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Not your typical guitar hero | Not your typical guitar hero |
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| Written by Staff Reporter | |
| Thursday, 04 February 2010 | |
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Jennifer Batten first became known when she rose from the guitar underground, and the guitar magazines promptly began chronicling her savvy musicianship and highly original approach to the electric guitar in print in the '80s. At one point Batten was in six different bands, playing everything from straight ahead rock, to metal, fusion, and funk. She was selected from over one hundred guitarists to play in Michael Jackson's band, which toured the world for one and a half years playing for over four and a half million people. Jennifer wasted no time after the 'BAD' tour's grand finale, diving into work on her own album with renowned producer (and Stevie Wonder guitarist) Michael Sembello. The stunning results can be heard on 'Above, Below, and Beyond', the title appropriately describing the interesting diversity within. Shortly after the record's release in 1992, she was asked again to join Michael Jackson for his upcoming 'Dangerous' tour. In January '93, she joined Jackson to partake in Superbowl XXVII's half time entertainment which aired to one and half billion people in 80 nations. It was the largest audience in television history. She completed her second solo record 'Jennifer Batten's Tribal Rage-Momentum', just before she was again asked to join Michael Jackson for his 2 year world tour supporting his double album 'HIStory' in 1997. Jennifer's 'Tribal Rage' project took a much different direction than her first record and is heavily influenced by world music. It is a hybrid of rock and very exotic sounds, including African percussion, Australian didgeridoo, Caribbean steel drums and even Scottish bagpipes. In 1998 Jeff Beck asked Jennifer to join his band. They joined forces for 3 years on the albums 'Who Else', and 'You Had It Coming'. Jennifer has authored two music books and has just released her third solo CD/DVD entitled 'Whatever'. With this third effort, she's ventured into electronica, vocal samples, and film. She's supporting this release with a multimedia one-woman show, playing guitar in synch with films projected onto a giant screen. The companion DVD includes over 90 minutes of art films, previously unreleased music videos, interviews, commentary, and an innovative guitar lesson. This is a solo multimedia show during which Jennifer will perform with film projections. Jennifer will perform a personal tribute to Michael Jackson as part of her performance.She plays The Pavilion on Wednesday 10 February at 9pm. Tickets are €20 (including booking fee) from www.tickets.ie. |
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