Jon Irabagon: What Are You Listening To?

A musician I have been listening to a lot lately is Mick Barr, a metal guitarist sometimes called the [John] Coltrane of his field. His group Orthrelm, with drummer Josh Blair, has an album called OV, which is one 45-minute continuously shifting track — a fascinating combination of speed, skill, technique, motivic devices, energy and power. These elements were also the forces and ideas behind my drum and sax duo record with Mike Pride, I Don't Hear Nothin' but the Blues; however, I only discovered Mick and his music after we recorded our CD. It scared me to death to find someone in a different musical genre that has fully captured the essence and being for one type of music I want to make. Through OV, I've been checking out more of Barr's work, and it is changing the way I view things and try to play them. This album is a challenging listen, but the implications and the rewards are worth the battle.