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Claude Pauly

Bborn in Luxembourg in 1964, Claude eventually found his way to the guitar via various other school music instruments at the age of 16. Soon the electric guitar became a main focus, and the initial self taught years lead him through various blues, rock and experimental bands. Having been exposed to and passionately loving all genres of music, from Louis Armstrong to Pink Floyd and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, his focus eventually shifted to mostly guitar based jazz fusion, and his emerging urge to understand and master jazz fusion music and guitar playing lead him to enrol in various technique and theory courses at the London Guitar Institute, mainly studying with Shaun Baxter. London was to later became his home for a few years, and those years’ input, merged with a large array of musical and guitaristic influences, were to forge a large part of his jazz- fusion playing and writing style, always trying to merge the energy and emotional intensity of electric/rock guitar playing with the vast array of harmonic colours, tensions and musical shapes of the jazz and fusion vocabulary. Playing in various projects, Claude also continuously refined his compositional and arranging skills, and also started to write and produce radio and TV jingles for various Luxembourg based stations. Back in Luxembourg, he started teaching and doing session work for various rock, pop and zouk artists, continued the jingle work and wrote music for theatre and modern dance plays. He intensely gigged with the fusion band Garlicks, who released the critically acclaimed CD “Mutant Standards”, and later on he released “Jazzperiments”, an acid-jazzy/ambient record less focused on guitar. He performed with and wrote for in the acoustic Spire Trio as well as numerous local and international fusion and jazz formations. Together with some of Luxembourg’s finest jazz musicians, Claude then got involved in the highly successful “India meets Europe” project, featuring Benares sitar master Deobrat Mishra, and arranged an composed some of the concert material, consisting of a blend of traditional Indian music and jazz fusion. MIND METS MATTER is a long dreamt of project that was finally realised in California , recording original compositions with bassist Kai Eckhardt (John McLaughlin, Garaj Mahal) , drummer Alan Hertz Hertz (Scott Henderson, Garaj Mahal) and keyboarder Frank Martin ( John McLaughlin, Richard Bona, Sting).

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362
Album Review

Claude Pauly: Mind Meets Matter

Read "Mind Meets Matter" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Legions of saxophonists were mesmerized by the sound of Lester Young and Charlie Parker and to this day, John Coltrane; for trumpeters, Miles Davis continues to ensnare many, and for fusion guitarists John McLaughlin and Allan Holdsworth continue to fascinate. As a bright light does moths, they are sucked in, and if not careful, their own voice is consumed in the flames of reverence. Mind Meets Matter reveals Claude Pauly--eyebrows singed--to be as talented as he is informed by these ...

464
Album Review

Claude Pauly: Mind Meets Matter

Read "Mind Meets Matter" reviewed by John Kelman


What do you get when you combine the heavy metal bebop lines of Scott Henderson, the inestimable chops of Frank Gambale, the close harmonic voicings of Allan Holdsworth, the occasional rough edges of John McLaughlin and a tinge of Latin affect? Guitarist Claude Pauly, on his debut, Mind Meets Matter, comes close to answering that question, while proving that it's possible to wear your influences prominently on your sleeve while still moving towards asserting an individual voice.

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By John Kelman What do you get when you combine the heavy metal bebop lines of Scott Henderson, the inestimable chops of Frank Gambale, the close harmonic voicings of Allan Holdsworth, the occasional rough edges of John McLaughlin and a tinge of Latin affect? Guitarist Claude Pauly, on his debut, Mind Meets Matter, comes close to answering that question, while proving that it's possible to wear your influences prominently on your sleeve while still moving towards asserting an individual voice.

Focusing on group chemistry rather than a cast of thousands, Pauly has chosen his band mates well: bassist Kai Echkardt and drummer Alan Hertz play together in Garaj Mahal, lending an immediate unity to Mind Meets Matter. The sense of interactive togetherness is further augmented by keyboardist Frank Martin, who has worked with McLaughlin, Richard Bona, and Sting but, based on his work here, deserves greater recognition.

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Primary Instrument

Guitar

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Mind Meets Matter

Independent Records
2008

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