A great Joy to discover my colleagues!

I am slowly going through the JOHN GILBERT Documentary on YOUTUBE and having a great time listening to a great LARRY FERRARA- a local West coast player. He reminds me of how many great local players there are all over the world who we don't get a chance to know about!This is the great plus of YOUTUBE being able to visit with other great players around the world!

JOHN GILBERT- GREAT~~_

Go online to YOUTUBE and check out the 5 part documentary on Luthier JOHN GILBERT! What a great piece of work checking out several Gilberts with the Luthier!Great lesson in Guitar Comparisons! Pay attention to all the great comments!

1 year ago! / Ben Verdery and Guitar Extravaganza/Jerry Williard and Things!

Yesterday the 22ND of March, I celebrated my one year anniversary of quadruple bypass surgery and am really happy to have been given an opportunity to carry on my playing and learning! I again must thank my dear sweet wife for pulling me through and my friends and families who checked up on me during the months of recovery.I have been off my Blog simply due to taking on a bit too many projects,but am getting my act together. Today,Friday I am on the judging panel for the Music Under New York Transit Program then I train myself to Yale for tomorrows' Guitar Extravaganza all day Festival run by my great colleague BENJAMIN VERDERY! This kid has SUPERMAN BLOOD! He is an incredible human being who,single handily is the best supporter of our Great instrument in so many ways as Performing Artist,Teacher,Composer,Presenter WWWWWWHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!!!!! I don't know how Ben does it all! I first attended this Festival in 2006 when my "TWIN BROTHER" Hubert Kappell (GERMAN VIRTUOSO) was there and a group of us hung out like long lost brothers at a local Restaurant. I then have to get back for my regular gig at the Staten Island Ferry on Sunday so you can see that I am trying do get my stuff going. The only thing I regret is that I have to miss the Concert of my buddy JERRY WILLARD who will give a fabulous performance at Christ and St Stephens Church at 69Th Street off of Broadway in Manhattan. I have known JERRY since 1973 when I attended the "GUITAR WORKSHOP". It was that year the great BRITISH Guitarist/Composer JACK DUARTE gave his first Master Class in the United States. Jerry was way ahead of the Concert Guitarists at that time. He played his transcription of MANUEL DE FALLAS' Ritual Fire Dance which was TOTALLY AWESOME!I had just attended a performance of ARTUR RUBINSTEIN in which the Fire Dance was one of his encores! Still remember how that great Showman Raised his hands far above the piano to ring out the repeated Chords.JERRYS' interpretation was just as electrifying!These are the times I wish I had a clone to help me out!

In a couple of weeks,I will turn 62 and am playing Better then ever!I am also learning a heap from YOU TUBE and other media.I always have something to read on my way to gigs.Gotta take advantage of the time I have left here on earth.

My great teacher,the legendary Jazz Great PAT MARTINO,was just in town and I caught him at BIRDLAND this past Saturday. I will be posting my observation of this MONSTER ARTIST as soon as I can catch my breath! I know there are a couple of people awaiting my little review as they asked my "what I was writing".I actually glanced at another one of my notebooks and bumped into my last visit at Birdland when Pat was in town! I love this man dearly because he has been a special part of my life since I studied with him in the 70's.I suggest you run out and get his autobiography "HERE AND NOW" and you will be stunned at the life this man has lived! I saw a copy at my neighborhood library and this is one of the greatest gifts one could have because he has opened his life to you which shows a Kid who relentlessly pursued the study of the guitar as a young man on the road with various great groups.Honing his craft as an exceptional Guitarist and Composer and having to undergo illness of great stature and had come out on the other side of such impossible circumstances.He ends his book by showing Guitarists who to approach the Mystical world of the Guitar Fretboard in the most basic terms! I tell you that this book if a treasure trove of great information about overcoming so many things as a warm human being!

I have also to report on the last couple of months of performances by my colleagues and yet have to bring you up to speed on the great PIA GAZAREK-OFFERMANN, the great German Virtuoso who needs to have people know about her great artistry! I have not forgotten you PIA! So many things to do and so little time.On top of it all, I am crazy to be here at 4:39 am on a day in which I will be judging performances from about 9am to 3pm - non-stop then pop into Yale! Yes I am crazy,crazy,crazy!

I give a hug to all my friends out there in the Guitar world and once again encourage you to study,study,learn and learn from all the resources available especially YOU TUBE!!

This week here in New York, Thursday the great DAVID LEISNER will be performing at SYMPHONY SPACE-some works for Guitar and Piano and on Saturday at the 92ND Street "Y", we have the honor of experiencing the legendary PEPE ROMERO in concert. I yet have to post the fabulous Masterclass PEPE gave at the Manhattan School of Music as few months ago! I also just missed another great concert at the MANNES SCHOOL of MUSIC! Too much for DONNIE! I have gotta pace myself!

I will be posting my upcoming Library Concerts. I have two Next month on back to back Saturdays and one in May!I also just accepted a gig to play for IMMIGRANT HERITAGE WEEK next month at the St GEORGE Public Library in Staten Island which I am looking forward to. I love going around the city bringing the Classical Guitar to people who have no idea of how powerful this great instrument is! I have spent my life doing this and feel it is my "niche". I could have done the regular Concert Artist route and Jumped into the heavy duty repertoire with gusto, but I want to get people excited about playing.

I am stunned that I am wide awake as a few hours ago I was looking at a documentary on both MICHAEL JACKSON and STEVE JOBS -both playing at the same time and yet trying to also jump into a documentary on THE AMAZON! Life is a crazy puzzle.So many things are happening. The world is the worst I have seen in my life and I cry a lot for what is going on. Sometimes it is tough for me to yet go to another gig but when I get those first few "Thank You for Playing that tune", it know that I did something good. In my small way I try to make this volatile and cruel world a little bit less abrasive. Let me get ready for today. HAPPY SPRING! KEEP PLUCKING!

