Listen to David Tronzo speak about music. It’ll make you as pleasantly dizzy as his unquestionably original and otherworldly slide guitar playing. This is a man on a search for truth—not pop culture status, accolades or big label deals—but truth. During a recent interview, Tronzo jumped energetically from topic to topic, including his musical beginnings, New York City, philosophy and the many musical collaborations he’s always got cooking. There are at least six separate Tronzo projects currently  by my count—two in Europe, one in Canada, and more than a few in The States. The humble guitarist gets bashful talking about his amazing accomplishments, but you should know about this stuff. Musician Magazine named him as one of  the top 100 guitarists of all time. Not this year, last month or 1996, but all time. Americana man John Hiatt, producer/performer Daniel Lanois, jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd and organist/composer John Medeski have all played alongside Tronzo’s heady “processed slide-guitar” work. The New Yorker once said of Tronzo’s work, “On a bad night, he sounds like Duane Allman grafted onto Charlie Parker. On a good night he has to be seen to be believed.” Not to be forgotten, Tronzo is your neighbor. He lives in Newmarket. “For me,” says the likable 48-year-old, “the purpose of music has got to contain real healing power. It’s got to reach in below the level of consciousness, way beyond ‘inspiring.’ It should put you in contact with, for lack of a better word, God. I’m always looking for transcendence.” He isn’t kidding either, but it should be said that he doesn’t say it pretentiously. It’s just who he is and what he does.

Tronzo mentions he is finally getting over a winter bug of some kind. It’s no wonder, given the fellow’s penchant for burning the candle at both ends. One of Tronzo’s numerous endeavors is a collaboration with Boston musician Mike Rivard and his eclectic improvisation-driven “band,” Club D’Elf. Club D’Elf features a diverse and ever-rotating cast of top-tier musicians, like the aforementioned Medeski, Marc Ribot, members of Morphine and The Slip and about 70 others. Tronzo, Rivard and Club D’Elf come to The Stone Church Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 9 p.m. This installment features Moroccan musician Brahim Fribgane on percussion, vocals and oud (like a Moroccan lute), Tronzo and Randy Roos on guitars, Rivard on bass and sintir (another Moroccan instrument), and Erik Kerr on drums. The cover charge of $7 is shamefully low for such a gathering of talent, but it’s all the more reason why you should think about coming out. Local up and comers The Ride open the show.

“I was 11 years old when I first became interested in music,” says Tronzo, who grew up in the blue collar town of Rochester, N.Y. “I started playing the guitar in August of ’72, when I was about to turn 14. There was a guitar in the house, a Fender Jaguar that belonged to my brother Michael, who had long since put it aside to pursue painting.” Michael Tronzo’s switch turned out to be a fortuitous turn of artistic events, indeed.

While other teenagers who pick up the guitar do so just so they can rock out or pick up girls, Tronzo’s path was different, and it was clear to him from the start.

“I was just magnetized by the bottle neck guitar,” he says in a breathless voice, “Even then—and this isn’t an exaggeration—in my mind I could see and hear and feel what it is that I’m doing today. I wanted to take this seemingly limited thing and stretch it. I wanted to make it go everywhere and do everything.”

So, what kind of music does Tronzo play, exactly?

“Yikes,” he says with a laugh, “That’s a tough one.” Maybe a minute passes before he starts offering some thoughts. “Somewhere in there, we would have to say ... (pauses) ... postmodern ... 21st century ... slide guitar ... a soothsayer.” The word soothsayer begat the English verb “to soothe,” but the word itself means “one who tells the truth.”

New York City was home to the guitar whiz and his wife Kelly until 9/11, which changed everything for the couple. “9/11 shattered my heart on a level I’m still dealing with,” says Tronzo heavily. “Any instability got magnified. There was a rash of public suicides.  No joke, you didn’t see them put that on the news. Music became a rudder.”

The couple moved to New Hampshire a few years back to be closer to family, especially Tronzo’s ailing mother. But in happier times, The City held the magic Tronzo was looking for as a young player. Aside from a few years here and there when they lived in Europe, including a period on a houseboat in the canals of Amsterdam, New York City was home.

“The reality of the post modern jazz world is where I lived,” he says. “When I was in New York City, that was the center of the compass.” These days, Tronzo’s focus is a little wider as he splits his time between a full time teaching gig at Boston’s Berklee School of Music, live performances around the world and yes, occasionally, sleep. Also, the man makes one hell of a cappuccino.

If you slip the 1994 Knitting Factory Records release “Tronzo Trio” (one of his many releases) into the computer for a listen, the iTunes program lists the music as “unclassifiable” in the genre field. It’s hard to imagine Tronzo’s young mind hearing, feeling and seeing such complex music. Then again, it’s hard to imagine a man who can coax the kind of sounds out of a guitar that Tronzo does. Duke Ellington once said, “There’s only two kinds of music, good music and bad.” Tronzo’s music is in the former group—it’s technically impressive, and yes, often challenging to one who isn’t regularly exposed to experimental instrumental music, but it is undeniably beautiful and compelling, too. Tronzo plays seated with a tackle box at his feet. It’s full of tricks, like beads and mallets, all for the purpose of musical communication. A paper cup as a slide, chopsticks stuck in the strings to mute them, mallets instead of a guitar pick—it’s all game.

Think about language. Do you have to understand Italian to “get” opera? Nope. No doubt it helps if you understand the subtleties of the language, but if there weren’t something more visceral at the core, it’s likely the art form wouldn’t have become as universal as it has. Sadness, laughter, and angry yells sound and feel much the same in every country, no matter the native tongue, which you don’t have to speak to feel. It’s a rare thing to have such a musical artist in our midst, one who is dedicated to creating an original catalog of work in an industry that’s in “the business of knockoffs.”

Maybe you won’t like Tronzo and Club D’Elf’s music, or maybe it’ll turn out to be the unexpected cathartic experience that changes the way you look at life forever. Music can do that.
 

David Tronzo, Mike Rivard and Club D’Elf
The Stone Church
Wednesday, Dec. 21 at 9 p.m., $7
This installment of Club D’Elf features Moroccan musician Brahim Fribgane on percussion, vocals and oud, Tronzo and Randy Roos on guitars, Rivard on bass and sintir, and Erik Kerr on drums.
Local up and comers The Ride open the show.