Album Notes

It's not uncommon for guitarists with facility on both electric and acoustic to use both on their projects, but Terry Wollman goes a step further on Say Yes (Sonic Images). He achieves an irresistibly eclectic mix by including such surprises as baritone guitar (on the graceful chamber-like ballad "Once One Moment"), steel-string and high-string guitars, and guitarron. He blends them all perfectly on the catchy but quite experimental "Of All Things Most Yielding." On that track, Wollman intertwines flamenco lines with blues and folk elements, punctuating the melody line with percussive scrapes on the steel strings. When he isn't taking these types of risks, he's most content with warm, radio-friendly pieces that gain most of their punch from guest stars. Wollman plays harmony behind the fiery duet of saxman Gerald Albright and percussionist Luis Conte on "Survive," for instance. Then, just as things are getting a bit complacent, he slips in the unique tandem tracks "Buckwheat Sample" (a boogie-woogie piano solo by Joe Sample) and the blistering "Buckwheat Shuffle," where Sample, Abe Laboriel, and John Robinson provide a rhythmic backdrop for Wollman to go hog wild with a distorted electric.

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