Catherine Delgadillo, guitar heroine from Santa Cruz, California, has released her first solo album "Paradise Swamp." Catherine is a superb guitar player, up there among the best jazz fusion / prog rock players I've heard. Her new solo album is a change from her earlier San Francisco Bay area hard rock band Charade, which she fronted. Personally, I'm more of a three-chord rock guy and I think I would have liked to have seen Charade open for Foghat back in the day. But that was a different time and Catherine has obviously continued to develop her talents far beyond these constraints. So I appreciate what Catherine is doing here.
"Paradise Swamp" is an instrumental album, with strongly melodic guitar playing that holds everything together. It's evocative and richly textured. She gets a lot of tone out of her PRS! The guitar sound is well balanced with Catherine's keyboards, husband Kevin Delgadillo's perfectly timed and complex drumming, and no less than three different bass players. Standout songs include the title track, "Turning Point," and "Another level."
You don't have to be a guitar nut or musician to be a fan of this music. It's not shredding, or technical theatrics the way you sometimes find with prog rock. If you like Alan Holdsworth and Brand X, you'll love "Paradise Swamp." You can listen to a few of the songs on Catherine's MySpace Page. Or better yet, just go buy the CD.
- Catherine Delgadillo: Official site, MySpace Page, PayPlay.fm, Guitar9, CD Baby
Wow, yes I have to agree with you on this album! Catherine knows how to extract her own tone from that wonderful PRS....my band is a shredding progressive metal band, and us shredders have great appreciation for the fusion oriented rock jazz chops!
Catherine opens you up into her world with her fresh and enlightening take on the fusion genre....look out boys, you've got some competition!
Posted by: crystal fawn | January 11, 2008 at 03:14 PM