Alchemy
During
the late '80s and '90s, Nick Webb and Greg Carmichael
produced a series of mellow albums classified as adult
contemporary music, though the guitarists encompass the
range of jazz and new age as well. Both grew up in England
during the '60s listening to pop/rock, though Webb studied
jazz guitar at Leeds College of Music while Carmichael
focused on classical guitar at the London College of Music.
Originally formed by Webb and Simon James, Acoustic Alchemy
later became Webb and Carmichael; the duo initially worked
for Virgin Airlines, providing in-flight music on trans-Atlantic
trips. Signed to MCA in the mid-'80s, Acoustic Alchemy
released its debut album, Red Dust and Spanish Lace, in
1987. After two subsequent releases, the duo signed with
GRP in 1990. Their second GRP album, Reference Point,
was nominated for a Grammy award. Positive Thinking followed
in 1998 in the wake of Webb's February 6 cancer-related
death; their jazz content was quite small, but Acoustic
Alchemy's albums consistently charted number one on the
adult contemporary charts. By 2000, Carmichael unveiled
a revamped Acoustic Alchemy that included longtime sidemen
like bassist Frank Felix, guitarists John Parsons and
Miles Gilderdale and keyboardist Terry Disley, as well
as new members such as keyboardist Tony White. That year's
The Beautiful Game was the new lineup's first release.
INTO
THE RAINBOW
In
early 1998 my friend and one-time musical partner Nick
Webb died of cancer. We had founded the band Acoustic
Alchemy in 1980 and though I had left Alchemy in 1985
when my new band Kymaera played Ronnie Scotts in June
1998 we did the first set for Nick. We used old tunes
that Nick and I had written together in the early days
of Acoustic Alchemy; most of which were released by GRP
on Early Alchemy in 1992. It struck me even then how good
some of those tunes were and that now, twenty years after
some of them were written, would be a good time to re-record
them as a tribute to Nick’s writing and his approach
to acoustic guitar music, but also because they are, exactly
as he would wish them to be remembered, good tunes. So
the idea for the album Into The Rainbow started; named
after the last tune he and I wrote together in Autumn
1997, and the last recording of his music he heard finished.
We
didn’t want this to just be an album that only covered
Nick’s existing compositions, we wanted it to be
a celebration of acoustic guitar which Nick had always
been passionate about. So I approached Greg Carmichael,
who took over from me in Acoustic Alchemy and is still
running the band, he agreed to play on the album and almost
immediately we sat down and wrote a tune, Desert Rose,
very much in the Alchemy acoustic style, as our particular
contribution. We also wanted this album to have a new
dimension, and so Kymaera itself began to write the music
as well as play it.
That
was in 1998 so when Prestige Records approached us in
2006 about releasing the album as a tribute to Acoustic
Alchemy we suggested the addition of three tracks we have
recorded since, Sweet Soul because it features the superb
German pianist Rainer Brüninghaus who made five albums
with Acoustic Alchemy including the last one to feature
Nick - Positive Thinking - and then Ther Last Resort and
Another Day because they are so reminiscent of Nick and
Alchemy.
Simon
James, June 2006
Rainbow
is a delightful album which pays tribute to Acoustic Alchemy
founder Nick Webb by celebrating the beauty of the acoustic
guitar. Recorded with a warm and attractive “room”
sound, the album explores some of the early gems of the
Acoustic Alchemy catalogue as well as some lesser-known
pieces.
Nylon-string
virtuoso Simon James is ably assisted by a group which includes
the steel-string guitarist Shane Hill and Acoustic Alchemy
frontman Greg Carmichael. Together they explore all the
sources of the Acoustic Alchemy sound – English folk,
Flamenco, classical and jazz.
There’s
a sheer joy in melody which is evident from an early piece
like Little Bercheres – a Nick Webb bossa nova which
provides an early template of the Alchemy sound – up
to one of Webb’s last compositions, Into The Rainbow,
co-written with James.
Carmichael
and James collaborate on the beautiful and sensitively-played
ballad, Desert Rose. But then there is the sunny exultation
of the African-flavoured Starjive and the hard-swinging
jazz of Crossfire, both highlighting the improvising talent
of boppish saxophonist Dave O’Higgins.
This
thrillingly varied album is a fitting tribute to Nick Webb
and a joy in its own right. It deserves a place on the shelves
of lovers of acoustic music of all.
