Rick Matle

Music:

Member Since: 18/09/2006
Band Website: http://www.sheilalandis.com
Band Members:
See Rick play the bluesy Kenny Burrell piece "Chitlins Con Carne"
Influences: Kenny Burrell, Frank Zappa, T-Bone Walker, Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Pass, Charlie Hunter, Pete Townsend, Grant Green, Miles Davis, Neil Young, Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery, John McLaughlin, King Crimson, Emily Remler, Slim Galliard, Hank Williams, Dick Dale, Tiny Grimes, Larry Young, Randy Johnston, Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan, Herb Ellis, Hubert Sumlin, John Scofield, George Benson, Jeff Beck, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Barney Kessell, Daniel Lanois, Charlie Christian, Joao Gilberto, Bill Frisell, Jimmy Smith, Louis Jordan, Marc Ribot, David Grisman
Review of "Ears Wide Shut" SheLan 1017
Rick Matle is an amazing guitarist whose solo release shines with fruitful experiments that showcase his many abilities, wide tastes and creative experiences. Over the years, with partner Sheila Landis on vocals, Matle has created an astounding number of bluesy jazz releases that present their special chemistry. With the trippier "Ears Wide Shut", Matle proves himself to be as diverse and free-thinking as his influences. He's also taken the opportunity to stretch his musical boundaries with instrumental sound snippets that bounce from hard psychedelia to reflective folkstrum-alongs. From these extremes he's crafted an organic and cohesive 47minutes of music that never fragments but remains connected and flowing. Along the way there are percussive side trips down jazz inspired, Latin flavored back alleys, delicate wisps of dream songs half forgotten, and raw, earthy ambient pieces that recall the ancient. "The Dark Backwards" in fact, sounds like cave people jamming with clay pots and electric guitars. Matle does justice to the memory and innovations of so many artists in the relatively short history of electric guitar from Charlie Christian to Larry Coryell, to Robert Fripp, but perhaps recalls most of all the spirit and sense of adventure that defined Jimi Hendrix. The CD is conceptually designed with shorter, softer pieces giving way to increasingly longer, wilder experiments to the climax of the 13 minute title noise-opus "Ears Wide Shut". As harsh and unblinking as the cinematic work of the late Stanley Kubrick, this track also delights in the beauty of the unusual in a way Kubrick might have admired.

-Ralph Valdez WDET-FM National Public Radio in Detroit
Metro Times review from November 2006 Sheila Landis and Rick Matle
"Blues in the Night" SheLan Records USA
Grade: AAn emphasis on bluesy and rootsy material on this collection, half new and half culled from the last dozen years of work by the vocal-guitar duo. They do "Fever" and Willie Nelson's "Crazy," but there's still room for whiplash hard bop, some jazz-meets-poetry material and a rockin' take on "At Last." Landis' 21st album is the place to start if you've been sleeping on this lightning bolt of a singer and her simpatico seven-string guitarist. —W Kim Heron
The Rick Matle Trio plays Besame Mucho
Sounds Like: Click here for Rick's live performance schedule and audio tracks with vocalist Sheila Landis
Type of Label: Indie