And: Mazzacane Connors live performances with Darin Gray, Jim O’Rourke, and David Grubbs.

Few guitarists approach their instrument with the delicacy of Loren Mazzacane Connors, and fewer still have created their own musical language, one immediately identifiable but distant and elusive nonetheless. The New York-based artist, who first started releasing blues-adjacent solo music as Guitar Roberts in the 1970s, has issued dozens of albums and played with countless artists over the years, including collaborations with Jim O’Rourke, Kim Gordon, David Grubbs, Darin Gray (more on that below) and his longtime creative and life partner Suzanne Langille.

Those who have never gone deep into Mazzacane Connors’ work have an entire realm of sublime beauty awaiting you. Every reverb-drenched note is sacred. Connors’ fretboard micro-movements make tones shimmer as they bend, moan as they echo.

In 2022, a recording surfaced of a magical moment in the history of transcontinental solo electric guitar music. Visiting New York from Tokyo, the Japanese player Haino Keiji made a pilgrimage to the home of Connors and Langille, whose work had inspired and moved him. Keiji’s playing style couldn’t have been more different. At the time, he was best known for his work with Fushitsusha and P.S.F. Records. It was distorted and abrasive. Mazzacane Connors’ approach could be abrasive, but not the way Haino’s was. The visit was documented by Linsey Herman, who recently rediscovered a tape she’d thought lost. (The David Newgarden she mentions in the caption below is best known for his work with John Zorn on Tzadik Records.)

Haino Keiji came to the US in 1991 at the invite of John Zorn, I believe. I was still in college and took my Hi8 video camera with me everywhere. Haino had told me he was a big fan of Loren Mazzacane Connors/Guitar Roberts and wanted to meet him during his visit. My friend David Newgarden knew Loren, and offered to introduce Haino to him. The three of us – me, David, and Haino, went to Loren and Suzanne’s apartment and watched as they performed a concert just for us (and their son, who can be seen in the video). I thought this tape was long gone, but here it is. Though Haino isn’t much in it, you can hear him and see him just a bit.

This was the first meeting that eventually led to the Mazzacane/Haino recording that Persona Non Grata (the label David Newgarden and I briefly ran) released with Father Yod. — Linsey Herman

YouTube has a number of stunning recordings of Mazzacane Connors in concert. In 1992, the guitarist was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, which over the decades has made it increasingly difficult to travel. Still, last year he performed in London at Cafe Oto with Alan Licht.

Some of my favorite Mazzacane Connors collaborations are those with bassist Darin Gray, whose credits illuminate his stature: Over the years he’s worked with geniuses including O’Rourke, Eiko Ishibishi, Akira Sakata, Gastr del Sol, Oren Ambarchi, Tweedy, and dozens more. If you see his name in the liner notes, it’ll be a good record.

In 2000, Mazzacane Connors and Gray performed together in Bloomington, Indiana, home of the experimental label Family Vineyard. The set occurred at the Monroe County Public Library and was shot to video using a two-camera set-up. Better, Family Vineyard’s recording of it came out a year later as This Past Spring. The liner notes for the Family Vineyard release are … ahem … very well written. As a young scribe in 2000, Gray and Mazzacane Connors asked me to write them. (Gray and I go way, way back.) Since I’ve already written about the set, here’s part of what I wrote.

A standing-room-only crowd remained hushed throughout (“When I looked up about halfway through the set, I could not believe that that many people could be that quiet at a show – really a moving experience,” says Gray), and recording engineer Daniel Burton attended to the sound – a remarkable feat considering MazzaCane Connors’ sense of dynamics and his ability to move from moan to whimper and back again without warning.

You can hear two people, their instruments, an audience and a library inside the same moment, shaping a present as though it were a malleable object, transforming it, conversing with it, appreciating it and, ultimately, transcending it by simply living within it. No small feat, and though free improvisation is a game that anyone can play, it takes two musicians who understand each other – and dynamics – to transform it into something huge and profound. Connors and Gray … are able to converse without shouting – though, as you’ll hear within, shouting is sometimes necessary – are able to needle through each other without shock or trepidation. You can hear this relaxation, this ease of delivery, this respect. It shapes the moment.

Looking to dig further? O’Rourke and Mazzacane Connors’ duets album is another collaboration to get lost in. Recorded live and called In Bern, its song titles are among the best ever for a live record.

1 Now Who Are These Guys? 5:20
2 Still Going … 19:37
3 Are They Going To Stop? 13:46
4 You Can Stay If You Want, But I’m Going Home