ELLIOTT SHARP'S TERRAPLANE

ELLIOTT SHARP'S TERRAPLANE
FORGERY (2007)
320 KBPS

While guitarist, saxophonist, and occasional vocalist Elliott Sharp has been projecting innovative, oddball, and completely original avant-garde craziness for three decades, Forgery is authentic to one of his greatest passions, the blues. Terraplane's lead vocalist, Eric Mingus, screams the title of "Smoke and Mirrors" like a Hendrix-possessed madman on the title track, but the tune is actually a fun, hard-driving blues-rocker, punctuated by his band's jazz-inflected horns. Take his primal screaming away, and it's a mainstream track. Mingus — the son of jazz legend Charles Mingus — tones down the odd registers on "Tell Me Why" just enough for the track to come across as a forceful expression of angst-ridden urban blues. There's no beating around the Bush (capital B intended) on "Katrina Blues/How the Crescent City Got Bleached," a retro-soul and blues-funk lament that blends New Orleans jazz with vocalist Tracie Morris' pointed vocal prayer. "Dance 4 Lance" is another Hendrix-happy, distorted vocal blast that's crazy but also somehow toe-tappin', while other tracks like "Long Way to Go" show Terraplane's slightly more sensitive side, albeit still in an edgy rock context. The free-form, percussion-driven, and Eastern-influenced guitar-plucked "Haditha" lets the avant-garde creep in, but for the most part, Forgery is just left-of-center aggressive American blues.

Personnel
Curtis Fowlkes - trombone, background vocals
Alex Harding - baritone saxophone, background vocals
David Hofstra - bass, tuba
Tony Lewis - drums
Eric Mingus - vocals
Tracie Morris - vocals
Elliott Sharp - guitars, steel guitar, glissentar, tenor saxophone, vocals

1. Smoke And Mirrors 5:23
2. tell Me Why 4:53
3. Katrina Blues/How The Crescent City Got Bleached 5:20
4. Badlands 5:30
5. Dance 4 Lance 4:01
6. Juke 5:47
7. Long Way To Go 4:58
8. War Between The States 5:37
9. Haditha 5:32
10. How Much Longer Blues 2:30
11. Boom Baby Boom 2:41