Ben Granfelt - Gratitude (2023)

Now his 20th solo album, Granfelt pays homage to role models that influenced his style as a guitarist. Here he names in particular Gary Moore, Jeff Beck and Robin Trower. The fact that the album release falls exactly on his 60th birthday shows that it is a very special work for the exceptional Finnish guitarist. Also looking back on his career with ups and downs, which, as the title says, he looks back on gratefully.
The fact that he recorded the album with his longtime companions Masa Maijanen on bass and Jari Salminen shows his down-to-earthness. With Miika Aukio he brought in Erja Lyytinen's keyboard player as reinforcement, who breathes a special, sometimes slightly psychedelic touch into the songs with his keyboard playing. Stylistically, the work spans a spectrum from blues to monumental rock to jazz, which is not least due to Granfelt's three great role models.
In addition to the blues-rock songs like "I Got The Blues From You" with beautiful background vocals by Katja Sirkiä and fine keyboard passages by Miika Aukio, he shows in the instrumentals "JB Reggae" and "Techno Blues" that he also has a streak for jazz, to show in tracks like "Remember" and "Gratitude" that he also has a weakness for the way David Gilmour plays the guitar. In the quiet, almost dreamily played "Life Goes On", Granfelt gives a musical insight into his positive attitude to life.
With the album Gratitude, Granfelt proves that he is one of the best guitarists in the world, the many years of songwriting with Wishbone Ash are also noticeable.