The Guitar Player's Resource
Time Will Tell, the new CD from New York Dom Minasi, blends the guitarist's controversial intensity with a nod towards commercial crossover. Minasi's guitar and cellist Tomas Ulrich are the primary melodic and solo instruments here, but since this isn't cello9.com, Minasi's technical gifts will command our special attention. The third track, "DMP" features enough six-string fireworks to light up New York Harbor on July 4th, while the sensual, angular comping and tastefully restrained soloing of "My Soul Cries Out" offers yet another side of this multi-layered musician. Also heavy on the guitar histrionics is "Be Op Be Op Be Ah", where Minasi takes no prisoners and delivers some of his most furious lines. If you have yet to experience the work of his virtuoso avant-jazz guitar legend, Time Will Tell would be a great place to start. Dom Minasi was originally profiled in the February-March, 2004 edition of The Undiscovered.
Dom is a 44 year veteran of the music scene, with a history and scope of activities as varied and jam-packed as his native New York City. Backing up top singing groups at rock 'n' roll shows, church dances and the like while still in his early teens, Dom has maintained a jazz trio with bass and drums since he was 15 years old. He recorded two jazz albums for the Blue Note label in the mid-'70s, but left due to less than ideal circumstances for musical expressiveness. From 1976-1993, Dom involved himself in a variety of pursuits, freelancing, performing, providing the music for a variety of off-Broadway shows, authoring three books on technique for Sunrise Artistries, and returning to school where he studied with Academy Award-winning composer John Corigliano at Lehman College, receiving his degree in composition in 1990. He also composed over 300 vocal and instrumental compositions during those years.
Minasi currently maintains five separate groups - two duos, with saxophonist Blaise Siwula, and vocalist Carol Mennie; and two trios, DDT with bassist Ken Filiano and cellist Tomas Urlich, his regular group with Filiano and drummer Jackson Krall, and his jazz collective, NICE (New Improvisational Composers Ensemble) with Mark Whitecage (reeds), Steve Swell (trombone), Cameron Brown (bass) and Harvey Sorgen (drums).
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
United States
Web site: www.domminasi.com