Reviews
Reviews
with LUTS/other electric:
“The open improvisations reveal an acute sensitivity ,…, ushering the quartet into one bracing and surprising exploration after another.” Mel Minter, Musically Speaking, April 2019
“[a] kind of post-Milesian electricity of the Davis ’70s bands with a Mid-Eastern sensibility and plenty of freedom. Dill has his own way around the guitar and it has been influenced quite naturally by his own oud work. Everybody gets with it here. It is a good go of things, I would say!” Grego Applegate Edwards, https://gapplegateguitar.blogspot.com, May 2019
“What a shot in the arm the Stefan Dill Trio deliver…. The acerbic jazz-rock captured on Run For Heaven is improvised in its entirety and centres around Stefan Dill’s guitar work, packed with Hendrix inspired blues licks and string bends, coupled with John McLaughlin out there raw energy bursting into beautifully sustained feedback parries with bass and drums, entwined to form this free jazz trio’s bold statement. Elsewhere plump acoustic guitar and bass splish splash through flamenco heat and ice, conjoining in a true fusion….To coin a well known phrase, “it’s music, but not as we know it Jim”. . Julian Derry, review of Six Peaces, Nov 2003
“Flower and Song” is a satisfying and eminently listenable set of duets featuring the 6 and 12 string guitars of Stefan Dill with drummer Dave Wayne, bassist Dave Nielsen, saxophonists John Dikeman and Jack Wright and fellow guitarist John Jasnoch.
There are – perhaps inevitable – echoes of guitarists as diverse as Sharrock and Blood Ulmer, but the urban savagery of the former and the claustrophobic heat-energy of the latter chill out in the high desert air of New Mexico, and nobody’s watching the clock in case the band overruns its studio time.
Stefan Dill, well-versed in classical, jazz, flamenco and rock, is a licks man, meaning not that he throws them in willy-nilly in a display of empty virtuosity, but rather that he knows just the right place to insert them as logical natural developments in his long, unfolding solos. – Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic, April 2002
“Loud, burning, skronky stuff (although, they do calm down at times and indulge in some more restrained, quiet passages). It’s all very beautiful if you’re into this sort of thing, definitely for fans of Mahavishnu John McLaughlin and Nels Cline!! Cool.” (for Run For Heaven, 2002)- Aquarius Records
Reviews
with Pray For Brain:
“…an electro-organic feast, enveloping a 3D outlook, spanning Middle Eastern oud-based rock, Indofunk, jazz fusion and hearty doses of improvisation. Here, exceptionally versatile guitarist Mustafa Stefan Dill integrates thrusting King Crimson chord voicings, understated melodies, shades of Americana, Mid-Eastern modalities and performs on the oud as well…. .” Glenn Astarita, AllAboutJazz.com,2/7/2015
“…This instrumental ensemble pushes the envelope and is refreshingly impossible to categorize. Rock, jazz and funk, along with a range of South Asian and Middle Eastern influences, slip between traces of surf, rockabilly and country in a great mix of cultures that twist and turn at the drop of a hat. Here is a jazz/rock composite that will eliminate any preconceived notion of fusion. … This trio is full of endless possibilities.” Alex Brown, Roots World, May 5, 2015
“…These eleven tracks boast plenty of chops, improvisation and a jam-like quality that will keep you guessing where the music will go next….Jam band, jazz fusion and psychedelic overtones abound as Dill’s guitar work absolutely shines. … Fans of fusion music will certainly find something to enjoy with None of the Above. Folks, this one’s a keeper.” Jon Neudorf, Sea of Tranquility, Sept 9 2014
“The playing on this album is complex, focused, and precise. Nelson’s bass playing is mesmerizing, Voorhees plays with hypnotic ease, and Dill’s guitars will knock you out. … Cool heady stuff with balls.” Babysue.com, 6/2/2014
Reviews
acoustic:
“Your music is amazing…stunning. Thank you for your beautiful songs!” Alexia Prichard, filmmaker and executive producer “Facing History and Ourselves”, on licensing MSD solo oud music, November 2018.
” The work of guitarist Stefan Dill is as daring as it is ambitious and satisfying. …These are tensions which propel the music – beyond hearing , which is what it ultimately aspires to- is all to do with the delivering of not just sound, but of a pure experience”. Loretta Summers, World Beat (England), no 6 (April/May 1998)
“..Dill offerierte dem Publikum Flamenco auf hohem Niveau. Dabei sprengte er Form arbeitet mit Dissonanzen und Distanz schaffenden Brüchen. … Dann fand Dill aber auch immer wieder den Weg zur schönen Melodie, zur wunderbaren Blume, die hinter dem Autowrack blüht… ” Lothar Zygar, Neue Westfälische, 28 September 1998 (review of Paderborn Gittarenfest performance)
“Dill’s evocative solo nylon string pieces are an ear-stretching hybrid of Bailey’s stark pointillism and traditional flamenco gestures….full of delicate dynamic shading and poignant silences. Soulful and innovative.” Joe Gore, Guitar Player, May 1998
“Eine mitreißende Tour durch eine andere Welt von Klängen und Inspirationen. Flamenco? Ja – aber einmal ganz anders!” Peter Maier, Gitarre Aktuell, I/98 (No. 60)
“The completeness and extreme originality of guitarist Stefan Dill’s art is more than impressive….He has drawn from all manner of sources: the percussive power of flamenco has a role to play, balancing the expressivity of free jazz and the structural concerns of post – Schoenberg straight music….Crucially, his music is no potpourri: his tastes may be eclectic but he has his own, very distinctive, voice.” Steve Lake, ECM producer, for the FMP Total Music Meeting 1994 programme notes
“…haunting music in a language that floats on the threshold of the unconscious, congratulations!” Roberto Limon, Director, Centro Hispanoamericano de Guitarra, August 1996