Prodigal guitarists week Part 2: Dan Faehnle at Jimmy Mak’s

by Tom D'Antoni on February 9, 2010

Monday night at Jimmy Mak's with Phil Baker

Chris Mosley, back for a visit from Austin, played in Portland Saturday night. Monday night Dan Faehnle performed at Jimmy Mak’s and demonstrated why we still miss him.

Read our preview from last week.

He dazzled. He soothed. He brought Grant Green back to life. He made us feel sorry he has to go back to Cincinnati at the end of the week.

After starting off with “Old Devil Moon” to get the band rolling, he announced that, “We’re not going to do any of the songs we rehearsed.” He may or may not have been kidding. Then he said, “Here’s something from the Grant Green songbook,” and ripped into a tune from Green, one of his biggest influences.

He didn’t stop there. He spun stories about B-3 player Bill Hyde, who Faehnle knew in Detroit and who made both a musical and personal mark on the guitarist. Calling him, “strange”, he explained as how Hyde must have set the world record for most baseball games attended and also for miles hitchhiking. The band would pick him up for a gig, not at his home, but at, say Exit 41 of the Interstate.

Hyde was also famous for inventing words. Switties were licks, for instance. Faehnle played one of Hyde’s tunes, inspired by Grant Green (coming full-circle) called “Grantacious.” It was that tune that stood everyone on their heads as Faehnle’s fingers were a blur on the fretboard pumping out “switties” in a dizzying array of runs and ideas.

Dan Faehnle, Phil Baker, Dick Berk (photo by John Nastos)

This is why we’re here at Jimmy Mak’s.

He followed with just a heart-wrenching ballad, playing as tenderly as a human possibly could. And he played an up-tempo boppish piece that proved once-and-for-all that he is still taking major chances.

Dan Faehnle's group at Jimmy Mak's (photo by John Nastos)

The band of Phil Baker on bass, Dan Gaynor on piano and Dick Berk on drums was supportive in all the right ways, but the star of the show was clearly Dan Faehnle.

Between sets he indicated that he’d love to return to Portland to live at some point. We’re ready for ya, Dan.

Tom D'Antoni

http://www.oregonmusicnews.com

Tom is Editor-In-Chief of Oregon Music News. He has worked in network and local TV as a producer/reporter including Oregon Art Beat and Inside Edition. He has written for national magazines and many newspapers, most recently Huffington Post and The Oregonian. He has network and local radio experience and currently hosts a show every Wednesday from 2-6pm on KMHD .