Jewel Box
With nine recordings (minus compilations) that all follow the same recipe, yielding a likeable, easily palatable (i.e., white-bread smooth) form of flamenco music, German-born guitarist Govi strives to expand his stylistic reach onJewel Box. He might be better advised to stick with what he knows best. Straying into territory already well served by artists such as Chuck Loeb and Larry Carlton, Govi straps on a Stratocaster for three opening tracks, elsewhere explores pop-jazz motifs (in the Craig Chaquico-like "Gandhi with the Jewels" and "My Precious"), and even takes aim at a sitar-based raga ("Diamond Sutra")--all to generally bland effect. The compositions are pleasant enough, and the jazzy "Medallion" may even win him the radio airplay he may be seeking by traveling this route. Yet his efforts are largely undermined by his single-artist-in-the-studio approach, which deprives the music of the snap and sparkle that an ensemble could generate. Usually an artist's expansion into new terrain is a laudable exercise, but on tracks where he returns to his familiar, sunny flamenco stylings ("Sapphire Sky," "Emerald Eyes"), it's evident where Govi's strengths lie.--Terry Wood