Keller Williams
Loop
review = A

Silence. At first, that’s all you hear. And then a smattering of applauds as a long haired musician with a scruffy beard steps up to the microphone. His acoustic ten string guitar is slung low. Too low to be strummed. Eyes closed and fingers snapping time like a beatnik daddy-o, he scats a bohemian backbeat into the void. Digging it, he smiles. Somehow, the sounds continue to pulse as he moves over to an electric bass mounted on a stand, keeping it in perfect position to be played at all times. Now he’s a funk master supreme. The gurgling bass line and toe-tapping vocal backbeat have heads in the crowd bopping. As soon as the rhythm guitar’s syncopated strum enters the mix, bodies begin to sway. And then come the mouth flugals. Voicing a slide trombone with perfect tone, many of the people in the crowd who have never seen Keller Williams before are shaking their heads in disbelief. The others are on the dance floor, swept away by his irresistible, polytextured grooves. Fact: Keller Williams doesn’t need high tech, ‘loop and sample’ gadgetry to blow listeners away. He can do that with just his fingers and an acoustic guitar. But ever since discovering how to clone himself onstage through the miracle of modern science, well, the guy’s been -loopy-. Literally. Recorded live, -Loop-, captures the magic of Williams in concert. Give it a listen and you’ll be -loopy- too.