AlanN
Oct-09-2009, 6:03am
The cafe cover story.
I count myself as a flagship subscriber to this publication, all those years ago. Have every issue. Originally titled Galactic Crossroads (still have a T shirt with that logo), this soft paper rag was/is a gold-mine of all things mandolin. Tunes, technique, personality exposes, record reviews, opinion, letters.
John McGann had a regular column on Jazz/Blues. He would transcribe be-bop lines (Cannonball Adderley, Bird, Miles Davis), Tiny Moore, etc. John Baldry contributed fantastic solos through the years, with deft analysis of the lines - he would say 'here is a John Duffey 9th run, as done on such-and-such record', or 'this measure sports a Randy Graham lick', etc. Niles himself wrote technique columns. If an issue featured an artist, there was usually a sample of their work - Jimmy Gaudreau solos, Akira Otsuka (Delinquent Minor, a very hip tune), Peter Ostrushko, many others. All examples/transcriptions were carefully done in notation and TAB.
I recently scanned to the computer most of the musical passages in the issues, for ease of retrieval. Probably have 50+ .pdf files of various tunes, exercises, transcriptions.
Run and buy the back issues, they're great.
I count myself as a flagship subscriber to this publication, all those years ago. Have every issue. Originally titled Galactic Crossroads (still have a T shirt with that logo), this soft paper rag was/is a gold-mine of all things mandolin. Tunes, technique, personality exposes, record reviews, opinion, letters.
John McGann had a regular column on Jazz/Blues. He would transcribe be-bop lines (Cannonball Adderley, Bird, Miles Davis), Tiny Moore, etc. John Baldry contributed fantastic solos through the years, with deft analysis of the lines - he would say 'here is a John Duffey 9th run, as done on such-and-such record', or 'this measure sports a Randy Graham lick', etc. Niles himself wrote technique columns. If an issue featured an artist, there was usually a sample of their work - Jimmy Gaudreau solos, Akira Otsuka (Delinquent Minor, a very hip tune), Peter Ostrushko, many others. All examples/transcriptions were carefully done in notation and TAB.
I recently scanned to the computer most of the musical passages in the issues, for ease of retrieval. Probably have 50+ .pdf files of various tunes, exercises, transcriptions.
Run and buy the back issues, they're great.