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Walter Strauss
This California guitar wizard's songs are full of the groove and fire of an African dance party, the dynamics and textures of a string orchestra, and the back-porch soul of American roots music. A composer and songwriter in diverse genres, he also translates music from other instruments to the guitar, resulting in mind-bending guitar renditions of the multi-layered music of the kora (a 21-stringed West African harp) that kora legend Toumani Diabate calls “inspirational”, and music of other far-flung instruments of the world.
In addition to touring solo in the US and UK, Walter has collaborated with wide-ranging talents, including a duo with Grammy-winning kora player Mamadou Diabate, guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, Wassoulou hunter's harp player Mamadou Sidibe, and west coast songbirds MaMuse. He has performed internationally, solo and in cross-cultural collaborations, at venues as diverse as the Celtic Connections festival in Scotland, Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA, and Le Diplomat in Bamako, Mali.
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Jack West/Walter Strauss: Guitars on Life
by Joshua Weiner
Emerging from the jny: San Francisco Bay Area in the 1990s, acoustic guitarist Jack West forged a new style on 6-and 8-string instruments that integrates percussive use of the strings and guitar body with melody and harmony. Spicing his tunes with repeated harmonics and slide flourishes and incorporating influences from jazz, folk, rock and Americana music, West has released several albums, both solo and with his group Jack West & Curvature in which his guitar was complemented by percussion, saxophone, ...
Continue ReadingComposer, Guitarist, and Inventor Jack West Releases 'Guitars On Life,' An Acoustic Guitar Duo Album Featuring West and Guitarist Walter Strauss
Source:
DL Media
West Also Releases Essential Curvature, a Double-LP Compilation of Recordings Made with His Group Curvature Between 1996 and 2003 Both Albums are Available on Vinyl and Digital Platforms via Otá Records Composer, guitarist, and inventor Jack West will release two albums on Otá Records (the label behind most of Omar Sosa’s recordings). The first, Guitars On Life, is a new album of percussive acoustic guitar music featuring West and guitarist Walter Strauss performing mostly live in the studio as a ...
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“A rich mélange of several styles... a musical quilt that covers quite a sonic area... smooth and fluent world beat rhythms and runs. Walter Strauss can make those strings sing!”
– Pacific Sun Weekly, San Francisco Bay Area, CA.
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
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From: Guitars on LifeBy Walter Strauss
