Rudy Linka: American Trailer

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Rudy Linka (g)
Rudy Royston (d)
Larry Grenadier (b)

Label:

self-released

March/2018

RecordDate:

January and April 2017

This is a very charming set from the Prague-born guitarist Rudy Linka, who was voted one of the 10 best guitarists by Down Beat readers in 1998. Linka wears his influences on his sleeve. After defecting (remember the Iron Curtain?) from his country of birth via Germany to Sweden and then the US, Linka studied at Berklee and then with, among others, John Abercrombie, an obvious inspiration. ‘Big Hall Blues’ is dedicated to ‘Jim H[all]’, another major influence. The heavy blues of ‘Just Right’ is dedicated to ‘Jimi H’, though Hendrix is generally a less self-evident source for Linka’s development. (Another of his teachers was John Scofield, who last year performed at the Bohemia JazzFest, founded and directed by Linka.) My favourite cuts are the two versions of the Lennon and McCartney standard ‘Come Together’: ‘Remix 1’ opens the album in laidback fashion, with Linka’s picking initially registering as barely more than a delicate, sleepy murmuring, while ‘Remix 2’, towards the end of the set, comes on fast, fluent and funky.

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