Although marketed in guitar publications alongside the top "shredders" of the late '80s, Australian guitarist Frank Gambale certainly stood out from the pack.
Although he favored the same guitar make as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani -- Ibanez -- Gambale was from the jazz fusion school, not the hard rock/heavy metal side of the tracks.
After all, he first appeared on scene as part of Chick Corea's Elektric Band.
And while his solo recordings from this era wouldn't sound completely out of place on The Late Show with David Letterman (1989's Thunder from Down Under certainly had a "Paul Shaffer flair"), by the early 21st century Gambale was ready to switch gears, as evidenced by 2006's Natural High.
Picking up an acoustic guitar, the majority of the album is Gambale accompanied by just piano and bass, with percussion joining in on four of the album's nine tracks.
There's some nifty guitar and bass interplay throughout the album, but especially on the album-opening "You Are All the Things," as well as "D's Living Room," while the self-explanatory "Scottish Highlands" is another highlight.
If it's challenging jazz fusion that you're looking for, this isn't the place.
But for relaxing, acoustic guitar-led jazz that would sound perfect in the background, Natural High is recommended.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You Are All the ThingsFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 07:34 | 17 MB | 42 MB |
| 2 | We'll Remember DecemberFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 07:23 | 16 MB | 39 MB |
| 3 | D's Living RoomFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 07:07 | 16 MB | 42 MB |
| 4 | FortuneFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 06:22 | 14 MB | 33 MB |
| 5 | PrincipesaFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:50 | 13 MB | 28 MB |
| 6 | Scottish HighlandsFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 08:38 | 19 MB | 55 MB |
| 7 | Another ChallengerFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 07:25 | 17 MB | 44 MB |
| 8 | The Long And Short Of It | Frank Gambale | Play | 07:41 | 17 MB | 44 MB |
| 9 | Have You Met Tom Jones | Frank Gambale | Play | 07:09 | 16 MB | 37 MB |
| 65 mins | 149 MB | |||||
| 65 mins | 368 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Biles | Engineer, Mixing |
| 2 | Alain Caron | Bass, Guitar (Bass), Main Personnel |
| 3 | James Frank Dean | Artwork |
| 4 | Bill-Dog Dooley | Mastering |
| 5 | Frank Gambale | Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Main Personnel, Mixing, Photography, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 6 | Otmaro Ruíz | Main Personnel, Piano |
| 7 | Jim Schultz | Audio Engineer |
| 8 | Mike Shapiro | Main Personnel, Percussion |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |