Bruce Arnold

February 8 - 15, 1 9 9 6

**1/2 Bruce Arnold

BLUE ELEVEN

(MMC)

Arnold studied jazz guitar at Berklee during the '80s, and this solo release offers impressive evidence that he left that school with quite a set of chops. Unfortunately, music schools can't teach anyone much about identity. The opening two selections on this 13-tune collection prove that Arnold can sound like a Pat Metheny clone. A selection near the end of the program establishes his Sonny Sharrock credentials. That said, Arnold does emerge as an extremely thoughtful composer and talented player of rather austere little sketches in the vein of Schoenberg and Webern -- not the usual turf for jazz electric guitarists. Occasionally he's backed by bass, drums, and vocalist, but he holds the spotlight particularly well alone when he plays like a European in love with the serial music of the 1920s.

-- Norman Weinstein