Sandalwood incense wafts from the next room. “Electric Sitar Meditations” by Pete Kennedy is playing. The drone of his sitar is calming, but at the same time it triggers a heightened sensual awareness. Kennedy's solid reputation as a folk-rock sideman was cemented long ago through his work with Nanci Griffith, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Kate Wolf and most notably his wife and duo partner Maura Kennedy. He's also released a string of guitar-centric albums in the roots/Americana genre.
With "Electric Sitar Meditations" he takes a bold step in a new direction, offering a set of jazz classics from the late fifties "modal" period associated with Miles and Coltrane, balanced against a virtual "side two" of his own improvisations on classical themes by Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky and Bartok. The electric sitar, which he plays solo throughout with no overdubs or edits, is an evocative, surprisingly sonorous instrument that has long deserved a rehab from its hippie-era gimmick status. Kennedy quietly reinvents the instrument as an "ancient but fresh" sound that will intrigue jazz, classical and new age listeners.
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