Modest Midget

Modest Midget is a project of Lionel Ziblat, a Argentinian born trained musician who lives in The Netherlands. Son of a pianist mother and a rock 'n roll father, he studied at the Utrecht Conservatory for eight years, topped with an MA degree on classical composition. In parallel, he also studied jazz guitar and orchestral conducting. Based on this, he is very active working as a composer (classical, jazz, film music, close-harmony choirs), arranger and conductor with various ensembles and theatre productions.
Still, he likes contemporary music, and as part of that he has his own band Modest Midget, which has been compared to Gentle Giant in the past on the ProgArchives forums. Not surprising, given the name of the band and the style of music they play. An intricate mix of Jazz, powerful guitar rock, Spanish guitar, but also Middle Eastern (Israeli) sounds can be heard in the music, often as part of one track. On some tracks the vocals choruses do indeed resemble Gentle Giant, but the music is more modern and contains many influences other than progressive rock. Still, Gentle Giant fans should try a track like Troubles in Heaven, which contains some familiar sounding vocal arrangements.
On the debut album The Great Prophecy of a Small Man , most of the basic rock instruments (guitar, vocals, percussion, bass guitar) are played by Lionel Ziblat himself, while guest musicians join on various instruments - some named, some deliberately anonymous. Still, photos on the band web site show a quartet, and a tour through Europe is planned for 2010, making it clear that the band is not just Lional.
A sensible addition to Crossover, and a nice addition to any album collection - Modest Midget.
Angelo Hulshout
2010 - The Great Prophecy of a Small Man
2008 - Partial Exposure EP
2014 - Crysis
http://www.modestmidget.com