CD Review

Earl Klugh’s Naked Guitar finds the acoustic maestro working his trademark smooth jazz style into a more intimate and mellow setting, void of any instrumental back-up. While playing in a musical vacuum might lessen the impact and force of the album, Klugh’s stripped down and simplistic endeavor flows effortlessly, revealing a stylized mix of recognizable and obscure tracks rooted in personal reflection.

Along with Klugh’s airy strums and intricate finger picking, the album subtly rolls through varying degrees of emotional range. Introductory tunes like "The Night Has A Thousand Faces" and "Serenata" open the album up with a delicate and functional tone using melodies that would be best heard over a Sunday morning cup of coffee. Even with Klugh as a one man show, the album itself eschews a singular position as he jumps from more playful fare like "Alice In Wonderland" and "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" to more popular songs like "Summer Knows" and "Moon River," both of which not only represent heartfelt renditions, but also reinforce the casual style of the album. The most poignant track, Klugh’s "Angelina," is an upbeat piece that ends the album and becomes somewhat of a litmus test for how his own music blends into the overall composition of the album. Naked Guitar slowly works its way to a thematic end, but instead of listening to a steady pyramid of tracks that build upon the next, they each act as specific instances for Klugh, maybe a road map of what inspired him or what he felt worked well with a simple canvas consisting of a player and his guitar.

Klugh’s created an organic acoustical journey with Naked Guitar; it peels away frilliness in favor of technical brilliance with a definitive approach. And while the album’s polite introspective tone limits listening to a specific time and place, Klugh’s singular vision gleams and grows with each listen.

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