John Jaunese

The Fastest Guitar On Earth

 

TRACK LISTING

1. Mindstorm.

2. Speed Demon.

3. Speed Of Sound.

4. Almost Joe.

5. Cast Of Strings.



CD available from John: $5 (US + Canada) $7 (rest)
Contact address:
John Jaunese,
P.O.Box 1587,
MARYSVILLE,
WA 98270		 Related Albums (In sound):
George Bellas : Turn Of The Millenium (1997)
Michael Romeo : The Dark Chapter (1994)
Joe Stump : Supersonic Shred Machine (1996)
Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force (1984)

 

What we have here is another first for the site.  This a demo CD by a guitarist from Marysville called John Jaunese.  This is a purely instrumental CD that is rather impressive!!  John is a very adept guitarist who seems to have all the levels required to be a guitar star. The CD is mostly neo-classical in flavour with the sound ranging from Yngwie Malmsteen to Michael Romeo to  Joe Satriani.  John certainly has the chops to be up their with this crew and his precision on the guitar is very impressive, however, while the soloing is top notch his rhythm work is not far behind also, a talented guy who could go far.  The production is also extremely good as well and puts the majority of 'Shrapnel' and 'Leviathan' artists to shame.

The running time of the CD is just 12 minutes as this demo is intended as a promo for Radio and Record Company use.  Some of the tracks have been edited, but what is on offer is of a very high standard  A full length records should be completed by July, so if you want a taster  before then this is a fine place to start.

 

1. MINDSTORM (5.38)
A turbo charged track that starts off with futuristic sounding keyboard pattern before the band slam in with a power groove.  This is the basis for John to take flight in fine style. There is everything you could ask for and expect here, arpeggios, legato, whammy bar phrasing in fact this is quite refreshing as the track actually says a lot and doesn't turn out as the usual guitar blur.  The main theme is quite classical and suits the nature of the track to a tee.  The rhythm work sets the background up strongly and the soloing fits over it very nicely.  The thing that impresses me the most is how clean the pick work is allowing each note, even the super fast stuff, to stand out clearly in the mix, impressive.

2. SPEED DEMON (1.06)
A solo piece for John with sees him shredding in fine style, reminiscent at times of some of Joe Stump's work (Tornado Watch and Unrelenting), heavily neo-classical and very good.

3. SPEED OF SOUND (3.08)
Another rocking fast track that is in the same kind of vein as George Bellas' work. This is a little more mainstream than earlier tracks but their is still that majestic neo-classical influence under the surface.  As well as the excellent guitar their is some great drumming by Tom Clarck that powers the track along with great momentum.

4. ALMOST JOE (1.48)
Going by the title I would say that this is meant to be John's take on a Joe Satriani style piece, and indeed in places it is the same vien as Satch's 'Surfing With The Alien' opus, its a bit more ryhthmic  in places but still with enough pyrotechnics to satisfy.

5. CAST OF STRINGS (1.07)
A very melodic classical sounding piece with all the instruments performed by John, great melody and a great snippet of John's abilities in this area.

 

I found this mini-album to be a refreshing change to the usual mess of a lot of instrumental releases.  'The Fastest Guitar On Earth' demonstrates that John has very strong musical ideas and an individual voice on the guitar, his fretwork is silky smooth and his tone is as good.  The neo-classical field would appear to be John's favourite sound, but their are moments that suggest that he is extremely accomplished in other areas.  As stated earlier the production is refreshingly good for this genre.  I could see John's style fitting well into a band of the Symphony X / Artension / Dream Theater vein, as this CD demonstrates that he has good songwriting capabilities, Recommended.

 

RATING

7.5

Review by Andy Craven.
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