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Guitar goddessesPatty Larkin brings together some of the best women players in worldBy Andrew Gilbert, Globe Correspondent | November 4, 2005

With so many accomplished female guitarists circulating around thejazz, folk, blues, and classical music scenes, is it necessary to design aproject to showcase women players?

Singer/songwriter Patty Larkin thinks so, which is what led her tocreate “La Guitara” (Vanguard Records), a CD anthology of female fretmasters released this week. The international cast features 14 standoutplayers, including foremothers Memphis Minnie and Elizabeth Cotton;Brazilian innovator Badi Assad, scion of a great guitar family; veteranrocker Ellen McIlwaine, whose band once featured Jimi Hendrix; andrising fingerstyle phenomenon Kaki King. The fact that the album justskims the surface of a deep talent pool (where are Debbie Davies, LeniStern, Mary Osborne, Joyce and Sister Rosetta Tharpe?) indicates thatfemale guitarists are doing just fine, thank you very much.

“Rather than marginalizing women players, we're exposing people totheir music,” says Larkin, who performs with a spinoff “La Guitara”tour featuring King, prodigious jazz player Mimi Fox, and genre-bending fingerstyle great Muriel Anderson at the Regattabar tonight. “Itopens up the discussion -- about what's gone on in the past and whichplayers have made an impact.”

A gifted player and composer, Larkin is also a studio wizard whoselatest album, “Red=Luck,” (also on Vanguard) is a spooky modalsession laced with touches of ambient noise. She started thinking abouta project to draw attention to female guitarists in 1997 while workingon her CD “Perishable Fruit.” When several interviewers queried herabout the seeming lack of great female players, she decided to takematters into her own hands. At first she thought she would highlightfemale singer-songwriters performing instrumentals, but the profusionof players who forged successful careers in the face of not-so-veiledprejudice led her to take a wider focus.

“That's how it started, as a discussion. Who are they? Where are they?”Larkin says. “Once we started researching it, we decided to go with amuch broader scope and expose women from all different genres andcountries. We always considered this the first installment. There are somany great players, we couldn't get all of them on it.”

For the three-week tour, Larkin wanted to feature players with fourdifferent styles (she brings a second “La Guitara” lineup to BerkleePerformance Center in March, with Kaki King and classical virtuosoSharon Ibsin). Each performer will play a short solo set, and then they'llpair up in various combinations.

While they all have thriving solo careers, the tour is an opportunity toreach a much broader audience. Though in Anderson's case, she'salready a one-woman genre wrecking crew. Her new CD, “Wildcat,”due out later this month, features a diverse cast of guests such asguitarists Duane Eddy and Stanley Jordan, fiddler Stuart Duncan,bassist Nicki Parrott, and pianist John Colianni. The first woman to wina national fingerpicking guitar championship, Anderson has honed astylistically polyglot sound encompassing Japanese koto, Irish reels,and Andalusian flamenco.

At 25, King is too young to remember the bad old days when femaleinstrumentalists faced widespread prejudice. Since the 2003 release of

her prophetically titled ''Everybody Loves You" (Velour), animpressive debut with 10 original pieces displaying her intricate,percussive finger-style work, King has won an avid following and amajor-label contract. Favoring low tunings that accentuate her guitar'sresonant bass tones, King employs two-handed tapping, plucking,string rubbing, and slapping her instrument's rounded back. Shereleased her second album, ''Legs to Make Us Longer" (Sony/BMG'sRed Ink label), last year.

Mimi Fox, a force on the San Francisco jazz scene for the past quarter-century, knows about the attitudes that can discourage young players --not that she's faced many hassles recently, as she's increasinglydeveloped a bicoastal presence, including a teaching gig at New YorkUniversity. She's recorded a series of sensational albums, including2001's ''Standards" (Origin Records), and her latest CD, ''She's theWoman," the first release on Steve Vai's Favored Nations Cool label.

While she has faced her share of sexism on the bandstand, Fox is quickto point out that jazz can be a brutal field for any musician: ''When Iwas younger and I would go to jam sessions, I would have my guitar onmy back and I'd get up to play and someone would say, 'What do youwant to sing, sweetheart?' I understand the thing about having to proveyourself. It's an added burden for women, but I've seen guys be ruthlesswith each other, too."

