Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon at the TLA

The partnership of Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon are just as odd as the men themselves. In a word, the two are so left field, the man is out of the ballpark.

Kottke, an acoustic finger picker of an avante garde style of folk, and that is just his instrumentals. Listen to the man sing; not so much his voice as his lyrics. He is a masterful guitarist. I’ve never seen anyone pull such amazing melodies out with their right hand technique, much less fingerpick a twelve string guitar.

Gordon, the county voiced bass player that writes songs about aliens and donkey dung- all in the same song (see Scent of a Mule on Hoist)! He plays all the notes you weren’t expecting to here. Consider him the avant-garde of bass. Check out his “Sergeant Pepper” alter ego of Joey Arkenstat on the album Bane.

Combined, they weave a tapestry of notes. The songs are always in flux, as neither chords down for a bar. The notes are always moving, intertwining, building a myriad of notes in chorus with one another. Both men are at the top of their game, perhaps because they are the only that play to such a unique voicing. I hear many musicians nod their hat to these folk, but can’t name anyone that can imitate their style.

I always envision Trey skyrocketing with his sided projects post Phish. Mike has proved him wrong on that account, as this pairing has far surpassed anything Trey has managed to put together. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time that Mike has proved Trey wrong, as Mike advocated Phish not to spit. Maybe there will be a reunion one day.