Various Artists - Guitara: Gender Bending Strings (CD)

All Music Guide

The aim of La Guitara is to show not only that there are women guitarists, but that women guitarists take a back seat to no one in terms of talent, passion, and innovation. To that end, it's perfectly successful, presenting women in a wide variety of styles, each with a singular voice. Blues (Rory Block, Memphis Minnie, Elizabeth Cotten), classical (Sharon Isbin), Brazilianflavored (Badi Assad), Indianinspired (Ellen McIlwaine), and progressive acoustic music à la Michael Hedges (Kaki King and Vicki Genfan) are all featured. Some of the other selections, while certainly living up to the ideals of the project, don't quite fit in. There's no denying that Wu Man is immensely talented (perhaps not heard to best effect on this track), but she plays the Chinese pipa, not a guitar. Mimi Fox is clearly a talented jazz guitarist, but since most of the other artists are operating in a primarily acoustic setting, her solo electric style stands in contrast. And talk about contrast Jennifer Batten ...is an allout metal guitarist whose Eddie Van Haleninspired playing really sticks out among the others. The Memphis Minnie cut is great, but the fact that it was recorded in the '30s gives it a very different flavor than any of the other cuts, which are all fairly recent. It's certainly not that these women aren't excellent players or that their tunes aren't good, it's just that they don't fit in particularly well in this program. So while La Guitara does an admirable job of showcasing great players in a wide variety of styles who happen to be women, it can make for a slightly jarring listening experience due to some tough segues. - Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide Read more Less