At first Fox compensated for the bias against women players bydeveloping her chops. But over the years she's gained the confidenceand respect of her peers to play whatever she feels like, rather thanblazing away to demonstrate her technique whenever she's in a newsituation.

''None of us want to be ghettoized," Fox says. ''We're standing on ourown merit and it feels very positive, like we're addressing this voidwhen it comes to an awareness of women players. The void is more inpeople's minds than in reality, and this really makes a point you can'tavoid."

Larkin says two seemingly polar musical currents helped open thefloodgates for female guitarists. In the late 1970s, the do-it-yourselfethos of punk and the women's music movement created space forfemale players to hone their own sound. Larkin says it's not acoincidence that the four women on the tour are also composers whopour a good deal of their energy into developing original music.

''I was talking to someone about that last week: Is there a women'sapproach to the instrument?" Larkin says. ''Maybe that would be part ofit, that you make it your own and become a composer as well as aplayer. I'm not sure whether that's the case, but it'll foster someinteresting discussions along the way."

"La Guitara," featuring Patty Larkin, Muriel Anderson, Kaki King, andMimi Fox comes to the Regattabar tonight at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Tickets$26. Call 617-395-7757 or visit www.regattabarjazz.com.

© 2005 The New York Times Company

La Guitara: Gender Bending StringsAnthology of Women GuitaristsVanguard Records

When I was young if someone said you played like a chick guitar player they would be smilingor ducking. After hearing this anthology, it could only be construed as a complement.

Produced by Patty Larkin and Bette Warner, La Guitara brings together the work of fourteenexceptional guitar players who all happen to be women. Musical styles include Classical, Folk,Acoustic blues, Electric blues, Rock, Latin, and even Near Eastern. The artist list covers a wideswath with old pros, up and comers and historical icons represented. The performer list includesSharon Isbin, Memphis Minnie, Mimi Fox, Kaki King, Ellen Mcllwaine, Badi Assad, AlexHoughton, Vicki Genfan, Muriel Anderson, Rory Block, Jennifer Batten, and Elizabeth Cottonjoining producer Patty Larkin. Given such a wide variety of divergent styles this anthology couldhave all the musical continuity of a public radio broadcast, but Larkin manages to give theanthology an overall musical shape and form. It begins with a contemplative mood andgradually weaves its way into more up-beat and experimental material before climaxing withElizabeth Cotton's triumphant �Wilson Rag.�

Choosing the most outstanding selections on La Guitara is as much a function of a reviewer'stastes as it is an analysis of the music. But to my ears the Memphis Minnie tune � Let's Go ToTown� ties with Vickie Geffen's �Joy� and Alex Houghton's �The Bear� as the cuts most likely tohave you pushing the �repeat� button on your CD player. All three guitarists combinesuperhuman physical technique with a novel rhythmic and melodic musical structure to createarresting music. Producer Patty Larkin's specially recorded contribution combines old-fashionedguitar sounds with modern sonic treatments to create a novel composition that's unlike most ofher previous work.

All but a few of the selections on La Guitara have been previously released on each artist's ownCDs. But still this anthology, some of whose proceeds go toward the national non-profit �Guitarsin the Classroom,� manages to be more than the sum of its parts. Even though the variety ofsources does make for a wide range in sound quality - you can't expect a '30's recording ofMemphis Minnie to sound as good as a 2003 recording of Badi Assad; the overall sonic qualityis more than acceptable and never gets in the way of the music.

With the advent of the I-pod shuffle much of the impetus behind purchasing anthologies hasbeen lost. After all, anyone can program I-tunes or their multi-disk CD changer to create instantanthologies of their own musical collections. Still, arranging music around some sort of themeguided by an overriding intelligence has a unique appeal. La Guitara successfully delivers thewide spectrum of great female players on a well-crafted silver platter.

Steven Stone, March 2006 issue

MUSIC

Power of TensOur critics run down the best Jazz, Dance/Electronic, Classicaland Roots CDs of 2005.

December 22-28, 2005Top 10 Roots CDs of 2006 By Mary Armstrong

1. Various Artists, Hands Across the Water (Compass)Each cut on this tsunami benefit comp is a different pairing � 16different acoustic music dream teams. Altan and Vince Gill. RodneyCrowell and Paul Brady (with Jimmie Rodgers yodel). Jim Lauderdaleand Maura O'Connell. Solas with Mindy Smith. Welsh rocker CerysMatthews sings a traditional number in both Welsh and English, and withbluegrass fiddler Stuart Duncan in Eastern European mode and JohnJorgenson's gypsy guitar, it's a delightful surprise. Such imaginativecombinations.

