Scott Lindenmuth

This guy must be the local legend in Seattle, Washington. He's a post-Metheny fusion player with nice phrasing, a strong melodic sense and a talent for composition. His tunes run the gamut from melancholy ballads to burning triplets, from jazzy offerings to slightly New Age fare. Consequently, he doesn't settle on any one particular sound on this album, switching from a warm fat-bodied jazz guitar to steel-string acoustic to solidbody with all the gadgets.

"The Flame" is very Metheny-esque, circa American Garage, while "Typical Fusion" utilizes some familiar Pat Martino intervals, circa Joyous Lake. "Continuous Call" is a straight-ahead jazzy ballad done up in the melodic tradition of Metheny, Van Manakas or Emily Remler while "Another Side, Another Time," with its gentle acoustic strumming, has a distinctive New Age soundtrack quality.

This is a strong album, Lindenmuth's second with his four-piece band for Dark Stream Records. His talents as a composer and player should place him right alongside such contemporaries as Mike Stern, Scott Henderson and Frank Gambale. Of course, Seattle is not New York or L.A., but if Lindenmuth keeps putting out product of such high quality, the word should get around. Maybe Seattle's big secret will soon break out to wider realms.

-Bill Milkowski - Guitar World

Dark Stream Records in Lynnwood, Washington brings Scott Lindenmuth to the guitar world. Lindenmuth, a definite jazz-rock voice, is a versatile guitar player who fuses rock, jazz and classical chops into a forum of accessible music that is getting a considerable amount of air play for such a small label. Lindenmuth's first release Another Side, Another Time (DS1001), is a dynamic recording of superior fusion, occasionally reminiscent of Return To Forever and often feeling like Lou Alder's late sixties band Spirit (san vocals). The music has a California attitude and the band, The Scott Lindenmuth Group, plays tight and energetic at all times.
Lindenmuth has a new record set for release in the fall on Dark Stream Records entitled Changing Rhythm. It indicates on Dark Stream a definite growth of the group and a clear expansion into the more sophisticated jazz of the future. The music stages effects, synthesizers and pure electric guitar kindled neatly in a fire of driving rhythms and moody, mutating soundscapes. Lindenmuth has superb control of the electric and all of its intrinsic delicacies. The band has a definite roughness that gives it authenticity and transports the experienced listener through a spectrum of the pioneering genres of rock and jazz.

In the tradition of Charlie Christian, who was the first true jazz outlet for the electric guitar, these creative musicians carry on the legacy of this incredible instrument. But it will be only in the hands of truly creative and caring musicians that the new technology of guitar synthesizers and computer assisted music will mature to it's appointed destiny.
Musicianship quality cannot dwindle as the technology advances. Guitar music is human, compassionate, emotive and energetic. Most of all, the jazz guitar cannot prevail without the ingenuity of new players. The guitarists discussed here are shaping the future of electric guitar in technology, musicianship and composition and they will maintain the quality.

-Ed Legare - Jazziz

Down Beat magazine designates a category in their reader polls called Talent Deserving Wider Recognition. Scott Lindenmuth would fit nicely there. Although well known in the Northwest, his following is smaller in some other regions.

Nevertheless, he is a guitarists' guitarist, in that he is a technical master of acoustic, classical, and electric guitars. This is demonstrated right away on The Great One, which chimes with musical energy.
Then on By Land, By Sea, Bassist David Pascal stretches out by making his solo instrument into a full Bass section.

Minor Adventures pairs Andy Roben's organ with Lindenmuth's Spanish sketches. While it is true that Jazz originated with a pinch of Spanish music, on this album there is a full measure.
A treat for the keyboard aficionado is Que Pasta, written by Robens. What this reviewer hears in Lindenmuth's soloing is a potpourri of influences, but all comparisons aside the voice is his own.

Danza Seville is a simple, sunny jaunt through a Castilian landscape. The album closes with Gershwin's Summertime. This chestnut gets the Lindenmuth treatment, turning it into a blistering anthem that sizzles the senses like the 4th of July. Again, many influences, but a uniform and unique synthesis of electronic effects that carry the feeling.

A criticism of electronic music is that it can be cold. But this closing 10 minutes and 48 seconds of improvisation will have the listener turning down the thermostat, and turning up the volume. There are a few drummers who can make the cymbals an instrument unto themselves. Bill Dodge does that here as a key player. Closing arpeggios by Pascal completes the effect.

-Michael Karns - Jazzreview.com

Guitarist Scott Lindenmuth leads a fine young group out of the Pacific Northwest that plays with a kind of quiet fire. First of all the band is hot - little known, perhaps, but instrumentally accomplished and unified in their direction. The compositions such as "Average Families" or "Afterthought" have a touch of mantra, a hint of rock, and compelling concepts. Lindenmuth's tunes can be impressionistic at times, and they inevitably take the listener to vivid destinations. Another Side, Another Time is definitely on the buy list.

-Robert Henschen
4 1/2 Stars - Down Beat