Gary Lucas Imports Pop from "The Edge of Heaven"
The renowned guitarist has a new release that he claims combines elements of "Chinese folk, U.S. western swing, Billie Holiday-style blues and Broadway show tunes." His surprising source: the music of pre-World War II Shanghai.

Lucas is known for his exploratory works and innovative technique, which have landed him gigs with Captain Beefheart, Lou Reed and Patti Smith and collaborations with a then-unknown Jeff Buckley, as well as a respected catalog of solo works. His past works have included rearrangements of Wagner, Sun Ra, and klezmer.

His latest recording, "The Edge of Heaven," originally was released in France 2 Oct. 2001, and only recently became widely available in the US.

In this work he draws on a mid-century Chinese pop that is almost unknown outside the region. In an article by Jim Fusilli in the Wall Street Journal (May 6, 2003), Lucas describes pre-war Shanghai as a very "cosmopolitan city with a lot of Americans, particularly Jewish-American musicians. These guys introduced people to jazz and swing and klezmer. Chinese pop eventually reflected all that; the music of that period, at least in Shanghai, was sort of the Chinese take on jazz and blues."

"The Edge of Heaven" contains both instrumental and vocal arrangements, featuring Lucas' heavenly fingerstyle acoustic, electric & slide guitar. He attributes his arranging skills, surprisingly perhaps, to the demands of working with Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet), whom Lucas describes as "the most compelling conceptualist I'd ever heard… To play his songs, I had to relearn the guitar."

"Heaven" features vocalists Celeste Chong (a big TV star from Singapore) and Gisburg (from Austria) to obtain its most moving and romantic moments. The music of Bai Kwong and Chow Hsuan comes to life again through their voices, with Lucas' complex but open guitar playing providing most of the pentatonic harmonic backing the music requires.

Visit Gary Lucas at his own web site, which includes audio, pictures, bio, links, press quotes, etc.

Listen to an excerpt from "The Edge of Heaven," along with a brief "All Songs Considered review" (National Public Radio)

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