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2. Foghorn Stringband, Weiser Sunrise (Netwerk)Go ahead, try to stay in your seat! From "Mississippi Sawyer" to a squaredance treatment of our beloved "Golden Slippers," the fiddle and banjoetch the beats, live to tape. This is the genuine sound of a Foghorn squaredance; the only thing lacking is the calls.

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3. Jimmy "T99" Nelson, The Legend (Nettie Marie)Lush horn-laden blues grab us with the first cut, and punch outhistorically correct calypso, sounding every bit like it did in its mid-20thcentury heyday. Nelson, born in 1919, has the perspective to tweak thesearrangements in an accurate frenzy. His still-strong pipes demand thatpowerful an accompaniment. When Kinsey gets updated, they shouldinclude this sly dog's tunes and lyrics as exhibit A in the geriatriccategory. To hear him tell it, his rockin' isn't restricted to the stage.

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4. Kate Rusby, The Girl Who Couldn't Fly (Compass)Rusby has a distinctive voice, light and given to vibrato at the ends ofphrases, perfect for the English traditional songs she brings to life here.Her settings are contemporary and acoustic, and � just to see if you arepaying attention � she renders "You Belong to Me" (yes, "see thepyramids," etc.) in the same style.

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5. Tim O'Brien, Cornbread Nation (Sugar Hill)Bluegrass, blues, swing, a dab of Cajun � O'Brien has had themmastered for so long that he can deftly drop a song strictly associatedwith one genre into another and neither side complains. He can evenwrite a hilarious number about e-mail and make it sound like the Stanleyswrote it 60 years ago. This CD is the recorded definition of Americana.

6. Various Artists, La Guitara (Vanguard)Almost 20 years ago Patty Larkin wrote "NotBad for a Broad," a song narrating the trialsof a woman who happens to be an excellentguitarist in a traditionally male world.Apparently the battle still rages, since heranthology of breathtaking women players issubtitled "Gender Bending Strings." Huh?The CD needs no gimmick; the music speaksfor itself. From early blues by MemphisMinnie to modern blues by Rory Block tomajor distortion rock (Jennifer Batten),there isn't a lame cut. Kaki King's snappingrhythms contrast brilliantly with the rapiddelicacy of multiple Grammy winner SharonLisbin.

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7. Fanfare Ciocarlia, Ancient Secrets of GypsyBrass (Asphalt-Tango)The title seems almost a joke, starting off at agallop with the theme from James Bond.Irresistible energy over Eastern European tunes,think New Orleans brass on speed, amazingstuff, with their own Rumanian Louis-style highvelocity vocals.

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8. Bebo Valdés, Bebo de Cuba (Calle 54)In this impressive package (two CDs and oneDVD), Paquito D'Rivera and Andy Gonzalezare among the herd of Latin jazz stars whoperform Valdes' complex compositionsflawlessly. Definitely a jazz CD, but without theAfro-Cuban roots rhythms these compositionswould not exist, so even folk purists shouldappreciate the octogenarian legend of Cuba'sgolden era paying tribute to his heritage.

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9. Luciana Souza, Duos II (Sunnyside)Souza is an astonishing singer, a master of bothjazz and classical techniques in addition to hernative Brazilian sambas. The latter are the meatof this CD, just her voice and one wildlyimaginative guitarist per track. Together theycreate the excitement of samba school without asingle drum.

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10. The Bills, Let Em Run (Red House)When Americana reaches north of the borderthey add a few things, like songs of FrenchCanada, to the mix. Arresting instrumentals andcreative mixing of musical metaphors make theBills popular on both sides.

http://citypaper.net/articles/2005-12-22/music.shtml?genre=roots© Copyright 1995�2005 Philadelphia City Paper. All rights reserved.

While the recent box set Progressions: 100 Years of Jazz Guitar offered a nice snapshot of thebreadth of jazz guitarists who have contributed to the instrument’s advancement over theyears, one could not help noticing that there are no women represented. Of course, there havebeen very few female jazz guitarists recorded unless one counts some of the blues performerswho were around early in the music’s development or who have come along more recently.Still, one hears little, even today, about talented female guitarists of the past and present.Though a single disc, La Guitara: Gender Bending Strings, compiled by executive producerPatty Larkin does an excellent job of putting the spotlight on some very talented femaleguitarists.

