7#U$ DDDD N XXlxD +*U+++U++++++Laura: Copy-edit complete. 5/15/95. Becky. WHO: The Stan Lassiter Group WHERE: Manhattans WHEN: Monday, May 29, 9:30 p.m. HOW MUCH: $5 by Chris Barrett Theres a yin-yang reward to listening in on shop talk around an instrument store. The traditional guitar yarn typically involves some stellar player, heard during some once-in-a-lifetime setting. so then B.B. King yells from the back of the bus that its okay for us to come in. He powered up and played a little Straight, No Chaser to show me how he bends Lucille around his stomach for tremolo. Killer. Shoulda seen it. That most guitar salesmen are also teachers and displaced performers, and can reproduce their anecdotes musically, is no consolation. You missed something amazing that will never happen again. Thanks. Thanks a lot. If you happen by Rob Paynes Music Center, on Kingston Pike, anytime soon and run into Rob himself, youre likely to encounter an exception to the above rule. If you demonstrate any interest at all in virtuoso guitar playing, Robs probably going to advise you to haul your eyes and ears down to Manhattans on Memorial Day evening. The Stan Lassiter Groupthat nights entertainmentis like few others. Stan Lassiter, guitarist and bandleader, plays like no other guitar player. And the opportunity to see such a band, in a room where the worst seat is less than 100 feet from the stage, is all too rare. Its very personal, says Lassiter, explaining why he prefers the intimacy of small clubs such as Manhattans. Ive heard some major groups in some major places. The sounds bopping around so much that Im seeing somebody and hearing somebody, but theyre not connected. In a small room, its more clear. People can actually feel the air from the instruments as its coming through the first time. That ambiance works like a soundboard, like a big guitar. Lassiters music needs a big guitar. His style has minute elements in common with players youre familiar with: a little Steve Vai here and there, a Segovia run once in a while, the poetic dysfunction of Sam Rivers now and again. He plugs in with a composition, almost always his own, in mind. But beyond that frail foundation, anything could happen. While many improvisers sound as if theyre climbing stairs, listening to themselves and trying to decide, where to next?, Lassiter jumps without a chute. Hes at the mercy of creative winds, and simply makes the most of whatever direction they blow. There are some great artists and some great formulas, says Lassiter. Formulas are like safe havens. But if you start every day fresh, like Ive never played this guitar before, theres something like truth-seeking to that. It doesnt matter if its good or bad, you just try to get out of the way. Lassiters been playing for some 30-odd years. He says that around 85, he realized he could imitate any player and any style hed heard. At that point he decided to free himself of all external influences. When Hendrix or McLaughlin came to mind, hed stop playing, because he knew it would affect the music. That kind of profound concentration leads to some bizarre music. The relationship between Lassiter and his instrument is technically dizzying (both here and in his hometown of Nashville, Lassiters shows attract scores of note-taking, chop-hunting players). He plays with such energetic abandon and is so intensely focused, though, that when he hits something solid, the sparks he sends flying are all the more dazzling. With a unique instrumental voice and a somewhat Eastern philosophical approach to success, Lassiter is an anomaly in Nashville. Rather than throwing up his arms, disgusted with the mediocrity that abounds there, though, hes happy for the camouflage. Nobody stumbles into the rooms he plays just looking for noise to down beers to. With all of the mainstream country and pop alternatives there, everyone in his audience has sought him out. He plays incredibly fast, creating a dense wash of sounds. Utilizing innovative pick-up combinations, Lassiter can play his acoustic classically, then overdrive its signal to a manic Derek Bailey intensity. Imagine William Blake with a Guild Dreadnought and a Marshall stacka little bit of heaven and hell in every run. I feel like were all going to be sitting around a campfire after this existence is over, telling our stories, you know? he explains. If you were to say, I was afraid. I did this and went with the status quo, nobody will want to hear that. But if you say, I went for it! I did this, and I had my head cut off for it, everybodys going to go Yeah! uof the attack on New Yorks World Trade Center, all major acts of terrorism on U.S. soil in recent memory have been committed by Americansfrom the radical students of the Weather Underground to the Unabom bomber. Why was it so dif  @@+,I\|L n! ! !!! !!  '  HH(FG(HH(d'@=/R@H-:LaserWriter 8 New York,,,EuE