Johnson's first career was as an architectural photographer-his prints have been exhibited at the Corcoran-and it might be that sense of order and beauty that prevents "Language" from becoming a freak show (the fastest guitarist alive). As with Parker, no matter how much velocity Johnson works up, there's always a song at the core. He hired musicians on drums, oboe, sax, bass washboard, cello and accordion to listen to .demos of the songs and then add their own parts. The musicians are tastefully restrained, indeed barely noticeable (although real drumming does make a brief appearance on "Ritual Ground"), but they serve to flesh out compositions such as "Sketches of Miles," "1-5-90" and his cover of "Cheek to Cheek." There's really no way to characterize this music, except maybe by creating new hybrids-acoustic Appalachian bop-folk-but that doesn't matter. To do so would only box in Johnson's enormous talent