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Back Home The Sturm Brothers Rolf Sturm guitar and effects Hans Sturm double bass with Glen Velez percussion 'Listening to the outside playing of guitarist Rolf Sturm, you'd never think that he'd once backed country feller Eddie Arnold. God knows what his former boss would think of the unpredictable, twisted writing and playing featured here. Maybe all those lessons he took with John Abercrombie, Bill Frisell, Jim Hall, and Joe Pass sucked the hillbilly out of him - though, as Frisell has done, you can picture the guitarist turning out some wonderfully demented album of wa-hoo, clogging-in-hell White trash music. Maybe next time. This time he, brother Hans and percussionist Velez lay out un paralleled guitar-driven music that's just a little too progressive to ever earn them a cover photo on Guitar Player Magazine. The band isn't outside as in Cecil Taylor-outside, but their stuff still reaches further than probably anything you've heard from six strings prior to now. The trio knows how to balance melodicism and stretching out, as 'Dream Milonga' proves. Rolf, who's equally creative on acoustic and electric, has created a disc that could very well carry a sticker declaring it cliche-free. Definitely something to check out if you're a picker tired of those damn scale exercises.' Dave McElfresh, Cadence Magazine 'Bassist Hans Sturm, his brother guitarist Rolf Sturm, and percussionist Glen Velez have released an eclectic collection of originals. Improvisation duties are passed back and forth with the sort of ease you might expect from brothers playing catch on the lawn. Hans Sturm's tonal palette extends from the smooth and seething, as in Dream Milonga, to harsh and aggressive, as in Washington Square Park. Rolf Sturm truly represents a variety of guitar styles in keeping with the influences he credits in the liner notes. There are particular moments of John Abercrombie
