Curtis CD

In jazz, instrumentalists have always been dominant -- for every King Pleasure, Ella Fitzgerald, or Betty Carter who came along, there were at least ten or more instrumentalists. But in rock, it's just the opposite. Instrumentalists are very much a minority in rock, although their contributions shouldn't be overlooked. Over the years, noteworthy rock instrumentalists have ranged from the surf guitarists of the 1960s to Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Stuart Hamm in the 1980s and 1990s. Like Vai and Satriani, Curtis Fornadley (who only uses his first name professionally) is a guitarist whose specialty is instrumental rock. His debut album, Curtis, contains elements of jazz, blues, and folk, but he isn't a jazz fusion player like Al DiMeola, Scott Henderson, Pat Metheny, or Larry Coryell -- this is definitely a rock-oriented CD. Although Curtis obviously has chops, he doesn't beat listeners over the head with them; the L.A. resident is a storyteller instead of an exhibitionist, and that approach serves him well on instrumentals that range from the aggressively funky "Adrenaline Ruins the Meat" to more introspective pieces like "Truth" and "That We May Pray Without Words." The only song on the album that Curtis didn't write is the Michel Legrand standard "The Summer Knows," which has been embraced by many jazz artists but seldom receives the type of rock treatment that Curtis gives it. Occasionally, Curtis sings; his vocals on "The River" and "I'm Not Going Back Again" (both of which show a bit of a Neil Young influence) are adequate but not remarkable -- Curtis demonstrates that he is more of a musician than a singer on this enjoyable, if imperfect, CD. ~ Alex Henderson

Curtis is a native of southern California who has played over the years with several prominent L.A. bands, playing most of the L.A. clubs as well as venues in Arizona, San Diego and Ventura County.

Now as a solo artist his focus has been on instrumental music.

His self-titled debut CD on IF6Was9 Records was released in 1998.

Fifty percent of his profits from the sale of this CD will be donated to Cancer related charities.

Currently Curtis is working on his third CD and performing with his band Rob Chismar on drums and Dave Hill on bass.

IN HIS OWN WORDS:"I started playing classical guitar at a very young age on an acoustic guitar that my parents picked up in Tijuana before I was born. This souvenir was made of green wood and had nylon string high above the fingerboard.

Soon after I started lessons I dropped the guitar, splitting the body of the guitar open. My Dad put it back together with Elmers glue. He refused to buy me a new guitar, or should I say a real guitar, until I proved that I would learn to play.

Over the following months I dropped it three more times and three more times he glued it back together. There was a thick line of glue all around the guitar.

After two years of playing I got a Les Paul copy for Christmas.

To the dismay of my classical teacher, it was time to plug-in."Uncut (p.109) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[T]his album alone is a source of shining wonderment in the firmament of progressive soul."