Vinyl Vault — Ross Traut

It’s the spotlight on the guitar this week on the Vinyl Vault as we listen to some tracks from a 1981 album by guitarist Ross Traut simply entitled “Ross Traut.” The album was released on Headfirst Records.

Vinyl Vault is sponsored by Vinyl Me, Please

Traut has often been compared to Pat Metheny. This album came out only a few years after Metheny started to gain significant notoriety with the Pat Metheney Group. The music on the Ross Traut album is fairly similar to early Pat Metheney Group music and Traut’s guitar tone and much of his technique sounds a bit Methenyesque at times.

But the connections with Metheny don’t end there. The album featured the original rhythm section of the PMG with Mark Egan on bass and Danny Gottlieb on drums on some of the tunes. The other connection was the presence of Steve Rodby on bass on some tracks. Rodby was also in the PMG for many years and has continued his association with Metheny to the present day acting as associate producer on most if not all of Metheny’s albums up to and including his most recent effort, the Side Eye project.

Join Geoff Anderson on Tuesday night, February 14 at 8:30 pm for Ross Traut on the Vinyl Vault, only on KUVO JAZZ.