Zoot Horn Rollo (AKA Bill Harkleroad)

[NoSleep]

Thankfully still living...

http://www.zoothornrollo.com/

...and his website has sprung back alive after a long hiatus. I can't remember the last time I checked it, but it doesn't seem like two years ago, but those are the dates on the four new tracks that he has created (Masks #1, #2, #3 & #4). Again in the moody electric fusion mode of his last album (which is all good as far as I'm concerned).

He's been giving guitar lessons for 30 years now. Somebody I know on another forum actually travelled to see him for some lessons. Turns out he a nice guy and all that. He's now offering guitar lessons via Skype:

https://youtu.be/JxOn1Ns2TOc

One of the true greats and originals on the electric guitar and notably on slide guitar, he was guitarist in Captain Beefheart's Magic Band From Trout Mask Replica onward. When he and the rest of the band left (after Clear Spot) to form Mallard (who are well worth listening to, especially for Zoot Horn Rollo's contributions) the Captain had to find some Magic Band fanboys to replace that original band, so unique were their styles, particularly ZHR.

His book, Lunar Notes, is a good account of his time in The Magic Band and subsequently Mallard includes some blow by blow reviews of the albums he appeared on from his perspective as well as some insight into how the Magic Band operated. Two little factoids that always stay in my mind was how Ornette Coleman was a fan of the band (and also friends with the Captain) which may go a little way in explaining why his electric band sounded not a million miles away from the Magic Band (I've also heard Ornette was a fan of Soft Machine). He also talks of a meeting between Muddy Waters and the Captain where he noted that Muddy considered him one of his own - an authentic exponent of the blues.

So... Zoot Horn Rollo!

[grassbath]

I'm not as familiar with the good Captain's output as many on here, but I've always been stunned by the Rollo's playing on Trout Mask Replica. 'Moonlight on Vermont' is a ridiculously great, unorthodox-sounding riff.

[NoSleep]

In Lunar Notes he mentions that the recordings of Moonlight On Vermont as well as Veteran's Day Poppy pre-date the months spent learning how to play the rest of Trout Mask, so they are the earliest recordings of him with the band. Both tracks do feel more spontaneous than the rest of the album and are good gateway tracks into the denser, more intense feel of the album (aside from a couple of acapella field recordings from the Captain).

[Shit Good Nose]

Big fan of Mallard (I think I actually prefer them over Beefheart, not that they are very similar and not that I dislike the good Captain).  I saw him do a talk (but, sadly, he did not play guitar) back in the 90s about the history of slide guitar. 

I can also recommend his solo album We Saw a Bozo Under the Sea.