Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Bluesiana Rock Cafe / Velden Am Woerthersee / Austria
Concert date: 04.11.2010
Attendance: 70
Ticket price: €30.00
Michael Landau is one of the most in-demand session players on the planet. He’s a guitarist who can play anything, whether you give him a brief or none at all. Along the way he’s built a signature style that works as his personal calling card, one nobody else can pull off. So far the man has played on more than 700 studio releases for all kinds of artists. Among the best-known names he’s recorded with are Miles Davies, Joni Mitchell, Pink Floyd, BB King, Ray Charles and Rod Stewart. And Landau isn’t just a studio hotshot, he’s a regular road warrior on concert tours too. Slovenes got to see him on stage most recently in November 2009, when he came to Ljubljana as part of the backing band of Italian pop rock showman Eros Ramazzotti.
So Michael Landau is no newcomer. Plenty of credit for his breakthrough into the top tier goes to the famous Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, who always put in a good word and recommended his buddy to some of the most prominent musicians of our time.
Michael came to Europe for a new tour, bringing along his longtime partner in crime on drums, Gary Novak, and new bassist Andy Hess on bass guitar. The trio The Michael Landau Group exists only for these European shows. Once Landau and Novak head back to the US, they team up with their pals Robben Ford and bassist Jimmy Haslip in the superband Renegade Creation, which hits the road for an American tour.
The man, who has an incredible feel for fusing jazz, rock and blues running through his veins, already visited Bluesiana back in April 2007. So that nobody would forget that fantastic show from more than three years ago, the club’s gracious owner Gudrun Koffler arranged another rich concert experience, one that pleases even the fussiest ears of any music gourmet.
Michael hit the stage at exactly 21:15. In the first part he warmed up the crowd with seven compact songs rooted in blues. That turned out to be a bold move, because he had the usually reserved Austrian audience swaying along in no time. The trio is brilliantly in sync. Not a wrong note, not a beat out of place. Landau almost lulled us to sleep with his softness, but whenever things occasionally roared into overdrive, the club nearly blew its windows out. Way too loud, honestly.
The trio took a break at exactly 22:00 and was back 20 minutes later. The second part was much longer, exploratory, daring, I’d even say provocative, as it crosses the borders of the known and already discovered. And that’s exactly Michael’s biggest appeal! This part was dedicated to jazz and to fusing jazz with rock and blues. It came in wildly interesting variations of musical unpredictability, and therefore extra allure. The second part, entirely instrumental, delivered even more thrilling escapades from all three musicians. The spotlight naturally belonged to Landau, who once again wowed us with his incredible control over the instrument, his cunning shaping of tones, and his coaxing out of the most delicate sequences of them, ones that feel perfect to the ear. On top of that, it wasn’t hard to see that Landau is an absolute one-off, since he uses grips you won’t find in any textbook. That hints he’s quite likely completely self-taught, or maybe so talented that even with basic musical training he bent his playing technique to fit his own artistic genius of unique expression. Michael often helped himself with bare finger work on the strings, fingerpicking, which further emphasized the organic sound of his guitar. Unpredictable, spontaneous, yet endlessly listenable and sneakily biting under the skin.
Landau, who didn’t hide his awkwardness communicating with the crowd during the show, didn’t squeeze out much more than a few “Thank you!”s, but some grimaces and gestures said a lot more. In that respect Landau can actually be a very funny guy.
Anyway, at 23:25 the last note rang out in Bluesiana, decently filled with about 70 heads. The loud ovations just wouldn’t end. A relaxed evening of unforgettable experience with The Michael Landau Group, who in terms of quality sit right alongside the biggest guitarists, from Robben Ford to Carl Verheyen and Steve Lukather. Fantastic guitar poetry delivered in a completely unique way!
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
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