A Travelor's [sic] Sketches by Joe Troop
Reviewed by Donald Nitchie for BanjoNews.com
01.01.2012
Joe Troop is a 28-year-old fiddler and banjo player who currently lives in Argentina. He was born in Winston-Salem, and began playing banjo and fiddle when he was 15. He says it was at the Galax Old Fiddlers Convention that he discovered “the importance of culture in music.”
Since the age of 19, Joe has traveled extensively, coming into contact with various world music styles, which he incorprated into his playing. While in Spain he studied jazz and music theory, playing violin in a gypsy jazz group, and tangos with an Argentine bandoneonist. He was also exposed to flamenco and Middle-Eastern music. He traveled through Europe playing with an Isreali-Palestinian group. Later, he moved to Japan, where he learned to play the fue, a Japanese flute. In 2007 he returned to North Carolina, where he played in bluegrass and swing groups, and also accompanied (on banjo) a Chinese composer. who plays the erhu (Chinese fiddle). Since 2010, Joe has lived in Buenos Aires, where he plays with various gypsy jazz, flamenco, and acoustic groups. He says that teaching banjo is his principle source of income: “I’m slowly training a slew of banjo players down here, and some of them are getting good!”
This CD isn’t a banjo recording per se, but the banjo playing on it is impressive, especially on Reunido, and on the tango Me afanaron en la parada del 4—which means “mugged at the 4 stop” in Argentinian slang.
Joe writes that he was waiting for the 4 bus one night when he was mugged by a gang of kids. They ended up stealing his violin, which was returned to him months later. The man who had bought it searched out the luthier’s name on the web and found a Facebook page someone had made for Joe, and relinguished it. But in the two months in which Joe didn’t have a violin, he composed this tango on the banjo. I don’t know much about tangos, but this sounds like a good one to me, and well played. You can hear it on Joe’s website, or watch a video of him playing it on Youtube
Reunido is a lovely banjo and double bass duet. Joe describes the bass player, Diego Sanchez, as “an incredible Edgar Meyer protégé, and perhaps the best South American 5-string banjo player.” You can view examples of his playing on Youtube.
Volá is a moody bossa nova that Joe plays with a light touch near the fretboard; Joe says it was his attempt to “tame the brash nature of the banjo.” It indeed sounds more like Pat Matheny’s electric guitar than Earl Scruggs—or as much as a banjo can.
Another notable song is Kami Village’s Shimotsuki Festival, where Troop plays a fue (Japanese flute), along with clawhammer banjo and fiddle: an intriguing fusion of Japanese and old-time music
Troop’s record is an exploration of various world musics on banjo and fiddle by an accomplished musician with broad musical interests. Call it an introduction; we look forward to hearing what Joe comes up with next.