OH! I forgot to add that another one of my great teachers-JIM HALL-has recently had back surgery and in recovery himself.I saw a clip of him at a gig last year and cried as he had to slowly walk on stage bent over with a Cain.There was a special tribute concert I attended a couple of months ago for Jim and it was announced that he was "sorry he could not make it". Many of the greats who received their "WHEATIES" from Jim were on hand to play an incredible evening of wonderful Jazz Guitar! JIM WE LOVE YOU DEARLY AND HOPE YOU GET BETTER"!!

p.s. Hope I didn't make too many grammitical errors above.Getting a bit sleepy even though I checked the above post! - DONNIE

The Concerto de Aranjuez - Who has the best Performance

I am up here at 2am in the morning on YouTube checking out the performance of Narciso Yepes playing the Aranjuez Concerto and just wondered who pleased Rodrigo the most with his/her performance! I have heard it played by all the greats in my lifetime and before and including PACO DE LUCIA with Rodrigo on site. Another great performance is of course the DVD of PEPE ROMERO, who personally knew Rodrigo! I must say that the most impressive performance I witnessed was in 2004 when SHARON ISBIN played the Aranjuez at the 1st World Guitar Congress in Maryland! BOY she had it all together! Her phrasing was pin perfect and her on stage gestures perfectly complemented the phrasing. She was amplified which was not part of the original makeup of the Concerto but in Sharons' case,it was a perfect balance achieved. I also must point out the great job my friend and colleague DENNIS KOSTER did several years ago when he performed the Concerto Without AMPLIFICATION conducted by Scott Jackson-Wiley. It was prefaced by an evening spent by the New York Classical Guitar Society in which Dennis and Scott traveled through the Concerto point by point with Dennis detailed what fingerings he used and how he approached some of the phrasing. That was a great night and there should be a symposium with the great minds of the Guitar world putting in their personal comments of the same. After all this is THE MOST POPULAR Classical Guitar Concerto in the World and it is unfortunate that so many other worthy Concertos don't get a chance to live.The Mexican Guitarist Alfonso Moreno over 30 years ago impressed the hell out of me when I heard him perform it! It was gutsy and full of spunk! I LOVED IT!!! His attack was bold and the middle movement was sweet. You should look at the wonderful job GRAHAM WADE did when he published his extremely well done book in the Concerto.The best job point by point in print! Well let me get back to this piece of meat (the Yepes Rehearsal)on You Tube. I see that I'm all stoked about this and will seek out other performances on You Tube. In my gigs around town, I usually paraphrase that gorgeous 2nd movement and do an improvised Jazz version. People love it. I hope to set aside time to learn all three movements and perhaps eventually arrange the complete concerto ( Just before I pop into my grave probably!). Anyway,food for thought! Sorry for delaying several posts but I have been scattered in my efforts these days as I gig like crazy around town and try to catch concerts and gigs of friends plus handle a few projects that have me trying to tread water here! I may have taken on a bit much,but I know that I am ALIVE!!!Next month I will be 62 and feel like a 20 year young punk! Trying to get back to working out and eating right so I can have another 62 years! I refuse to have a future walking around with a Cain or walking apparatus. I will play the guitar until my last breath and love my dear and special wife forever! There is no amount of payback that will equal what my wife has done for me. I constantly tell her I don't deserve it.This year marks our 25th anniversary in July and we have been together 27 years! W O W ! What a record!!! Speak to you soon!

Hello again from DONNIE BUSY LAND!!!- PAT MARTINO

MAN OH MAN!! It has been a really neck snapping month for me between gigs and attending concerts. I thought I would get a chance to breathe and post some tidbits, but it seems that I will have to get my butt in this computer in spite of a hectic schedule.
I am in heaven this week because my dear teacher Jazz Legend will be at BIRDLAND starting this Tuesday - PAT MARTINO! You must go out and buy his magnificent auto biography - "HERE AND NOW". Not only will you find out about and extraordinary artist who started "on the road" at 15, you will be amazed at the life he has led and the great obsticales he has had to overcome. You will alos get a great Masterclass in how to look at the Guitar in the most efficient and clear way.This book is already available at some library branches. It was at my local library and I am so happy about that because his life has been lived at least 3 times and NO ONE ON EARTH PLAYS LIKE PAT MARTINO!! He is also a very caring and loving person and I feel so honored that he has graced my life as my dear teacher and friend.I love this man dearly as he has helped me through some of my tough times with illness over the last ten years! Hope you can catch him folks this week at BIRDLAND 315 West 44th street-

The INCREDIBLE YAMANDU COSTA-POWERHOUSE

Next month, an already sold out concert will be given by that "MONSTER" Guitarist YAMANDU COSTA at Baruch College. He first "WOWED" us at the BRAZILIAN GUITAR MARATHON held a few years ago at the 92nd street "Y" and continues to be one of the most sought after young Virtuosos of our great Instrument! I suggest you jump on to YOU TUBE right now and get a taste of this fantastic musician!His hands are totally powerful and at the same time delicate! They look like they "PUMP IRON".He reminds me a lot of two super Brazilians who also have a "MONSTER ATTACK"- BADEN POWELL and RAPHAEL RABELLO! YAMANDU really "TEARS UP THE FRETBOARD and I am spending some quality time taking pointers of his technique.I suggest you do the same.This young man has already established himself quite substantially on the International scene and I wish him all the success he can achieve! HE IS MY TYPE OF GUITAR PLAYER! A TRUE DYNAMIC MACHINE!!!