**** Gary Lucas

@ PARADISO

(Oxygen Music Works)

**** Gary Lucas, @ PARADISO (Oxygen Music Works). Sure, Gary Lucas has a great résumé: Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, his own inventive rock outfit Gods & Monsters, songwriting collaborations with Jeff Buckley and others, soundtracks, and a rapidly expanding universe of solo albums and concerts. But in the land of guitarslingers, you're only as good as your last work. So here's a great live recording that stakes out his turf as a parcel extending from the Mississippi Delta to the textural/ambient domain and way out into space. It's hard to believe that one guitarist has such absolute command of mud-deep blues fingerpicking and colorful sonic improvisation. Nonetheless, Lucas blends roots, jazz, rock, and free improv without sacrificing a scrap of melody or soul. As you listen to Lucas's emotional tear through "Rise Up To Be" (the music Buckley used for "Grace") and his masterful step-by-step construction of spontaneous loops, rhythms, and searing melodies in his own spin down Kraftwerk's "Autobahn," the sheer creative beauty of his playing becomes undeniable. (Order from 208 West 30th Street, #1025, New York, New York 10001.)

-- Ted Drozdowski