WHAT DO CRITICS AND PROGRAM DIRECTORS SAY ABOUT DARYLL DOBSON?
PETER MERRETT PBS 106 MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA
Dear Solar Guitars,
Peter Merrett here and l am the music manager for radio station PBS FM 106-7 Melbourne Australia.
We are the cities leading Roots and Jazz based independent radio station, and as such we are free of the constraints of the corporate sector and government departments demands and expectations. and as such do not have to toe the commercial line. Ratings show us out scoring commercial stations on a regular basis. What we are is the countries leading music station. Music and just music is what we are about and the music is presented by passionate announcers who are free to choose what they play and because of this we do not play-list.
I have just received 2 copies of your wonderful cd "Reality Check" by Daryll Dobson, came to us through Radiodirectx, glad it did as we really love your stunning in your face Fusion Jazz, the style is powerful and straight to the point, delivered in a strong take no prisoners style. The choice of material and arrangements are perfect vehicles for Daryll to display his virtuosity and take you through high's and low's of the style. Never compromising in any way, it is marvelous and our audiences most certainly will love the sound. It certainly struck us a an extraordinary cd one that will be very well received by our astute audience.
As with all the music that comes to the station we listen to the cd's and then decide as to where to allocate to gain the very best air time for the artists and label. Not only do we play the music but also like to promote the we sites as well. We love this cd so as to making a choice where to allocate to was extremely easy. We placed the first with a show that has aired for 26 years and is the very best and probably only dedicated Fusion show in the country. The show "Bitches Brew" with Len davis, Tuesday 8pm to 10pm. Len has been a leading part of the jazz music scene here for many years and is highly respected and listened to. The second copy l decided to place with our popular Guitar show "Fret Net" with Steve Passiouras Tuesday 7 to 8pm. Even though the shows are on the same day l feel that they will compliment each other with their individual approaches to their respective shows. Our station has over 400-000 listeners per week and over 5 million hits per month on our web site.
You can check us out at www.pbsfm.org.au also you can register at no cost and enable yourself to access our show archives. Once again thank-you for the music and welcome to PBS FM and of course Melbourne Australia. If l can be of help please don't hesitate to contact me and lastly from all of us here to all of you there may we wish you all the best for a happy music filled prosperous year.
regards Peter.
ZAZZ MAGAZINE
God this guy is great! Magnificent rolls and gooves abound in this Led Zeppelin like production. It’s fat, big and formidable...and it flies! Try going to this man’s world. He created it and he’s willing to share.
GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE
...backed by musicians such as violinist L. Shankar and keyboardist Kenny Kirkland, Dobson burns...deft ensemble playing...
OPTION MAGAZINE
...an exceptional guitarist...gobs of virtuosic guitar...fusion guitar fans will eat up “Thor Part 2”...
SUN SENTINEL FT. LAUDERDALE
...a sense of sophistication that is rare...an intriguing blend of instrumentation and rhythm...
DOWNBEAT
…a mahavishnu-esque journey to the stratosphere with Hendrixian flights of feedback...untamed, explosive, guitar fantasia...
XS Magazine Ft. Lauderdale Fl.
...Dobson is a master of his art ...nothing less than a genius at work The
Mac Report, June 8 1994
- If you believe in the addage, “good things come in small packages” then this good thing in an unknown package should thrill you down to your silks!...open with anticipation, listen with delight, and turn your friends on to Daryll Dobson...
Randy Allar-Jazz Director, WCSB FM Cleveland, July 21 1994
...one of the most refreshing guitarist to come along in quite some time...sit back relax and enjoy the journey...
New Times, Miami Fl
....one of the great jazz-rock fusion innovators...
From The Liner Notes of The Mind Electric Vinyl LP. Written by Charles Little – freelance writer for Jazziz Magazine and other publications
Somewhere between the gigantic continents of jazz and rock lies a formidable musical gulf that is as controversial as it is undefinable. Jazz Purists”cynically categorize it as fusion, but within its fat layer is a lean, mean, muscular infrastructure, rich with technical wizardry, emotional breadth, and unexplored musical frontiers. Guitarist, in particular know this groove that includes the likes of John McLaughlin, Jean-Luc-Ponty, Return to Forever, etc The styles are so diverse, but the language is so phonetically similar. These musicians have culminated years of listening and playing into forms of music processed without artificial ingredients and have plunged into the beyond with a musical sword, forged in a new . Mainstream that has converged all the older tributaries. New introductions are rare but when they creep out of seclusion, the listening underground wails and fights for a glimpse of the discovered prodigies.
Debut releases usually only hint at the enormous potential underlying musical savants, but Daryll Dobson’s THE MIND ELECRIC is a fully realized guitarist’s odyssey that will assure his acceptance as Jazz/Rock/Fusion’s newest potential guitar legend. As a guitarist, Dobson is at the pinnacle of the emotive guitar technicians, citing phrases that echo a breath-stammering Cotlrane, with Far East modalities, and the special belching feedback of Hendrix. He has also decided to chart his course with the axe of the future, the guitar synthesizer. Wielding this instrument, Dobson merits inclusion in the newly formed guitar synthesizer front, previously dominated by McLaughlin and Metheny. His utilization of the guitar synthesizer goes way beyond this scorching leads, delving into a domain that keyboard synthesists have long worked in, to obtain background coloring effects.
Another testament to Dobson’s ability is the supporting personnel that his reputation gained him during his stay in N.Y.C. L.Shankar’s playing is one of the hottest of the many hot spots on this album. Long a compatriot of McLaughlin, Shankar is well established in the school of rip and burn, but never before has he been able to grind with the intensity he displays on Babylon. Shankar’s intervallic and octaval repetitions interplay with sliding emotions that echo the cries of whales and seagulls, relaying a rock sensabiltity that many may not have realized he was capable of. Dobson’s continual space acoustic guitar bites and grabs, easing into a solo that initially sounds like Shankar on violin, only to discover that the resonating reverberating violin sound is actually a guitar/synthesizer mix. From here Dobson proceeds to work out the guitar, setting the frets afire, piledriving into some of the most unusual eclectic scalar time excursions ever heard! Final Frontier is a real showcase for guitar synthesizer as it features only Dobson and Tony Smith on drums. Dobson’s ability to extract violin and high pitched trumpet sounds is scary in its mimicry. Life sounds like a virtual orchestra of frenetic instrumentalists. Weary Planet is solo Dobson on guitar synthesizer. His wide emotive abstractions range from a crystalline cross-picking backdrop, to bellowing resonant ambiences that scream resolution from his slide guitar. Thor (Part 1) features a churning cyclical melodicism, driven by crashing syncopations from Kenwood Dennard (Drum solo intro spells Thor in morse code). Tibet is an interlude of dark industrial Soho atmospheres which includes Tamboura, Acoustic Guitar, Organ and reverse/tape guitar effects. Thor (Part 2) re-enters to close the album. Dobson’s solo let’s loose all the chops as his guitar exhibits a vocal quality using multi-noted bends and chomps that feedback reincarnated Hendrix in between fast scales that climb and stack up with pulsing fanaticism.
Daryll Dobson may be a new face on the scene, but his playing echoes a musical maturity that could only be achieved through years of playing. Somewhere this guy paid his dues, and how he managed to escape recognition is as unbelievable as it is true. Plug into THE MIND ELECTRIC, activate your sensory receptors, and be prepared for voluntary shock therapy!
