Deja Vu
Frank Vignola is another primarily straightahead electric guitarist who knows that an instrumental cover of a well-known hit is only as good as its arrangement. On Déjà Vu (Concord Vista), he gives the smooth-jazz, light-funk treatment to pop gems of the '70s and '80s. Although a few of the tunes are a little too-easy-listening (a take on Carole King's "It's too Late" is saved only by Vignola's improvisations at the end), Vignola mostly finds inventive ways to tackle these songs. Most notable is Kansas' folky hit "Dust in the Wind," here punched up with a brisk disco beat, a chanting female chorus, and a potent back and forth between Vignola's electric and a synth-horn section. Vignola then sets Foreigner's slow-dance smash "Waiting for a Girl Like You" to a 6/8 pace, and uses the tune to create an entirely new motif that he weaves throughout the track. Best of all, however, is a fiery spin on "Walk This Way," in which rumbling funk bass lines and distorted rock guitar stand a firm middle ground between the original Aerosmith version and the later Run DMC take.--- JAZZIZ MagazineCopyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.--From Jazziz