La Guitara actually begins, not with the guitar at all, but rather with pipa (pronounced pee-pah)virtuoso Wu Man. Pipa is a four-stringed, lute-like traditional Chinese instrument. Man playsboth traditional Chinese music and more contemporary works by performers such as Terry Rileyand Philip Glass. The track included here, “Invocation” comes from Man’s recording Pipa From aDistance and creates a very contemporary sound world, including as it does samples and audiomanipulation by Abel Domingues.

Classical and traditional Spanish guitar have certainly long been considered a masculine arena,but as Larkin points out in her liner notes, “Why were there so many artistic renderings done ofwomen playing parlor and harp guitars in the centuries before the last one, yet there were sofew women who actually played?” The implication, of course, is that there were clearly womenwho actually played, but that they were ignored or marginalized by the male-dominated societyand musical establishment, and who could argue with such a point? Listen here to Sharon Isbin,a classically trained guitarist since age 9, a student of Segovia, who has recorded some 25albums and can readily and beautifully play music ranging from baroque, classical Spanishguitar, jazz fusion, and contemporary styles. Or check out Brazilian Badi Assad, who hasassiduously explored the traditions of Brazilian music and now includes more world influencesand neo-classical performances like “Preludio e Toccatina,” heard here, in her repertoire. Thesewomen provide a clear message that not only is great and innovative guitar work not confinedto male performers, it is also unrestricted geographically.

Female jazz and blues guitar heroes are easier to come by these days, but they were alwaysaround, though largely unrecognized. Two historic figures who are featured here are MemphisMinnie and Elizabeth Cotton. Cotton surfaced during the folk/blues revival of the early ‘60s.Hailing from North Caroline, Cotton developed a picking and chordal style by laying the guitarflat on her lap. Her “Wilson Rag” demonstrates that she was an accomplished guitarist and folkcomposer as well. Memphis Minnie is well known as a seminal blues musician who moved fromrural Mississipi to Chicago, and the evolution of her music parallels that of the bluesthemselves. Here she is heard in duet with her husband, Kansas Joe. Rory Block is a modernfemale blues performer who is widely regarded as a top interpreter of country blues. The verybrief “Guitar Ditty 1” demonstrates Block’s mastery of the slide guitar. On the jazz side ofthings is Mimi Fox, who plays an equally brief selection, “Lady Byrd.” Fox is a fantastic jazzguitarist, equally at home on steel string and hollow body guitar. Her work can remind listenersof jazz guitar greats from Wes Montgomery to Joe Pass and Herb Ellis.

Then there are a number of genre-defying guitarists who just do what they do—and woe to thelistener who seeks to pigeonhole them. Kaki King, who comes from Atlanta but currentlyresides in NY City, uses a highly percussive technique to get a wide array of sounds from herguitar. The track heard here, “Kewpie Station” is probably unlike any solo guitar work you’veheard before. Ellen McIlwaine has been recording since 1969, and is an acknowledged master ofslide guitar. She’s done lots of traditional blues and rock, and her more recent work (includingthe track here, “Sidu [Grandmother]) brings Indian ragas to the slide guitar, with strikingresults. Ottowa, Canada native Alex Houghton provides a bold piece, “The Bear” that seems tocombine folk, rock, Indian, and bluegrass elements into a piece of music that instantlyresonates. Vicki Genfan, Jennifer Batten, and Muriel Anderson all provide ample evidence thatthere are plenty of accomplished and innovative female guitarists out there, just waiting to beheard.

hen there’s Larkin herself, who, while critically acclaimed, is sometimes more recognized as asinger/songwriter than a guitarist. Her contribution, a new recording titled “Bound Brook”recalls, at times, the dreamy, folk/country/Americana landscape painted by Bill Frisell onseveral recordings, yet Larkin maintains a sound that is all her own. In addition, Larkin shouldbe commended for putting together this compilation. Though it should be seen as a beginning,not an ending, it is a fantastic compilation for those who enjoy music in general and the guitarin particular. Here’s hoping there’s plenty more recordings to come from these, and other, asyet undiscovered, talented female guitarists.

http://www.jazzitude.com/la_guitara.htm |

Pick on someone else - these guitar goddesses ruleBy Daniel GewertzWednesday, November 2, 2005

In 1980, at a local bar, an audience member came up to Patty Larkin with a commentabout her guitar playing: “Not bad for a broad.”

