 Lester Quitzau So Here We Are [Buy This CD] Canada USA International |
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Notes:
Produced by Lester Quitzau & Joe Dunphy
Released January 4th, 2001
All songs written by Lester Quitzau, except 1 & 3, written by Morganfield.
Recorded at Wolf Willow Sound, Edmonton
Engineered by Joe Dunphy Mixed by Marek and Joe Dunphy
Assisted by Greg Johnson and Lester Quitzau
Mastered by Andy Krehm at Silverbirch Productions, Toronto, ON
CD-ROM bonus track includes video footage of recording session. Bonus video filmed and edited by Dave Luxton.
Reviews:
What a great album....a superior record with great production.
Terry David Mulligan - Mulligan Stew
'So Here We Are' was the longest charting new release in CKUA history.
David Ward - CKUA Radio Network
Quitzau's guitar work is better than ever, cutting through the haze with a balance of strength and taste that's occasionally hair-raising.
Roger Levesque - The Edmonton Journal
Quitzau's new CD features scorching guitars, impassioned vocals, massive grooves, occasional touches of dub reggae, and a nod or two to the blues greats of the past.
Alexander Varty - The Georgia Straight
Big sound, great command of his instrument and chops coming out of the yin-yang. ... This is a disc you should play often, and play loud.
Marke Andrews - The Vancouver Sun
Quitzau's always been as soulful as the day is long ... This record again shines with what this talented guitarist is all about: the groove, and playing right from the heart.
Kirby-Music Alberta Magazine
Quitzau and Company nail it at Horowitz concert. ... One of the most impressive aspects was how the trio found so much space in the music.
Roger Levesque - The Edmonton Journal
Working in a trio format featuring bassist Greg Johnston and percussionist Lyle Molzan, Lester explores a breathtaking variety of styles, from electronically enhanced blues-rockers to gentle acoustic ballads. With characteristic understatement, he says, 'I like to keep things interesting.'
Scene, Summer 2001
One of the most unique musical experiences available.
Philippe P. Rey, Musical Director, In Guitar Festival, Switzerland
Articles & Full Length Reviews:
Lester Quitzau, So Here We Are
Scene Magazine, Summer 2001
It seems peculiar that this talented Edmontonian guitarist and songwriter has not been snatched up to record for a larger roots label yet. His latest album, the varied and interesting So Here We Are has all the trademark uniqueness that should have label leaders coveting this cat. Lester ranges all over the musical map on this release, from the hard rocking, Jeff Beck-ish opening track "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (Beck does a similar arrangement of this blues chestnut on his latest album) and ZZ Top homage "Release Me", to the tender "Broken heart" and jazz-funk inflected closing track "Heart and Soul". Quitzau's strength is derived from his detailed note-phrasing and the open feeling of the songs. This is not a dense or a busy album, but a recording with spaces for the listener to gather themselves as they encounter the sounds. Support players Greg Johnston and Lyle Molzan do an admirable job creating a firm foundation for Quitzau to extrapolate from. The album bears up wonderfully to repeated listenings.
First rate. JM
LQ Productions | www.lesterq.com | Siren Promotions | Distributed by Festival - fdi@festival.bc.ca
Bluesman takes us to the crossroads
Calgary Herald - January 12, 2001
By James Muretich
I've been singing Lester Quitzau's praises until I'm blue in the face. It's been several years, to be exact. Oh, well. I guess it's only appropriate since he's a blues artist but, man, oh man, if the Canadian music industry doesn't sit up and take notice of his latest and greatest CD, So Here We Are, then it might as well fling its flag-waving propaganda out the window.
The industry threw him a bone with a Juno nomination for the best blues album in 1998, but, in the end, it left him standing out I the cold as far as recognition goes...just like the major labels.
This leaves me dumbfounded because nobody pours as much of his soul into his recordings and live shows as this long-haired, non-drinking, soft-spoken man form Edmonton.
And I do mean soul.
Like the music of all great blues artists, form Robert Johnson on down to Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, Quitzau's churning, burning electric and acoustic blues on the new disc take you on a profound spiritual journey, while ostensibly singing about love, liquor, and life's trials and tribulations.
"I'm glad that you got the feeling from the record... when you bare your soul, you hope it gets through," says Quitzau, 36, who launches his third independent disc in Calgary with a gig at the Night Gallery Saturday.
"When you write the songs, you often do it in a state of angst, but you hopefully come through to the other side, which is a place of growth."
It's all part of the beautiful way blues can combine the utterly sensual with the spiritual concerns. The legendary Delta blues artist Robert Johnson, who lived from 1911 to 1938, may have been a womanizer, may have been poisoned by a jealous husband and buried in an unmarked grave, but that didn't mean he didn't lift listeners with his songs, offering a glimpse of the promised land.