"Bill Lancton Brings It Together"
Nuvo Sound - July 3, 1997
by Chuck Workman


According to the dictionary, the word diversity is defined as "the quality or state of being composed of different parts or elements."

That term is suitable when applied to guitarist Bill Lancton, because his style of jazz guitar comes from many different musical parts to give him his own unique sound.

Lancton, who has been a key player in the very popular World Beat mambo group Dog Talk, has his first album out. The CD Lanctones is a spin-off from a recording session when Dog talk was taping its current release, Twiddling The Tightrope.

Don't get the idea that Lancton's CD is an afterthought; he has been working on this for a year, composing the tunes and playing side gigs away from Dog Talk with his own jazz quartet.

With 25 years of playing and recording all types of music, no wonder his first album offers such a varied selection of tunes composed by Lancton.

He is a sensitive player who believes in timbre and tone with an affinity for playing nylon strings.

Though originally from New York, Lancton, who's a grad of Indiana State University, has adapted well to the Midwest with his multi-talented wife LuAnn.

Lancton is compulsive guitar player -- as he says, "I am a guitar-aholic" - and he has a collection of guitars acquired for their unique sound characteristics. Yet like the serious collector, he is still on the lookout for another stringed gem to enhance his playing and collection.

When talking to Bill Lancton, you get the feeling that he is just discovering music, because the enthusiasm and fascination are still in his voice and conversation.

NUVO: Bill, you play different guitars for different moods, as opposed to focusing on one instrument and evoking what you want from it Is this trend among guitar players?

Lancton: Absolutely! I am a guitar-aholic. When Lu and I travel and we go to New York the first thing I do is head over to West 48th Street and hit all of the guitar stores. She knows that whenever we travel we are going to find a guitar shop. The guitar I use on the CD for the Bossa Nova stuff and "The Veranda" tune is a nylon string Chet Atkins. I stopped in Nashville, Tennessee, at Gruhn's, the world famous guitar shop, and that just gotten that guitar in that morning and I bought it that afternoon, brought it back and used it on six cuts on the CD.

Are you going to get into any of the high-tech stuff?

I actually was into that almost 10 years ago. I had a MIDI guitar that I bought in the 80's, and I have drawer full of stuff that I recorded with that. It's a challenging thing to do and with keyboard players they have everything at their fingertips. I particularly like the sound of the guitar itself. When I hear a sax player, I like to hear a sax sound like a sax player; I don't want hi sounding like an organ player. That's why they have organ players. I wouldn't want a keyboard player having a guitar sound. To me, it defeats the individuality of being the guitar player or the organ player.

You have been in Indianapolis long enough and playing now to evaluate the jazz scene. How do you evaluate it?

It's got seasons, you know? I would say in the summer there is a lot more opportunity with the festivals and that type of thing. I would love to see five more jazz clubs at least. I have been very fortunate that I have been able to work. It would be very difficult to survive strictly as a jazz musician in town without having some other source of income. For me, that is teaching guitar and working with Dog Talk.

What would be an ideal recording project for you in this market if money were no object?

We have something coming up. Cathy Morris and I are putting together a group. We want to record, but I have never thought about what my dream project would be at this point in time.

Lancton wears more than one hat in the world of music; he calls the tunes for Dog Talk on the bandstand, and he is also producing a jazz series that has just started outdoors in the Rathskeller's Biergarten, called Sunday jazz Picnic, from noon-3pm. His group will be the house band and will feature a different guest artist each week.

The Lanctunes CD represents the love affair of a man and his instrument and respect for his peers that are players.

Listen to Lancton's idolizing work on "Chet" for his bow to the boss of the Nashville guitar pickers. I was particularly struck by Lancton's tune "Mandolin Morning," which featured him on an instrument he is still developing his technique on, but the melody and implied accompaniment give this a distinct attractiveness. Lancton's compositions all have a certain relaxing reflectiveness about them.