When I looked down the list of musicians who were born on this day the first one that caught my eye had the same first name my first son – Nick, Then I looked at his last name and it’s my second son’s first name Andrew now I was really intrigued! A look at his instrument, the electric guitar sealed the deal ! I was going to check out Mr Nick Andrew. My first stop was his website, where I read…..
Nick is a remarkably accomplished guitarist who takes ‘Fusion’ to another level with his range encompassing the full spectrum from flamenco and classical to jazz and rock and is not only a dazzling soloist but also an intuitive and creative rhythm player whether on acoustic, electric or MIDI instruments.
Nick grew up in Scotland, where he established a formidable reputation as a virtuoso guitarist, composer, teacher and session guitarist, playing alongside various masters from the world of Classical and Jazz guitar including Simon Dinnegan, John Goldie, Allan Neave and Russian composer Nikita Koshkin
As I read on, I read that the jazz band…..
Curfew recruited Nick in 2001 on the basis of his rhythm/groove playing and he co-wrote, performed and produced Curfews latest release “Hold the Front Page”. He will be touring with Curfew later in 2010.
In 2008, Nick produced and orchestrated the album ‘White Clouds’ for Prog rockers, Vienna Circle.
Ok so I went to MOG and listened to a little of Curfew’s latest release Somewhere in the City. It sounded pretty good but a little voice inside my head said “Check Out” Vienna Circle” So giving in to my ADD, I was quickly searching on MOG for Vienna Circle. I found them and their two albums White Clouds their début album and Silhouette Moon which was released this year! I decided to start with White Clouds. While I was listening I surfed over to ProgArchives and discovered a little more about the band…..
UK-based act VIENNA CIRCLE is a collaborative band project with brothers Paul Davis (guitars, vocals, piano, keyboards) and Jack Davis (bass, piano, backing vocals) as the only permanent members to date.
The idea for the band started in 2006, when the brothers started writing songs for what would ultimately develop to be a concept album; with the first world war as the historical backdrop.
After searching on the internet the brothers located Russell Wilson (drums), who agreed to record the drum tracks for the album. He brought along Nick Andrews, at first to engineer the production of the drum tracks. However, Andrews got so intrigued by the bands compositions that he eventually offered to produce the whole album…..
I stopped and listened to the album and thought this is really good, right up my alley! So it was back to the ProgArchives to check the reviews on the album. The album has a 4.25 rating out of 5 based on 41 reviews with 63% of the ratings labeling the album as an excellent addition to any prog rock collection!!! .I agree and I think that it is going to quickly join mine!!
When I went to get coffee I listened courtesy of MOG to their new album Silhouette Moon which is slightly different, but still just as good!!
Finally I made it around to Nick’s solo album Solo? From his website:
Nick wrote, performed, produced and independently released his first solo CD called “Solo?” which is a mixture of modern classical with jazz (with a touch of Rock n’ Roll!). The Album also exposes Nick’s biggest musical influences, Chick Corea, Beethoven, Chopin and Jeff Beck!
For the Concerto for Electric guitar and orchestra, Nick played all the instruments himself, all on guitar! (Even the violas, drums, whooshes and gongs) using modern Midi guitar technology, and a wee computer.
That album became the soundtrack of my trip to Wal-Mart (it pains me to say that I went there) The album opens with Andrew’s version of ‘The Flight of the Bumble Bee’.One listen and I knew this guy was special, I now understood why the LickLibrary enlisted his services to do a video of the track!!! The album is amazing at least through the first few tracks….I’m up to the 2nd movement of the “Concerto for Electric guitar and orchestra” and I can’t wait to finish listening!!!
So check out Nick Andrew and don’t just take my word for it…. Here’s what other say about Nick
“Nick is an ace who proves it with his versatility and the guitar command. He is shockingly gifted and ingenious artist . “- Department of Virtuosity (Poland)
“Brilliant”-Martin Taylor
“Something totally original, off the wall and unique”– Phil Yan Zerk
“A virtuoso performance by an electric guitar master!”-Scotsman newspaper
“Awesome stuff!”-Lenny Breau
Recognize that second fellow from the other day….he knows a bit about playing guitar!!
Sources and/or Links:
ProgArchives – White Clouds, Vienna Circle
Facebook: Vienna Circle about
Websites: Nick Andrew: Vienna Circle
All About Jazz: Nick Andrew
Here’s that licklibrary video of Nick playing “Flight of the Bumblebee and this is just a snippet of the whole track!!