Jazz : A Gifted, Original Guitarist Joins Friesen at McCabe’s

A surprise was in store for the few dozen David Friesen fans who showed up Friday at McCabe’s. The bassist’s partner was Uwe Kropinski, a guitarist who defected three years ago from East Berlin to Cologne.

Not since Stanley Jordan has a guitarist offered such an array of original ideas. Kropinski plays both gut-string and steel-string guitars, alternates between finger style and plectrum solos, and, like Jordan, is capable of playing with his left hand only.

His guitars are equipped with additional high-register frets that extend beyond the O-holes of the instruments. Kropinski uses this extra range to create dazzling octave-jumping runs.

Most remarkable of all is his use of the guitar as a percussion medium.

Instead of merely tapping on wood, he creates complex rhythms, often with both hands, that would defy the ingenuity of most bongo players. At times he would switch back and forth between lightning guitar lines and wild percussion effects.

On one tune, Friesen played a bowed solo on his curious Oregon bass while Kropinski went into a right-hand tremolo that never let up for two or three minutes, while his left hand changed chords continuously.

During the second set, the duo’s novelty aspect went overboard. Friesen tried to show that he too could be a percussionist, on the sounding board of his bass; he tried to play a Shakuhachi flute, then indulged in grotesque “Laughing Bass” sound effects with his bow. Kropinski, wetting his fingers, stroked the guitar to simulate the wound of a Brazilian cuica.

The repertoire, consisting of originals by Friesen and Kropinski, involved some clever interplay between the two men but generally was less interesting than the spontaneous inventions by this fascinating German visitor.

His visa expires soon, but it seems inevitable that he will return to establish himself as the sensation in this country that he has already become in Europe.