CD Review - Tasmania Live
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L2P Network/ Robert Linquist
Well, I wasn’t able to make it to the Palais Theatre in Tasmania last summer to hear finger-style guitarist Richard Gilewitz perform live, but according to our correspondent in the land DownUnder, it was quite an event. Lucky for those of us who were on walk-about and couldn’t make it, the event was been captured for live CD. For Richard, music is his life and his livlihood. He fully understands that to reap the benefits of performing for a living, much hard work is required. With that goal in mind, he’s become not only a master performer—blending relatable storytelling with a sophisticated style of playing—but an accomplished networker as well. Through this combination of skills (and a highly dedicated street team of fans and friends) Richard is able to sniff out and pursue opportunities often missed. As a result, he’s trotted much of the globe and played for countless people in many countries... and made many friends along the way.
Tasmania Live is an excellent collection of songs that not only demonstrate that he knows which side of the guitar the strings are on, but that he appreciates his music from the standpoint of his audience. Obviously, the reason we attend concerts in the first place is to watch the artist perform their magic before our very eyes, and there’s a lot of magic in Richard’s music. While the visual aspect may be lost from the recording, the music itself takes on a a fuller, more intense level of expression. This reviewers favorites include “Have You Seen A Rainbow At Night?,” “Bilingual Fantasy,” and “Sarah Natasha.” There are also some wonderfully done covers thrown in for good mention, including “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” “Freight Train,” and “Both sides Now.” For samples of three of the songs on the CD (unfortunately, none of those I mentioned) just go to his web site.
The production quality is excellent. And while it sounds fine through earbuds, it’s better listened to on a good stereo, in a big room, with volume up. In fact, if you tape a couple of big blow up photos of Richard to your wall, it’ll be just like you are there, in the front row, for Tasmania Live. Popcorn?
Robert Silverstein, mwe3.com
Florida-based guitarist Richard Gilewitz has long been on the musical radar of guitar fans for years. Richard’s 2004 album, Thumbsing drew praises from the guitar community and he has returned in recent years with several new albums including a 2011 album called Tasmania Live. Inspired by the 1981 album, John Fahey Live In Tasmania, Richard’s Tasmania Live is very much rooted in the Fahey style of finger-style acoustic instrumental guitar music, jazzed-up with a liberal dose of Ragtime-flavored acoustic guitar magic. Recorded live at the old theatre at the University Of Tasmania in Australia, the 22 track CD features covers some of the most famous guitar music of all time with many of the tracks penned by guitarists with huge names like Kaukonen, Fahey and Kottke. Along with a sprinkling of originals, Tasmania Live is a good example of the Gilewitz live concert experience. More recent from Richard is his latest single called “Fuschia Circle North” released in 2017 through CD baby. There’s a definite Irish music lilt to the track, which features Richard’s guitar performing a duet with fellow guitarist Stephen Housden along with some excellent flute work by Margaret Kennedy. In addition to his inspiring acoustic guitar work, Richard Gilewitz is also a renowned music instructor and his latest book on Mel Bay is called First Lessons: Fingerstyle Ukulele. An easy how-to book for aspiring Uke fans, the 40 page book includes plenty of easy to read sheet music featuring Uke transcriptions of song classics from “Bicycle Built For Two” to “Waltzing Matilda”. Guitar fans could also learn learn something from the easy to read, melody lines that accompany the chord transcriptions as well as the song histories of each track. With so many albums and music books to his credit, Richard Gilewitz is a true renaissance man of the fretboard world.