The Prague Post
March 18th, 2010
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    star Gift Subscriptions
Hotel Prague Centre

Home » Archives » Night & Day

A session master steps out

Guitar wizard Michael Landau brings his tasty licks to Lucerna

By James Scanlon
For The Prague Post
April 4th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
He may or may not be God's guitarist, but Landau's playing is divine.
Michael Landau would probably need a calculator to work out exactly how many records he’s been involved with over the past 25 years. Allmusic.com boldly lists an amazing eight pages, whereas other sources point to at least 1,000 releases.
Working with artists as diverse as Chicago, Rod Stewart, Joni Mitchell, Seal, Diana Ross, Jefferson Airplane, Mariah Carey, Pink Floyd and Miles Davis, Landau has demonstrated a breadth and knowledge of rock, blues and jazz that reflects a true guitar master at work, though almost always as a sideman.
Michael Landau

When: Tuesday, April 10, at 9
Where: Lucerna Music Bar
Tickets: 300 Kč, avail-able through Ticketpro, Ticketstream and at the venue

Being a session musician is often perceived as strictly “behind the scenes” work. Whereas the main artist gets all the glory, the sidemen are merely listed in credits on the sleeve. This situation may not have helped Landau in his quest for world domination, but he has no complaints about it.
“I’ve no regrets,” he says from his home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t start out with aspirations of being a studio musician, although I’m thankful for it.”
Having recorded three albums with Joni Mitchell and been a key part of her “Refuge of the Roads” tour in 1983 was one of the high points of his career. “Joni was my favorite to work with,” Landau says. “She was very inspiring, and I loved the music so much. She left a lot of room for our own interpretation. The world tour lasted eight months, on and off. We had Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Larry Klein on bass and Russell Ferrante on keyboards. It was a great band.”
Close on the heels of Joni Mitchell is Rod Stewart. “I played on several of his releases in the ’80s,” Landau says. “Rod’s sessions were always a lot of fun. They were very loose. We’d do a couple of takes and then it was off to the pub.”
Landau was lucky enough to work with Miles Davies, albeit by proxy. “I played on a track called ‘Cobra’ on the Amandla record. George Duke was the producer. Unfortunately, the session was in Los Angeles, so I didn’t get to meet Miles.”
In the early ’90s Landau needed more room for his own improvising, so, along with brother Teddy, he formed a couple of outfits called Burning Water and the Raging Honkies. Both concentrated on more rock-flavored blues, with the latter group’s efforts predictably being the raunchier. On top of that, Landau put together a handful of his own solo efforts.
Tales from the Bulge with Wayne Shorter was the first. Replete with semi-abusive titles like “My Bulbous Meathead,” “Big Bulge” and “I’m Hating,” it carried a “Parental Advisory” sticker, much to Landau’s bemusement.
“One of the fun things about instrumental music is that you can pretty much title the tune anything you want, because there are no lyrics to relate to,” he says. “They’re not titled to offend anyone. Let’s just say I was younger then, having a good time and trying not to take myself too seriously. For me, the music has always been the serious part. Also, it used to really bother me when fusion composers would use corny titles like ‘Sunset on the Beach’ and ‘Moonlit Morning.’ They were so predictable and generic. Why not have a little fun with it?”
Lifelong friend and collaborator Steve Lukather has always claimed Landau to be a superstar and “God’s guitarist,” even though Lukather beat Landau in a head-to-head competition to become Toto’s guitarist in the late ’70s. “ ‘My Bulbous Meathead’ was actually co-written by Steve Lukather,” Landau says without a trace of animosity. “Steve is very wild, but a very sweet man.”
Not one for accolades, Landau simply lets his guitar do most of the talking. His 2001 album Star Spangled Banner was another major boost to his solo career, dipping in where other guitarists fear to twang. “It was a melting pot of musical styles, moods and sounds, much like the U.S.A.,” Landau says before adding an apology for “the last six years of the Bush administration.”
For those new to Landau’s music, last year’s double album, Live, is an excellent starting point. Split between raw-energy blues and more laid-back, melodic tunes, it was compiled from recordings made at The Baked Potato in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2006. The final product, Landau says proudly, has no overdubs. “There’s no fixes, no repairs. It’s a very ‘live’ record,” he says. “It has very different rhythm sections on it, depending on the tunes.”
With performing dates in both Prague and Ostrava next week, Landau is promising “a little bit of everything.” Joining him onstage will be Jimmy Johnson on bass and Gary Novak on drums.
“These guys are some of the best in the world,” he says. “They really listen to what’s going on in the music. They are also great soloists as well.
“I’ll be playing a wide variety of material. There’ll be some tunes from Tales from the Bulge, as well as some vocal Raging Honkies music and everything in between. It will be dreamy and mellow at times, frantic and crazy at others. There will be lots of improvising, with some deep grooves as well.
“Hopefully we’ll all laugh and cry, feel happy and sad.”

James Scanlon can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (4/04/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Provokator
Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.