My review of FAT's (Living the Dream), with guitarist Alex Machacek, today at All About Jazz.
While he's been living in Los Angeles for many years, Alex Machacek clearly values longterm musical relationships. While the majority of his recordings for the Raleigh, NC-based Abstract Logix imprint have seen the Austrian-born guitarist working with the likes of Jeff Sipe, Matthew Garrison, Neal Fountain and Gary Husband, his 2005 label debut, [sic], was notable--beyond its stunning compositions and mind-boggling post-Allan Holdsworth-ian guitar gymnastics--for the participation, on most tracks, of two fellow Austrians: bassist Raphael Preuschl and drummer Herbert Pirker (with Machacek's wife, Sumitra Nanjundan contributing vocals to the attention-grabbing, autobiographical "Indian Girl (Meets Austrian Boy)"). While Pirker was new, at least on record, to Machacek's cadre of musical compatriots, Preuschl's collaboration with the guitarist dates back to one of the guitarist's earliest known albums, Musical Universe--Universal Music (Extraplatte, 2000), under the group moniker Next Generation of Sound.
Seven years would pass before Machacek reconvened with Preuschl and Pirker, this time under the group name FAT (Fabulous Austrian Trio), for its 2012 Abstract Logix debut, FAT--an album that continued Machacek's penchant for quirky, oftentimes knotty and always surprising writing, and the kind of staggering playing that, bolstered by his equality talented trio mates, continued to render him as one of the best guitarists too few people have heard...though tours, over the past few years, with Eddie Jobson and the keyboardist/violinist's semi-reunions of the late '70s progressive rock supergroup U.K., have helped garner him some additional visibility.
Machacek may be an immensely gifted guitarist/composer too-often compared to Holdsworth but, while there is some truth to the comparison in terms of Machacek's penchant for sweeping legato lines, unorthodox, finger-breaking chordal voicings and a compositional approach of rare depth and pointillist detail, it would be better to consider Holdsworth as nothing more than a starting point.
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Originally Posted by Reid
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