Acoustic Sketches

Description

Acoustic Sketches is an instrumental album by the American singer, songwriter, and guitarist Phil Keaggy, independently released by PKC (Phil Keaggy Club) in 1996 and re-issued by Sparrow Records two years later. More than an hour of unrestrained solo acoustic guitar work ranging from quiet, contemplative moments, to a slapped and tapped feast for the ears. Acoustic Sketches netted the Nashville Music Award for “Instrumental Album of the Year”.

Originally released in late 1996 as an album available only through the Phil Keaggy Club, it has now found wider distribution. Keaggy makes good use of electronic technology to enhance the acoustic guitars, particularly his Lexicon Jam Man with which he builds up layers of sound to great effect. Throughout the album there are brief “quotes” from previous Keaggy songs buried within various tracks here. This gives this album a comfortable familiarity, yet it still remains fresh and original. “Sketches” in the title underrates Keaggy’s ability to paint pictures with his music. His acoustic compositions are full of “colour”, the cascading effects on «Rivulets» make you almost believe you can feel the water. «The Marionette» shows dramatically his ability to paint a rich picture of sound from just one acoustic guitar. Keaggy’s rather bluesy version of «Swing Low, Sweet Chariot» brings some fun into the album with its accompanying tuba. As is often the case with Keaggy, the guitar playing is not dramatically showy, but is technically excellent and often outstanding, drawing you into the landscapes he paints with his guitar. The album has some of Keaggy’s best compositional work since ‘The Master And The Musician‘. [Martin Emerson, Cross Rhythms, June 1998]

Acoustic Sketches (Deluxe), 2019

Back when I was exploring new ways to use my Lexicon Jamman in the mid 90s, and still recording to an analog 8 track reel to reel machine, I plugged my Langejans guitar into the Jamman and out of the Jamman straight into the input of channel 1 and 2 of the Tascam 388/ 8 track machine. I just started making stuff up and looping over the phrases. Here’s a run down of the obvious tracks that were spontaneous: Tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 18 were improvised on the spot. The other tracks were formulated and constructed beforehand. Track 11 («Swing Low») was actually recorded during my Beyond Nature sessions but we all agreed it didn’t fit that project, and it feels more at home here. Tracks 21, 22 and 23 are bonus live recordings put here, hopefully for your listening pleasure – and mine as well, as I enjoyed hearing these live recordings, especially «Nellie’s Tune»! Well, there you have it – Freehand came about a few years later with an assortment of improvised pieces and worked out songs as well, similar to this collection. [Phil Keaggy, August 15, 2019]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/acoustic-sketches-deluxe/1665331008)

CD tracklist:

01. Metamorphosis – 4:52
02. Rivulets – 2:56
03. Nellie’s Tune – 3:24
04. Passing Thought – 1:29
05. The Marionette – 3:48
06. Del’s Bells – 1:30
07. Looking Back – 0:36
08. Paka – 2:55
09. Spend My Life With You – 5:52
10. Jam In The Pocket – 4:09
11. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – 3:18
12. The 50th – 6:59
13. Morning Snow – 3:15
14. Spanish Fantasy – 1:49
15. On Some Distant Shore – 5:04
16. Icicles – 2:18
17. On Second Thought – 2:33
18. Griegarious – 0:16
19. Legacy – 5:26

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Sparrow Records. An Acoustic Sketches songbook was published by Mel Bay Publications in 1997 (paperback format, 95 pages). Acoustic Sketches (Deluxe) available at Bandcamp: https://philkeaggy.bandcamp.com/album/acoustic-sketches-deluxe

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