SCOTT HENDERSON_WELL TO THE BONE_2002
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For his third outing as a leader apart from Tribal Tech, the band he co-founded with bassist Gary Willis in the mid-‘80s and which remains one of the freshest and most formidable forces in fusion music today, guitarist extraordinaire Scott Henderson returns to his bluesy roots. A program of earthy offerings and blues-oriented fare filtered through Henderson’s uniquely modernist sensibility, Well To The Bone pays homage to the blues rock of the 60’s and 70’s while mixing in the guitarist’s natural jazz leanings.
“Just the fact that it’s got vocals puts it in another zone from Tribal Tech,” says Henderson. “And it’s definitely way closer to blues, though it’s not traditional blues because the songs aren’t strictly 12-bar, I-IV-V forms. It’s blues with more changes than what’s typical.”
While it may not be blues in a Mississippi Delta or Southside Chicago sense, the music on Well To The Bone will immediately register with fans of blues rock. “Some blues purists get mad if you try to call this kind of music blues” says Henderson. “It’s all rock ‘n’ roll to their ears. I just consider it modern blues or blues with a twist. It’s my little spin on the blues feel. Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and so many other great players have done it before me, but my thing is to start from there and then get a little more harmonically adventurous. Since I’ve been involved with jazz most of my career, it’s influence usually appears in one form or another in my songwriting.”
The guitarist applies his sizzling six-string virtuosity to inspired numbers like the opening “Lady P” and “Devil Boy”, both delivered with bluesy gusto by singer Wade Durham. The rocking bar band flavored title track, belted out with gutsy abandon by blues diva Thelma Houston (who appeared on Henderson’s last rip-roaring blues outing, 1997’s Tore Down House) is a sludgy blues shuffle, while the slow blues instrumental “That Hurts” gives Henderson a chance to blend his harmonic sophistication with toe-curling, string-bending intensity. The funky “Dat’s Da Way It Go” is a syncopated, funky vehicle that provides some humorous repartee between Durham and Houston (a reprise of Thelma’s sassy call-and-response with Masta Edwards on the darkly ironic “I Hate You” from Tore Down House).
“Ashes”, the Middle Eastern flavored “Sultan’s Boogie” and the bluegrass breakdown “Hillbilly in the Band” (featuring some nifty banjo licks from the guitarist himself) fall well outside the realm of standard blues. Henderson flaunts some nasty slide licks on the 3/4 vehicle “Lola Fay”, sung with earthy urgency by Houston. And he creates an intricate latticework of shimmering acoustic guitar tracks on the album’s evocative closer “Rituals”, a hauntingly beautiful Henderson composition which was previously recorded by Tribal Tech on 1988’s Nomad.
Scott’s main axe throughout “Well To The Bone” was his trusty white Strat made by California luthier John Suhr. For the layering effects he relied on several different guitars, including a Les Paul and a series of Danelectro guitars—baritone, 12-string and a U3 with three lipstick pickups. He also alternated amplifiers between a Fender Bandmaster customized by Alexander Dumble, an old Marshall ‘68 100-watt and his traveling Custom Audio amp. “I did a lot of experimentation with combinations of sounds and mic-ing and different things that I’d never really messed around with in the studio before. I had fun with it and I think the sounds and tones that I came up with are my best so far.”
Going through the trial-and-error of finding just the right tones from track to track meant that Henderson ultimately spent more time twirling knobs in the control room than actually playing. “It was all pretty new to me, learning about layering and how to make all the sounds separated in the mix,” he explains. “I was pretty methodical about tone on this record. I wanted to make sure that the tones all fit the parts and that they really had a vintage sounding quality to them. And I think they do, except for the one tune “Sultan’s Boogie”, which required a more modern tone. I was going for a completely different sound on that one. But I think the rest of the songs sound pretty vintage, which is cool.”
That marriage of vintage tones, unrestrained bluespower and undeniable talent made a formula for success on “Well To The Bone”. by Bill Milkowski.
Scott Henderson and Gary Willis of Tribal Tech, have proven they are visionary composers, as well as world class players. In recent years, Henderson has been named the #1 Jazz Guitarist, by both Guitar World and Guitar Player’s Annual Reader’s Polls. Bass Player magazine referred to Willis as “one of the most vital bass voices of the 90’s”, while Guitar Player’s Annual Reader’s Poll has listed Willis among the top three bassist in the Jazz Bass category for the last two years in a row. While they’ve always had the following of loyal jazzers, the band has steadily attracted the attention of rock and rollers, as well, seducing them with their sometimes big, dark wall of sound and their bad boy attitude toward “happy jazz”. Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith says that Tribal Tech “kicks ass!”. Packed houses in the U.S., Europe and South America show he is obviously not the only one who thinks this.
Rounding out the dynamic foursome is the awesomely talented, turbo-driven Kirk Covington on drums and the improvisationally-gifted Scott Kinsey on keyboards. The coming together of such talented players could only result in the creation of a band like Tribal Tech. A band that grabs you by the throat and won’t let go until they’ve shaken you out of your musical complacency with a roar of energy.
Scott Henderson
Track Listing:
01 - Lady P 7:14
02 - Hillbilly in the Band 5:06
03 - Devil Boy 6:40
04 - Lola Fay 6:23
05 - Well To The Bone 4:50
06 - Ashes 6:53
07 - Sultan’s Boogie 6:30
08 - Dat’s Da Way It Go 6:54
09 - That Hurts 6:16
10 - Rituals 8:01
Personnel:
Scott Henderson: guitar
Kirk Covington: drums
John Humphrey: bass
Scott Kinsey: electronic percussion
Thelma Houston: vocals
Wade Durham: vocals
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