OLIVER GANNON & BILL COON, TWO MUCH M0REI (Cellar Live 11815).
Oliver Gannon, Bill Coon (g); Darren Radtke (b); Dave Robbins (d). Vancouver, 2015. *****
This disc was a revelation - two veteran guitarists of whom I was previously unaware enjoying themselves in relaxed and intriguing fashion. With exemplary support from bass and drums, the swing factor is never absent. Gannon's sense of melody and swing comes from the left speaker whilst Bill Coon's more harmonic approach, which can be appreciated on Tones For St Joan, comes from the right. The four Ellington/Strayhorn numbers on the CD get virtuoso treatments of which those illustrious gentlemen would surely have approved. So much great music here: listen to the way they dig into The End 0f A Love Affair. A very possible candidate for the 2015 top 10. (Brian Robinson)
Two Much More! ( cellarlive.com) There’s an infectious joy about Oliver Gannon and Bill Coon’s Two Much More! The
elite Vancouver guitarists commemorating the decade-old launch of their project Two Much Guitar! with a studio session accompanied by bassist Darren Radtke and drummer Dave Robbins. Gannon is a propulsive swinger with a fuller, bright, hard-edged sound who generates continuous melodic flow; Coon is a subtler, more elusive musician, floating over the beat with a glassy, slightly muted sound, more focused on harmonic invention. What matters most, though, is their evident pleasure in one another’s musical company as they alternately lead and accompany in a program studded with masterful renditions of classic songs, many of them ballads like Billy Strayhorn’s Chelsea Bridge, Johnny Mandel’s Emily and Ellington’s In a Sentimental Mood, before closing with Bobby Timmons’ Moanin’. Stuart Broomer, TheWholeNote.com Sept. 2015