Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Guitar Heroes * Towner: Icarus * York: B & B * Head: Reverie for Mahavishnu * Johanson: Pluck, Strum, and Hammer * Methany/Small: Letter from Home * Assad: Uarekena * Howe/Kanengiser: Aire para un Dia (Mood for a Day) * Dunne: Gypsy Flower * York: Pop * Gimenez: El Baile de Luis Alonso * Hirschelman: Lament and Wake * Johanson: Let's Be Frank * Dearman: Blue Echo/Country Gentleman Los Angeles Guitar Quartet TELARC CD-80598 Total time: 61:17 Summary for the Busy Executive: Fancy pickin's. There's very little written for a guitar quartet, so the LAGQ depends on transcriptions and commissions. So far, they've achieved a nice success with more than a dozen albums to their credit. I would also say that they've achieved artistic success as well, although I've yet to hear a bona fide masterpiece among their commissions. Still, they are a real chamber group, rather than a gaggle of four good guitarists. One hears a clarity, balance, and conscious shaping in their work which comes from a collaboration born of careful listening to one another. This is a "concept album." It pays tribute to the LAGQ's artistic idols, who mostly seem to come from the pop and jazz end of things: Django Reinhart, Pat Methany, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Chet Atkins, and so on. I must say I enjoyed the performances more than the works, although the works aren't by any means dreck. I had a good time with the program, but I can't say that any of it has stuck with me. It strikes me as a CD for those who enjoy superior pop and cross-over. I must say I like this more than Yo-Yo Ma's silk-road stuff. The sound is Telarc's usual quite good and contributes to one's overall enjoyment. Steve Schwartz