Concert Review by Ralph Greco, Jr.
The place was nearly full to capacity, the staff was, as usual, welcoming and efficient, the food tops, my buddy Mike was with me and I was sitting with two of the biggest Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush fans this side of the Mississippi — Leo Maziarz and Steve Brock. It would prove to be a perfect Friday night at the B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in New York City.
I’ll admit here and now that I am not the biggest Frank Marino fan in the world. I saw the Canadian guitar God back in the 70s when he and Mahogany Rush warmed up at Madison Square Garden for a headliner whose name escapes at the moment. No matter, I’ve heard of Marino’s progress through the years, not that the guy ever really put out real commercial albums or ever really received all that much radio play. Still, no rock musician over 40 could not know of the guy — he’s one of the greats for guitar players of my generation and should be required listening for anyone (of any age) who wants to play rock guitar.
Opening with “Land Of 1000 Nights,” from 1975’s Strange Universe, it was evident that this show was going to be one of long jams, which was perfectly OK with me given how good Frank Marino is. Mahogany Rush now comprises three rather young dudes: drummer Dave Goode, Ari Ludmer on guitar and electric violin, and Remi-Jean LeBlanc on bass — all in perfect synchronization with the master, hitting all the right notes and changes.
The more recent “He’s Calling” is another blistering SG workout as Marino unveils the many techniques in his arsenal. As I expected, “Red House” came next (I didn’t think I’d hear the classic Hendrix tune this early) and after the blistering one-two punch of the first two songs, Marino knew enough to take his time with a nice floating intro. Now I’m not sure how to describe this, even though I am a guitar player and know theoretically what was happening (kinda like when I caught Leo Keottke and could hear what was being played but had not been able to see what he was doing). Marino played the opening notes of “Red House” almost like…well…he almost didn’t ‘make it’ on the end notes of the slow riffs. Instead of executing the classic blues technique of bending notes (we were at B.B. King’s after all!), Marino would let a last note ring until you almost jumped and shouted, “Frank, that’s the wrong note, dude!” Then he’d simply slide to where he needed to be at the very last second.
Now this was all nearly imperceptible, occurring as it did within these opening split second riffs, but it was enough for me to realize that I was in the hands of a master who had time to wait out each and every effect he wanted to make. Not many guitar players can get away with playing this precise, I’ve seen Clapton and B.B. King bend, Alvin Lee float, even Frampton manage something akin to magic, but really this almost floppy note intro (that’s really the only way I can describe the effect) cemented the fact that Frank Marino, in my opinion, is in a class of very few.
Suffice to say, “Red House” smoked.
I thought a Hendrix tune seemed like an appropriate third song, perfectly placed within the set. Marino has been compared to Hendrix so often during this career (ever hear the one about when Hendrix died how his soul flowed into Frank Marino…Oh never mind?!) that coming out and making no big deal about playing “Red House” proves that Frank Marino is his own man.
From what I knew about Mahogany Rush I figured sooner or later we’d get to the point where the band would start to improvise and dip into a rich pool of influences. This happened next during “Poppy,” a Mahogany Rush tour de force. According to Steve, Frank doesn’t as much practice as he goes on stage and does his thing with his band, each night finding the little places they will go to and jam around. “Strange Universe,” a signature Frank Marino tune followed, but really “Poppy” did it for me.
On drawback to the evening was that I really couldn’t see the band all that well. This had nothing to do with my seats (thank to the staff at B.B. King’s, I was sitting at a comfortable table with lots of room, dead center) it’s just that there was one of those old school ‘blobby’ liquid light shows going on around, across, above and below the band and their equipment during their two hours on stage. It was fun sometimes, but did I need this light show the entire time? I would have loved to have watched Marino’s hands at times, or even see Ludmer, who was lurking in the shadows. Marino never introduced the band, but I heard later these was talk of time constraints, seemingly a second show was going on afterwards, and the house as well as the stage had to be cleared.
All in all, I have nothing but praise for Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush. From the first notes of “Knight” to his closing of the Canadian National Anthem (with a little “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” thrown in for good measure), I felt this was a great night of classic rock from one of the best.
