Kevin Breit’s mastery of anything with strings is legendary. A first-call session player when he chooses to be, he also continues to release albums that reflect his eccentric and unclassifiable musical tastes. His Juno nominated all-instrumental Johnny Goldtooth and The Chevy Casanovas is the perfect example and he will be performing that album in some fashion at the TD Jazz Festival this month. With a full album of mandolin music also in his discography, he’s now decided to do a slide guitar album because he has a new guitar, made especially to his specifications, that he calls ‘Stella Bella Strada’. He has a deep affection for classic Italian movies as well and the video for the title song shows him eating pasta watching those movies, playing his new guitar. “Marcello Loren” (images on his guitar) sounds like his take on film music for these films except perhaps for the Mariachi horns. A large choir constitutes the album’s only vocals, albeit wordlessly. The opening “A Common Vow” is a mini-concerto for slide guitar and string quartet. “Vegas Address” finds him channeling Frank Zappa, with the full band, horns, and violin. “Kick at the Grape” comes closest to the Sisters Euclid sound of old. I found Breit’s slide guitar parts consistently bluesy throughout even if the rest of the players are doing something quite different. Adventurous listeners should enjoy this one, along with his many devoted fans. Make a point of catching his TD Jazz concert Thursday, June 27 @ 8:15. As has been said more than a few times of Kevin: “he never plays the same thing once”. His web site is www.kevinbreit.com.