived what could be a sometimes a curse, that is, being a child prodigy. With so much guitar-playing, he even had to overcome a repetitive-use injury.