by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
Daniel Kalisher is a gifted young singer/songwriter from Coral Springs, Florida who is attending UNF, majoring in music. Daniel plays out with his regular band, showcasing his expertise on guitar, catchy original songs, and savvy improvising on selected covers. As with so many young guitarists who started playing as kids, Daniel’s style exudes eclectic influences from Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan to Buddy Guy and innumerable other guitar greats.
I caught Daniel’s show at Mojo’s Kitchen last Saturday night. Joining him on keyboards was Shawn Hamlon, Ben Minegar on drums and Craig Delony substituting for regular bassist Mike Boff. The band was reasonably tight and jammed intelligently, creating some interesting spontaneous compositions which stand along as original creations.
In a world in which so much music has gone before, it’s difficult for a young performer like Daniel to create an original sound. In Daniel’s case, his songs crossover many genre boundaries, imbedded with pop sensibilities, but driven by kick-butt blues-rock. It has a broad appeal with an identifiable sound, which is the holy grail of a new artist trying to break into the rock jungle.
On MySpace.com/danielkalishermusic, Daniel’s four demo songs gave me some insight into his songwriting mind-set and shows his diverse musical consciousness.
‘Tough’ is a pop ditty which shows Daniel’s skill at writing memorable songs with a sentimental feel, using a distinctive pop background sound with balls. It’s reminiscent of early Todd Rundgren.
‘HateLove’ underscores Hendrix’s influence with the intro, but then he ratchets up his guitar sound with his phaser set on kill, delivering a tasty break. His voice is mixed out front, which is where it should be, allowing the listener to hear every word of his lyrics delivered with his velvet pipes.
‘Light Me Up’ opens with a bold guitar intro seguing into an infectious groove. This is Daniel’s showcase song. It penetrates the listener’s consciousness with gut wrenching power.
Finally, ‘Mirrors’ shows off Daniel’s acoustic side with a sweet love song accented by an electric violin injected into the mix.
Frankly, I wouldn’t necessarily call Daniel’s presentation blues, but I would call it blues further out. The truth is, “all rock and pop is the blues dressed up,” as boogie-meister John Lee Hooker stated. Some guy in the audience yelled out, “Play the blues.” Indeed, Daniel was playing the blues in as much as Hendrix considered himself a blues artist and Daniel’s sound crosses-over from blues into other genres.
Here’s the thing: How does one define blues? Is it the traditional Mississippi Delta blues, Chicago blues, so called “modern blues,” Eric Clapton’s pop styled blues, horn band blues, et al. Blues artists like Tab Benoit play blues-rock with a Zydeco feel, genetically inherited from Tab’s Cajun roots. Michael Burks is more of a soul artist playing in the blues genre. Then there’s my friend Tinsley Ellis who defines his own sound as “Southern rock playing in the blues medium.” So, Daniel’s influences include blues artists and other rock icons. As in jazz, everyone has a different definition of blues music.
As a relative newcomer to the scene, it’s important for Daniel and his band to improvise–jam! That’s how they build a large vocabulary of notes and ideas. In an interview with blues giant, Bob Margolis, who played lead guitar with Muddy Waters for many years, he said he loves to jam with people he has never met. He hosted the jams at Mojo’s Kitchen after the Springing the Blues Festival’ for three nights. “It’s the best way to expand my playing vocabulary and I enjoy the challenge. I always learn something new from these open jams,” he said. That statement is remarkable because Bob’s been touring for 30 years.
Daniel Kalisher is an original artist with new and exciting ideas. “Long may he run.”
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