Seattle guitarist's debut record, for solo electric guitar (plus female voice on 3 songs), is beautiful and mysterious.

Gregg Belisle- Chi is 25 and currently completing his M.Mus at the University of Washington. This is his first record as a leader, although he has performed with a wide range of musicians in Seattle, among them Jim Knapp, Andy Clausen (The Westerlies), Bill Frisell (a friend and mentor), Wayne Horvitz and Eyvind Kang, and in a variety of genres (avant-garde, pop/rock, folk, chamber). The vocals are by his wife (their musical collaboration began in 2009). The music is through-composed, there is no improvisastion as such. Words and songwriting are a central focus. Two of the songs feature Gregg's lyrics, while 'Sabbaths X (1998)' is a setting of the Wendell Berry poem, which Gregg cites as 'one of the most beautiful love letters I've ever read. He's so clear and descriptive without sounding blunt, and he never enters into that realm of sappy sentimentality. I was so moved by it that I thought it would make for a nice piece of music that Chelsea and I could perform together.' As for the album's title, 'In the early stages of composing I was paying a lot of attention to the smallest details: notes, phrase construction, the 'architecture' of the pieces. But I wasn't paying any attention to shading or color, or light and shadow. Once I started thinking about those things, in terms of harmony and tone, the pieces really started to transform. So 'tenebrae', Latin for 'shadow', seemed appropriate...We recorded to analog tape, because I prefer that sound on guitars and also I knew that it would make me commit to takes, rather than having the option to do overdub after overdub.'

Track Listing

• Resurgam
• Tragedian
• Speech
• Victim (Reprise)
• Fear and Trembling
• Victim
• Sabbaths X (1998)

Additional Details

Label: Songlines

Genre: Jazz

Language: English

Run Time: 41:51 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 10/16/15

UPC: 774355161326