Larkin wrote a comic song about the back-handed compliment. “Not Bad for a Broad”became one of the folk-pop singer-songwriter’s most requested songs of the ’80s.

About the same time, a fellow guitar teacher told Larkin that “Girls just can’t play greatguitar. It’s genetic.”

It took a quarter-century, but Larkin finally has the perfect retort: an album featuring14 great female guitarists and a rich variety of styles called “La Guitara: GenderBending Strings.”

“Great female guitarists now exist, and I wanted to prove that point,” Larkin said.“People who think women can’t play will be silenced by this album. I listened to over100 guitarists. A lot of talent is bubbling up. The revolution has happened.”

While two of the album’s players are historical figures (Memphis Minnie and ElizabethCotton) and three are well-established (classical ace Sharon Isbin and blues veteransRory Block and Ellen McIllwaine), the majority on “La Guitara” are young or little-knownfem-guitar dynamos.

Larkin is now on tour with three of them. Young acoustic star Kaki King, jazz artist MimiFox and Muriel Anderson, a flamenco expert, play with Larkin on Friday at the Regattabar.

Larkin believes the reason there are so few famous guitar heroines is simple: no historicalprecedent. Growing up, there were no female Jeff Becks for Larkin to emulate.

“I was inspired by any woman holding a guitar, even if, like Joan Baez or Joni Mitchell,they weren’t known primarily as guitarists. It’s nurture, not nature,” she said.

Do women mimic men on guitar? Does discrimination still exist? Who are young femaleguitarists listening to now? To answer such questions, Larkin is organizing discussiongroups on tour. And part of the album’s proceeds go to Guitars in the Classroom, anonprofit project.

Is an era of guitar goddesses coming?

“I have a feeling the door has already opened,” Larkin said. “After all, there is now a LedZeppelin tribute band called ‘Lez Zeppelin.’”

© Copyright by the Boston Herald and Herald Media.

Not bad: Larkin’s album features 14great female guitarists and a richvariety of styles.

VARIOUS ARTISTS "La Guitara: GenderBending Strings" VanguardFriday, October 28, 2005; Page WE10VARIOUS ARTISTS "La Guitara: Gender Bending Strings" Vanguard

When people talked about Patty Larkin, they always praised her singing and songwriting but rarely mentioned herguitar playing, which is the most impressive part of her music. Listeners, it seemed, carried an unconsciousassumption that women can excel as singer-songwriters but not as guitarists. It wouldn't be enough to argue thepoint, Larkin realized; what was needed was some evidence. So the Berklee-trained musician compiled an anthologyof 14 brilliant guitar performances by women and released it as "La Guitara: Gender Bending Strings."

The CD ranges far beyond the folk-based acoustic-guitar picking associated with Larkin. It begins with Chinese pipavirtuoso Wu Man and classical guitarist Sharon Isbin and goes on to include fluid jazz soloist Mimi Fox, Brazilianstar Badi Assad, 1930s blues legend Memphis Minnie and Michael Jackson's electric guitarist, Jennifer Batten.Some names are well known -- Muriel Anderson was the first woman to win the National Fingerpicking GuitarChampionship, while Rory Block has more than 20 albums to her credit -- but two young women, Alex Houghtonand Vicki Genfan, are being introduced to a broader audience for the first time.

There are no distracting lyrics on the album (though there is some scat singing), and all the tracks have beenpreviously released except for new recordings by Larkin and Genfan. More impressive than the flawlessperformances within established genres are the few instances when these guitarists are breaking new ground. NewYork's Kaki King and Ottawa's Houghton both combine percussive tapping and hammering on the strings,prominent bass parts, pulsing motifs and sparkling melodic interludes to create unusual compositions. And bluesveteran Ellen McIlwaine plays Indian ragas on slide guitar in a way that fuses the two genres into a new hybrid.-- Geoffrey Himes

Patty Larkin, Kaki King, Muriel Anderson and Mimi Fox appear Tuesday and Wednesday at the Barns of WolfTrap, Nov. 9 at the Gordon Center for the Performing Arts in Owings Mills and Nov. 10 at the Rams Head Tavernin Annapolis.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company