Volto! is 'big and booming'

‘Incitare'

Volto! (Concord)

★★½

The marriage of rock and jazz: it's been done before and to varying degrees of success over the decades. I like it a lot of times depending on my mood so I was pretty excited to get this fusion recording from a bunch of musicians from rock and alternative circles dating back to the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Volto! are Tool drummer Danny Carey, Pigmy Love Circus guitarist John Ziegler and bassist Lance Morrison. Their sound is big and booming and keyboardist Jeff Babko only adds to the soaring thunder. How big is it? Well, I can picture Eddie Van Halen listening to these quasi-rock instrumentals and saying, “C'mon guys isn't that's a bit much?” Or maybe that's just me projecting. For some reason, I keep picturing this band high-fiving each other like football players in the end zone, each solo a masterpiece. But if you took away all the compression, echo, delay and other sonic processing, I think this would be a rather uninteresting record.

‘Hand Picked'

Earl Klugh (Heads Up)

★★★★

If you want to get lost in the string experience, look no further than this latest album by Grammy-winning guitarist Earl Klugh. Klugh takes on a lot of old chestnuts here — “Blue Moon,” “Hotel California,” and “If I Fell” — and makes them shine real pretty. It's amazing the way he pulls new life out of these and other pop classics, and with very minimal treatment.

Klugh flies solo on most of the album but there are few duets. Guitarist Bill Frisell joins him on one track and ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro on another. Vince Gill adds vocals on “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” that caught me off guard surrounded as it was on all sides by strictly string music. It's an easy-going album that showcases Klugh's prowess on the six string.

Eric Slagle is a writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at eslagle@tribweb.com.