| Sound & Spirit: CD Reviews
| by Don Strong John McKone -- Times Two Bellmetal Music -- www.johnmckone.com I recently met Minneapolis-based composer and musical renaissance man John McKone one day when he came to my home wearing his piano technician hat. His skill was evident as he quickly adjusted the action and explained the inner workings of the new baby grand to me. We chatted, and as he noticed the guitars in the room, he offered me a copy of his latest CD, Times Two. John's suite of 12 pieces, with titles that all relate to time, is energetic, technically crisp and tasty as a ripe, autumn apple. McKone gets a bushel of orchestral color from his handcrafted six-string -- a guitar that, incidentally, he built himself. On "Tuesday Last," he uses a percussive two hands on the guitar fretboard technique that is surprising and harpsichord-like. "Midnight Moonless" is full of sharply executed technique, the kind we gee-tar players love -- cascades of sliding notes, hammer-ons and imitative sounds of harmonic, minor bells ringing from between the strings. Like many finger-pickers, John uses alternative guitar tunings in his compositions. These tunings help to sonically open up new worlds of harmony in a way analogous to the methods that an impressionist painter might evoke subtleties of light and color. The musical vocabulary of folk-like steel string sound and color is evident in John's pieces -- and like Joni Mitchell and Leo Kottke, McKone goes bravely beyond the usual tones. His pieces sometimes describe dark, cinematic landscapes and sometimes dance rhythmically with bright, happy melodies. I like the nice views John creates with his solo guitar. Take a listen and take a look. Don Strong is a musician and writer who creates cinematic music for theatre and film. Don also performs in the Twin Cities as a jazz singer/guitarist, produces CDs for Chanhassen Melody Recordings, and teaches creativity in the Public Schools. Don can be reached at www.donstrongmusic.com Copyright © 2003 Don Strong |
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