Back to: Home Page
Anatholi Bulkin: electric guitars, guitar, synthesizer, acoustic guitars
Jonas Reingold: acoustic bass, electric bass, electric fretless bass
Anders Hentze: drums, cymbals and percussion
The world of the guitar in jazz is a dizzying one. From pure acoustic playing on to the thresholds of full metal rock, of all the instruments that grace the music we call jazz, there's none more diversifying than that of the guitar.
Starting way back to Charlie Christian and the introduction of electronics to this stringed instrument to Freddie Green's strumming rhythms in the Basie band, the guitar has evolved into an incredible voice in all of jazz. All of its styles have become legitimized by some of the outstanding masters that have advanced its stages in the music.
Along comes Anatholi Bulkin. Another voice and another contribution to take us yet a step closer on the impeccable road of the jazz guitar. Anatholi is a wizard of brilliant artistry, has the chops and has traveled the roads utilizing the voices of the World to further find his style and place his mark in jazz.
Anatholi is a former student of world renowned jazz instructor, Charlie Banacos and has advanced both with pen and pick to where this 33 year old has arrived at today. Penning over 400 tunes, all of the cultures that he's exposed himself to are filtered throughout his music. Putting in in his words: "I'm always searching and finding new ways of composing and playing music for the world to enjoy."
On his CD,Initiation , of which all the compositions are Bulkin's, his title piece kicks it off letting us in on his style and bringing us into all that absorbs this young and gifted player.
He shows us his tenderness and sense of lightness on the beautiful piece,Children, (Life is an open sky.) This was written and dedicated to his daughter. He moves through this delicate piece as if tiptoeing on top of white puffy clouds. The one thing I learned through the years when writing about jazz players with fantastic chops is to listen to their control and sense of poetry when doing the soft pieces and the ballads. Here Anatholi bares his soul to us, with just the right notes in the right place in a beautiful way.
OnTripitaka there is an almost electronic violin sound emulating from this modally infused vehicle. There is some excellent percussion and feeling to the leader coming from drummer, Anders Hentze.
Planet Hollywood has a vague resemblance to John Coltrane's Mr. PC. and swings hard as a straight ahead contribution to the set.
Pintor, is a Latino tinged line that comes on without too much fanfare and glides throughout with a casual swinging that sometimes intensifies and ebbs back again to give that sense of swaying that lets us tap our feet or move our hips to. Within the line, there is a nicely rendered bass solo by Jonas Reingold that has the colors of Mark Egan embedded into the palate.
My favorite line on the entire CD is the tenderly written,Eternal Affairs. It's here where I feel the originality and voice of Mr. Bulkin hold strong. On this piece he tames the heavy metal sounding instrument to surrender to his lyrical and memorable moments on a piece that begs for lyrics.
One really neat thing about Anatholi is his sense of exploration. He doesn't falter when going out on a limb a little.Folksong has a searching and yearning sense. Anatholi is putting out bits and pieces of his traveled baggage and there is a playfulness as the trio unites and moves the line back and forth.
Presence has a sound, which I would guess is from one of the synthesizers Anatholi uses. This is the track to come to if you want to get a dose of his chops. The interplay between the drums and Anatholi is mesmerizing at times.
The CD set closes with a rocking Mr. and Mrs. America .
Financial and artistic success in jazz is a
difficult end for very gifted musicians to achieve. In today's
marketplace, they usually go to a softer jazz market to attain
comfort and security. Mr. Bulkin is an artist deserving a wider
recognition and, in time, should be able to take his place among his
contemporaries, such as, Ron McClure, Harvie Swartz, John McLaughlin
and the others that have advanced electronic jazz with purity,
dignity and skill.
For further information and a chance to hear some sound bytes on
Anatholi's music or purchase this and other CD's, go to
Back to: Home Page
Back to Artists Deserving Wider Recognition