This album is my first sojourn into the use of a midi guitar. I have worked with midi before, but for a guitarist whose keyboard skills are quite limited, the process of entering notes into a computer can be quite slow and cumbersome. I had tried to use a midi guitar about 20 years ago, but the latency was problematic, and the processing speeds and memory sizes were much lower back then, so I just gave up.

I was delighted to discover that it’s so much easier now! With the help of local sound pro Greg McGrath (who also mixed the tracks) to get it set up, and my son Max (who plays keyboards and just so happens to use the same DAW as I do) showing me what some of the best free plugins are for synth sounds, it was relatively easy to do the rest.

By writing directly into the DAW, I was able to compose much more complicated things than I would have otherwise been able to play, and I probably can’t play many of them in real-time on my own, much less with a band, unless we had extensive rehearsal time. Although this approach might be viewed by more traditional musicians as cheating, it’s also freeing.

This is in stark contrast to my 2021 album “What Are the Odds?” for which I had to shed its 19 tunes for months before recording them all in 2 1/2 days in the studio. Many of them were in odd meters and that is still very much an area of interest for me. As you will see by the following list of tunes by beats per bar, only a small handful of tunes on Digital Interfaith are in 4/4.

4: Back-Cycling Modulator, Fo Fo, Samba Funk

5: 20-20 Vision, Erotic Neurotic, If You Should Hesitate, Purple and Gray, Re Ho Bith

6: Adowa, Akom, Chaabi, See You in September, Sixth Sense

7: Akwaaba, Dear Diary, Dromos Segiah, Kara Denice, Rupak, Thula Loop

9: Cascara Funk, Sabach, Anatolian Nocturne

11: Afro 11

13: Echolalian Fingers, West City

15: Nsraf, Oneteenth Less

14: Push and Pull Blues

17: Khush-Rank, Tune for a Full Moon at Noon

19: 19th Chronicle

Another thing about composing this way that I really enjoyed was the short-length format. Pretty much all these tunes are 1 to 3 minutes long. It meant that I didn’t have to develop the ideas at all; I could just present them and then get the heck out and move on to something else. I may not continue to compose this way in the future, but it makes me wonder how many other conventions I may adopted that are limiting my creativity and that I’m not even aware of!

Hope you enjoy these little rug-rats. We’ll all have to move out of this shoe pretty soon because it’s getting too crowded (and noisy.) 🙂




Reviews

“Quite a showcase for the creative guitar playing and imagination of Dennis Winge”

Dennis Winge has had a busy career. The guitarist played his first gigs when he was 16, began leading bands a few years later, attended Manhattan College, and has since played with top rock performers, for Broadway shows, and with such jazz artists as fellow guitarist Gene Bertoncini, bassist Bill Crow and trumpeter Shunzo Ohno. Winge recorded at least nine previous albums before Digital Interfaith that reflect his diverse career.

Digital Interfaith is a different type of album. Dennis Winge utilizes a Midi guitar, contributing all the songs plus bass and programming. He performs 31 of his originals, most of which are quite brief. All but three songs clock in between 1:04-2:48 and none of the performances are over 3:43. Because of their brevity, on this fast-moving set Winge states his melodic ideas, groove, and plot for each song, develops them a little, and then it is on to the next piece.

Winge utilizes a lot of different time signatures throughout the set with only three songs being in the conventional 4/4 time. The remainder consists of five that are 5/4, five being waltzes (6/4), and other tunes being in 7/4, 9/4, 11/4 (“Afro 11”), 13/4, 14/4, 15/4, 17/4 and even 19/4 (“19th Chronicle”).

Some solo albums can become tedious after a few selections, but that is certainly not the case with this unpredictable project. Winge creates a lot of different sounds in the ensembles, his grooves are full of variety and, due to his wide range of musical experiences, he is able to cross over into several different styles (including fusion) while varying his tones on the guitar.

Winge swings and trades off with himself on the opener, “If You Should Hesitate.” While some of his songs (such as the hyper “Cascara Funk,” “20-20 Vision,” “Erotic Neurotic.” and the playful “Fo Fo”) find him sounding pretty rockish, he resembles Chick Corea’s keyboards a bit on “Thula Loop,” is bluesy on “Akwaaba” and “Push and Pull Blues” (which is in 14/4), and emulates the sound of vibes during “Echolalian Fingers.”

Other highlights include the energetic waltz “Adowa,” the exotic Middle Eastern flavor of “Khush-Rank” and “Sabach,” a swinging “See You In September,” his wailing guitar a la Al DiMeola on “Oneteenth Less,” the catchy melody of “Kara Denice,” Winge’s speechlike guitar on “Samba Funk,” the melancholy ballad “Purple And Grey,” and his eccentric up-tempo blues “Back-Cycling Modulator.”

Digital Interfaith will hold onto listener’s interest throughout and is quite a showcase for the creative Midi guitar playing and imagination of Dennis Winge.

– Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian

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“Fresh Thrilling Digital Guitar Mastery”

Our guitarist friend Dennis has been reviewed here several times; on his latest release, you’ll hear the epitome of fresh thrilling digital guitar mastery. Dennis is totally dedicated to creating music that engages you and will help liberate your soul.

A couple of very unique things happen on the album, too… there are actually 31 tunes (all quite short) that incorporate many of the wide-ranging musical influences in Dennis’s life. It’s a totally intriguing listen that will have you coming back over and over (and OVER) again for more of the sultry tones Dennis creates for us!

The new release is among the very best I’ve heard Dennis do, and gets a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating from me, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) score of 4.99.

– Dick Metcalf, Contemporary Fusion Reviews

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"... a fun disc ... All of the cleverness and talent means nothing if the themes and performances don’t deliver, and ye, they do."


When you think of a “solo” album, you think of a solitary musician sitting in front of a microphone and giving a series of arias. Dennis WInge makes this solo session a “group” effort, so to speak, in that he plays all of the instruments, creating sounds with his MIDI guitar, bass and various rhythmic programs. He’s busting all over with ideas, putting together over thirty, count ‘em, thirty original tunes, but he keeps your interest in a pair of ways, first by limiting the time limit of the songs to 1-3 minutes, so they never overstay their welcome, and then mixing up the time signatures a la Dave Brubeck. So, instead of the steady 4/4 groove, you keep alert with pulses ranging from 7/4, 6/4, 5/4, 13/4, 15/4 and even 19/4. Did someone consult a Greek orchestra for these tricky beats?!?

You have some tasty and laid back blues on “Back-Cycling Modulator” with nary a wasted pick, while funky keyboards and backbeats bend and snap like Reese Witherspoon on “If You Should Hesitate”. Guitar musings and exotic ideas a la Pat Metheny percolate during “Sixth Sense” and the fluid “Re Ho Bith” with some dashes of Asia on the Bodhi tree’d “Echolalian Fingers” and the mix of tablas and mellow synth sounds of “Rupak”. Plugged in fusion moods spark things up on the Chick COrea-ish “Afro 11” and some searing guitar work hinting at vintage Al Di Meola sizzles on “Sixth Sense”.

This is a fun disc in which if you’re a musician you can keep up with Winge’s flexibility of ideas and chops, and if you’re simply a music fan, hopefully he’ll come to town and stretch out on a few of these beauties. Stay tuned!

- George Harris, Jazz Weekly