Jazz, rock, blues, comedy? You get a lot when you attend a concert from Israeli-born, New York-based guitarist Oz Noy. Celebrating the release of his latest album ‘Schizophrenic’, Oz set out on a mini-tour of release party dates, which included a pair of gigs in Austin, Texas last weekend. Oz being an early adopter to WTDP? and us never having seen him live, we packed up the car and headed west two hours to see the man in action. A late start at The Saxon Club was no damper on the hour and a half set that saw Oz, bassist Roscoe Beck and drummer Anton Fig rip through several of his new tunes. Oh yeah… and Eric Johnson showed up. Pics and music after the jump!

Oz and the boys filled half the set with tunes from ‘Schizophrenic’ including Seven, Jelly Blue and the title track. He also mixed in a new blues song that he said will be on the next record he is working on, which he describes as a ‘twisted blues’ project. Oz had has ‘travel’ pedal board with him in Austin… which did include some changes from the last time we talked. The Line 6 DL-4s have been replaced with a M-13 that he mainly used for looping. His main board still had his standard and heavily-used Choralflange and Tremulator stomps among others. The one pedal that stood out as being a newer addition is the XTS Atomic Drive – from Deer Park, Texas’ own Greg Walton’s Xact Tone Solutions. He only had one guitar with him… the trusty ‘65 Fender Custom Shop Relic Stratocaster. One amp as well – his Marshall head and cab.

Eric Johnson played a stunning ’50s era Les Paul backed by a pair of silver-faced Fender Deluxe Reverb combos. Johnson also had a minimal effects set-up including a Hermida Zendrive, Xotic AC Booster, a TC Electronic stomp I couldn’t get a good look at… and a Maestro Echoplex.

Take a listen to the trio with Eric Johnson on this track from Oz’s new album. Shaky at first (Eric was working off sheet music), but it really starts to cook once they hit the groove!

Oz Noy Trio w/Eric Johnson – 120 Heart Beats (from 2009’s Schizophrenic)