Vermont banjo picker Gordon Stone has a well-earned reputation for melding the 3 finger banjo style with other idioms, among them jazz and African folk music. He has toured and recorded widely, but has not yet attained the sort of broad notoriety due to such an innovative player and composer.
Students of the banjo who would like to delve into Stone’s style can now do so with a new book of transcriptions, Gordon Stone Banjo Tabs. It contains selections from a number of his CDs (Night Shade, Even With The Odds, Gordon Stone, and Scratchin’ The Surface), both Stone originals and jazz standards like Take Five, Blue Monk, Well You Needn’t, and Scrapple From The Apple – 14 songs in total.
These aren’t easy pieces, but will be valuable to anyone who is interested in jazz and progressive banjo music. The book can be ordered for $12 from Stone’s web site.
