Painted Sky

Painted Sky, from Maryland guitarist Tobias Hurwitz, offers a combination of funk, heavy rock, jazz and blues on nine instrumental tracks and one vocal number ("I'm Your Machine"). The CD is divided into five tracks of "faux jazz encrusted with genuine grooves", and five tracks of "genuine rock-n-roll soaked in funky sauces", which gives an indication of the dexterity and variety of Hurwitz' guitar abilities. Painted Sky serves up some interesting cover tracks--a hard-edged, howling, instrumental version of Deep Purple's "Space Truckin'," George Clinton and P-Funk's "Maggot Brain" (with frenetic, improvised soloing) and a two-minute Bach piece ("Invention #8") with the dual guitars of Hurwitz and fellow G.I.T. alumnus Glenn Riley. A total of thirteen musicians contributed to Hurwitz' release--a heavy release chock full of spicy guitar licks and subtle jazz influences--definitely a good listen.