Julien Kasper - A1 Artist Spotlight - Feature

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http://a1artistspotlight.com/2009/01/15 … -imperial/

Thu 15 Jan 2009
070 - Julien Kasper - The New Imperial
Posted by A1 Mark under Uncategorized

Hear the Julien Kasper interview where he talks about getting into music, teaching music in college and his CD The New Imperial. You will also get to hear some great tracks from this CD.

Julien Kasper was born in 1962, by the end of the decade he was playing guitar. Early on Julien was interested in blues guitarist such as Eric Clapton, Freddie King and T-Bone Walker. At 16 he joined Crosscut Saw a blues-rock band that was fronted by the great harpist Pat Ramsey. They cut one CD but sadly it has been out of print for quite awhile. Julien studied jazz guitar in St. Louis, the University of Miami, and the University of North Texas. He is now a Professor of Music at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He teaches several classes on guitar, plus he has started two classes one on Jeff Beck, and the other on Jimi Hendrix. He has played on two CDs by pianist Bruce Katz, as well as one by Mighty Sam McClain. Toured with blues artist Michelle Wilson, and used her rhythm section for his band. The first CD Flipping Time came out in 2003, with the currant one The New Imperial coming out in 2006.

For me, The New Imperial is very much like Jeff Beck’s Blow By Blow or Wired. It is very complicated playing with a lot of tone changes and emotions in his playing. I asked Julien if it was hard to play with so many emotions running through the songs. No, he said it would be hard to play with out all the emotions. When you listen to the show keep in mind these songs were recorded live with very little over dubbing. Like many independent musicians he does not have time/money to burn in the studio he has to get it right very quickly. This impresses me even more as to how good of a guitarist he is.

“Jacket Full Of Bees” was written on a bass and drum groove he wrote during rehearsals. He then mixed it with an older song that he had that was similar to a John Coltrane songs. Then the guitar solo shifts back and forth from a Coltrane to a Hendrix style. This is really an all out furious guitar solo similar, I guess, to having a jacket full of bees. “8 to 11” was written in about twenty minutes. When he got to the end of the CD he realized he needed a rock song still, so that’s what this became. “All of the Years” was written to be like a Hendrix balled such as “Little Wing” or “Wind Cries Mary”. There is also a feel of Jeff Beck sneaking in at times. There are also three songs that are just Julien playing a guitar solo spread out on the CD. This was a nice way of just getting to hear Julien with no other instruments and making it stand out on its own.

As I said in the show this may not be a style of music you’re use to listening to any more than I was. Please give this a fair chance. Really listen, don’t be reading or talking to someone. Just listen. The New Imperial really sounds great with headphones on too. As always if you like this music please buy it. The artist needs money to live on and to be able to afford making their next record. Below are some links to where you can buy either of his CDs.

Songs played in the show are:
Jacket Full Of Bees
I Am A Centaur
8 to 11

Solo CD’s by Julien Kasper
2006 - The New Imperial
2003 - Flipping Time

Julien Kasper’s Website http://www.julienkasper.com

Julien Kasper’s MySpace http://www.myspace.com/julienkasperband

Buy Julien Kasper’s CD The New Imperial
http://cdbaby.com/cd/julienkasper2/from … tspotlight

Buy his first CD Flipping Time from the CD Baby Website
http://cdbaby.com/cd/julienkasper/from/ … tspotlight

You will hear more from Julien Kasper in future weeks as we do a show on the late harpist Pat Ramsey.