Guests of Ibanez Guitars Winter 2007 NAMM Jam lined up Sat Jan 20th at the Key Club-Hollywood. It was definitely “the place to be” with the quality of playing beheld by the fortunate attendees. It would have been enough that innovative guitar ace Steve Vai headlined an event which featured expectedly captivating appearances by old pals such as Joe Satriani and Tony McAlpine, but it was the concluding “pageant of masters” during the night’s-end Hendrix homage that left jaws dropped, eyes transfixed, and ears shaken, stirred and inspired most spectacularly. Sure, some awesome allstar-jam line-ups pop up periodically, including Satriani’s own “G3” tour series, which this year finds John Petrucci and Paul Gilbert surfing the circuit along with Joe. But the checklist of champions who were on stage all at once for January’s Ibanez NAMM Jam will be difficult to approximate ever again, much less match.
Consider the totality of talent which was witnessed that night: besides Steve, Joe and Tony, the final fretfest included Paul Gilbert and bassist Billy Sheehan from Mr. Big, Herman Li from Dragonforce, Matt Roberts from 3 Doors Down, Andy Timmons from Danger Danger, and Dave Weiner from Vai’s band. The result was a savory sonic stew, concocted by multiple five-star chefs who all somehow managed to add their own spices without muddying the mix, thereby producing a one-of-a-kind treat that can never be duplicated. This time, so many cooks didn’t spoil the soup!
The show opened with an interestingly incongruous act, a North Carolina hard-core crew called 
Between the Buried and Me. The growling Dixie fivesome generated an agitated groove that might normally have instigated much moshing, but this time the Key Club crowd consisted in large part of music-industry tradesfolk who didn’t seem inclined to savor the pleasures of the pit. Deceptively simple in appearance, the band was politely received through a set that included the complex structures of such songs as “Into the Moat,” “Autodidact” and “Backwards Marathon.” Audience interest rose for the emotive, metal-edged cover of Queen’s “Bicycle,” after which the quintet acquitted themselves well by ending with “The Endless Obsession,” figuratively closing one door while opening another.
The portal to electrified excellence soon swung wider open, when leather-clad guitarist Paul Gilbert stepped out with a sweet double-necked Ibanez instrument, accompanied by Mike Szuter on bass, Jeff Bowders on drums, and Bruce Bouillet on rhythm and additional lead guitar. The set began with masterful teamwork, as Bruce fretted chords on the lower neck of Paul’s guitar while Paul plucked lead lines on the neck above. The double-neck was replaced with Paul’s faithful Ibanez PGM 300 during four fantastic pieces from his “Get Out of My Yard” release, which were followed by a pair of Racer X chestnuts, “Scarified” and “Scit Scat Wah.” Next came a respectful nod to the virtuosity of Eddie Van Halen, when Paul and Bruce paired up for a smoking rendition of “Eruption” – in harmony. Smiling all the while, Paul played three more of his own tunes before bringing noted axe-man Andy Timmons out for the set-closer, the Beatles’ “Let It Be,” leaving the audience well-primed for the amplified artistry yet to come.
Mist swirled gently on the stage when Steve Vai entered with a graceful shuffle, easily elegant while holding his Ibanez JEM guitar. Red-trousered Billy Sheehan stood ready with a blue Yamaha bass; the phenomenal Tony McAlpine manned the keyboard next to tattooed drummer Jeremy Colson and his kit; and Dave Weiner, a well-seasoned 
seven-string guitar pro, took position with an intriguing electric sitar that was perched on a stand. After some gracious comments regarding the 20th anniversary of the JEM model line, Steve and the band forged into “For the Love of God,” the first of many Vai-penned pearls on the set-list.
Steve combined traditional and innovative techniques from the start, using his whammy-bar and wah-wah pedal to make his strings wail like a siren, then hitting high notes on the neck with his tongue, ooh-la-la! As the performance progressed, Steve and Billy outdid Paul and Bruce’s double-neck trick, by executing a yoga-like maneuver, front-to-back, wherein bassist and guitarist each reached out simultaneously to play the other’s axe for a few measures. On “Building the Church,” Steve played a “blue-light-special” guitar, which glowed with luminous azure insets along the fretboard.
“Whispering a Prayer” began with a heartfelt intro from Tony’s keys and proceeded into a case-study by Steve in the use of controlled feedback, followed by the frenetic finesse of “Freak Show.” Next, Billy demonstrated his top-to-bottom bass expertise in a dazzling solo, building from sublime harmonics into a crunchy, rumbling gallop. And then, while Tony traded his keyboard for a guitar, it was time to bring in the guest talent, beginning with Dragonforce’s Henry Li, a wiry young man with a sunny smile and incredibly long raven hair. Wielding a wafer-thin cordless guitar, Henry helped Steve and Tony to handle “The Reaper,” exhibiting lead lessons learned from his elders, and unleashing vigorous variations of his own. The song culminated in a relentless, rock-solid drum solo by Jeremy and a subsequent soft serenade on the strings from Steve, during which a mysterious figure emerged from the shadows, 
wearing a glittery Gilligan-style hat and dark sunglasses: Steve’s friend and former teacher, Joe Satriani. Joe joined in to jam along, and the two traded licks like the comfortable companions they were, as Andy again came onstage, with another newer player, 3 Doors Down’s abundantly capable Matt Roberts. Tony returned to the keys and Steve began singing “Giant Balls,” getting the ball rolling for a rollicking rock-and-roll rally, featuring fluid, flying leads, in turn, from Matt, Herman, Joe, and Andy.
And still, for anyone who could possibly want more, there was indeed more musical magic at hand. While Steve strapped on a green-lit Lucite guitar like a space-age raygun-wielder, the throng of axe-slingers around him somehow made room for Paul to join them, plus Tony as well, who had just re-shouldered his guitar for this final foray. Once he was situated, Paul waded in with the familiar opening notes of “Voodoo Chile,” and the crowd roared with recognition and appreciation. The resulting jam session – eight great guitarists plus outstanding bass and drums – was an amazing display of coordination, courtesy, and competence, as lick-laying star-turns went right on down the line in sequence, no muss and no fuss, just the most exquisite essence of spirit and skill translated into electric sound. As the magnificent music wound to a close, everyone in the audience knew they were present at something special, witnesses to what won’t be repeated any time soon, if ever. It was a kind of benign guitar carnage, where a righteous roster of world-class maestros left no note unplucked, no lick unshredded, no riff unripped. The Ibanez Guitar Company deserves sincere thanks for making possible the Winter 2007 NAMM Jam.
