Instrument Reviews
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CD & Book Reviews
bullet Carbon Leaf: Echo Echo
bullet Richard Congress: Blues Mandolin Man: The Life and Music of Yank Rachell
bullet Crazy Rhythm: RU•Crazy
bullet Rich DelGrosso: Get Your Nose Outta My Bizness
bullet Billy Flynn: Chicago Blues Mandolin
bullet Maestro Alex Gregory: 12 Jokes for Heavy Metal Mandolin
bullet Maestro Alex Gregory's Penta Orchestra: Another Millennium?
bullet Bruce Harvie: Mandolin Graffiti
bullet Andrew Hendryx:
13th Street Repose,
Still Life with Mandolin and Guitar
bullet Eva Holbrook: The Very Last Dream
bullet Don Julin & Ron Getz: Mr. Natural
bullet John Kruth: The Cherry Electric
bullet Michael Lampert: Jacaranda
bullet Michael Lampert: Blue Gardenia
bullet Mori Stylez: Rules for Rotation
bullet The Suspenders: Suspended Alive at the Spider
bullet Trout: Metalgrass
Andrew Hendryx
13th Street Repose
Still Life with Mandolin & Guitar
Custom
Stark. Haunting. Lyrical. Evocative. I hate to run out of adjectives at the beginning of the review, but this guy deserves the highest praise I can give. Really. Andrew Hendryx is a talented and dedicated young jazz player with a deft touch, a voice all his own, and a Steve Ryder EM-35 electric mandolin that sounds as smooth as a three-dollar cup of hot chocolate.
     If you went into a room full of mandolinists and dropped the names Don Stiernberg, Paul Glasse, Michael Lampert, or Don Julin, you might inspire a glimmer of recognition in at least one pair of eyes. Hendryx hasn't reached that level of recognition yet, but he certainly has the talent to get there. And he's doing it the hard way with gigs in New York clubs and coffeehouses.
     Hendryx has two self-produced discs to his credit: Still Life with Mandolin and Guitar and 13th St. Repose. The former contains eight duos with guitarists Benji Lysaght and Ben Lee; the latter is a trio EP with five cuts featuring bassist Masa Kamaguchi and drummer Max Wood. The material is mostly standards, juxtaposing the post-bebop of Mingus, Monk, and Miles with classics by the likes of Victor Young and Rodgers & Hart. (OK, there's one Hendryx original and a Lennon & McCartney tune as well.) Everything gets pretty much equal treatment, which is to say it's all rendered gorgeously in Hendryx's stately, shimmering, understated style. There are no breathless flurries of notes or screaming crescendos, but there is a heap of elegant, clean, tasteful, and perfectly timed playing from Hendryx and his cohorts. Still Life, as you might expect, has a slightly more intimate feel, but 13th Street is also restrained without being tedious. I particularly like what Hendryx does with "Nardis" and "I Could Write a Book," but the work here is so consistent that any cut could be a favorite.
     To find out how to obtain one of these fine recordings, send Andrew an and welcome him to the Emando fold. You'll be glad you did.
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