Performance Review: D'Agostino and Burns

by Rick Landers

Clicking the strings of his acoustic Signature Seagull guitar, Peppino D'Agostino, rolls his eyes up to the ceiling in a display of ecstasy while working some magically explosive rhythm on the tune "Beyond the Dunes." Then the cut from Pep's and Stef Burn's latest CD release, Bayshore Road, is jolted and bolted together when Stef conjures up some hard hitting licks from his yellow '91 Custom Shop Strat.

A customer at the next table exclaims, "Awesome!"

The crowd at Vienna, Virginia's local haunt, Jammin' Java, gets reeled in until the wee hours by the duo's musicality.

Peppino hails from Italy, but has lived in the States for the past twenty years. His albums have been critically acclaimed and offer up a mixture of classical, jazz, international folk, rock and flamenco, all forged into a balancing act of styles that blend nicely to carry fans along on a melodic journey.

Pep's articulate acoustic displays are offset by the jazz rock fusion mastery of Stef Burns. Burns history has him playing with an uncanny mix of musicians that highlight his versatility, including Pablo Cruise, Alice Cooper, Huey Lewis and the News, as well as his own Stef Burns Group.

Backing Pep and Stef are Tom Miller on drums and stand up bass player David Ewell. With their backdrop of sound, the headliners have a strong platform to venture off and explore complex nuances of jazz while they teeter on the edges of rock.

"Acoustic Funk" is a tune that, like it's name implies, is funky cool. While D'Agostino's playing presses for an urbane hipness, Stef electrifies the tune with some nice Strat work that is as finely crafted as it is ratty.

Jammin' Java is one of the top night spots in the Washington, D.C. area with the ambience of a little Italian bistro with each table candle lit while locals sip glasses of cabernet. The stage is set for D'Agostino to ask the audience to close their eyes and picture themselves in Venice sipping cappuccino. Eyes close and he begins his own "Venus Over Venice, " a nicely grounded piece that he peppers with sweet harmonics.

What's readily apparent throughout the show is how natural the pairing of these two guitarists sews up the music into a quilted patchwork of colorfully complex music.

D'Agostino's Italian heritage is vacated when he pushes out Jerry Reed's "Jerry's Breakdown," a hoe-down of a tune that kicks ass. Between the two guitarists, the breakneck speed of the piece accelerates and ends with both of them laughing from the adrenaline rush and the sheer fun of playing together.

Two very cool tunes are ones everyone knows, the themes from "Once Upon a Time in the West" and the haunting opening from the old Clint Eastwood spaghetti-western, "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly."

The joint fills with laughter when Pep and Stef hilariously vocalize the tune's deep chanting.

Another similar tune the two helped write is the enigmatic "Inner Sanctuary," that's a mix of spaghetti-western and spy movie. Stef kept his Strat latched to its neck pickup, evoking a deep hollow canyon voicing.

Moving along smartly, the two show other guitar strengths with "Brush With the Blues," "Birdland" and Stef's composition, "Swamp Tea."

They bid the crowd adieu, but quickly returned for a rollicking encore that brought the crowd to its feet.

The night at Jammin' Java offered a series of well-crafted musical surprises that were enriched by the "nice guy" personalities on stage. After the show, Pep and Stef hung out to meet their fans, some of whom drove over 100 miles to catch a glimpse of the team in action.

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Stef Burns
Peppino D'Agostino
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