TOMMY EMMANUEL - GOOD FOR YOU

I would implore anyone who loves great guitar masters to check out the Great Australian Virtuoso TOMMY EMMANUEL! Totally out of this world! He has so much torrid electricity and joy in his playing! He just drips with creativity! Jump on to YOUTUBE N O W! There are a ton of videos of his. What a clean and magnificent Artist! Hope I get a chance to see him in the New York area some time soon.

We need more FEMALE GUITAR COVERAGE and other tidbits!

I am one Male who believes that we need more coverage of the great Female Guitarists on the scene - especially those in the Classical Guitar world! I hope to fill some of this void in the coming years.After my quadruple bypass surgery last March 22nd,during recovery I thought about so many things including when I returned to decent health, what I want to spend the rest of my life doing and that coverage of the female Classical Guitarists was one. I want to shout out a few names - and this is not an all inclusive list - as a matter of fact ,I will hold off and get the list ready for you. i would feel terrible if I missed someone so check back with me. I find it a joy to be able to check up on the "YOUNG GUNS" of the Classical Guitar by attending performances at the Major Music Schools and Conservatories here in New York: The Mannes College of Music-The Manhattan School of Music and Julliard. I used to be in every crack and crevice of the Concert scene but now have to slow down just a bit but I suggest that you folks follow my lead by checking with the New York City Classical Guitar Society website and THE CLASSICAL GUITAR BLOG and others. I will round up a group of informational sites for you in a future post. I am not one to be a slave to this blog ( as you can tell) but know I will be a bit more jumping on as I am feeling better these days. I also must hug and thank SUE WALL and Classical/Flamenco Guitar Virtuoso DENNIS KOSTER for checking on me and my progress as I recovered last year from the open heart surgery! My dear colleague and long time buddy Virtuoso Scholar,Guitarist and Teacher JERRY WILLARD - who had a similar health problem in the past must also be HUGGED in public for checking in with me. I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! WORDS CAN'T DO JUSTICE TO YOUR GREAT SUPPORT! In a separate state of grace I must thank my dear wife for saving my life by making sure that I never gave up during recovery! She made fabulous meals and made sure I took my Meds and did my walking.I have been so fortunate to have this great woman in my life and I continue to love her dearly. We have been together for almost 27 years and this year we will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary!!! W O W !!!!!!!!!. She doesn't like me to single her out but I must because she loved me enough to see that each and every day was the most positive it could be and she is always looking out for me even when I don't want her to. H E I D Y W I T T E R I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! THANK YOU FOR BEING IN MY LIFE!!!!! I must also thank MAURICE SUMMERFIELD for his great magazine CLASSICAL GUITAR.CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE published in England is the finest up to date magazine on the Classical Guitar in Publication and I have no idea how Maurice and his staff does it! When I get my monthly "Classical Guitar FIX", I lick the pages and always find something new to learn about our fantastic instrument and so I owe dear MAURICE an "Over the Pond" Hug - DEEP HUG for respecting and covering out great and noble instrument. I also hope to be alerting you to the great articles in this fabulous magazine starting with the June issue soon to come my way. Coming up in a couple of weeks will be the MANNES GUITAR SEMINAR and I will be there as a full student and look for my "TEASER" treatment this week by covering one of the past Seminars I attended at Mannes when I was a Full Participant. Hopefully the above entries make sense because I was up all night watching a couple of musicals with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers and taking in the first of 6 lectures - BERNSTEIN AT HARVARD-THE NORTON LECTURES plus checking out some advanced Classical Guitar lessons on youtube then jumping on to my blog!! WHEW. I made a fast check on the above and believe that I made decent sense! My wife just came in to give me a good morning Kiss - YUMMIE!!!!!

Check out the Sharon Isbin Interview

I have been spending a lot of time on YOUTUBE checking out the great performances and lessons ang must let you know that the great Sharon Isbin has a very fine Interview in which she shares several topics that should be excellent food for thought for those who want to sharpen up your playing. I have known Sharon since 1975 and most recently sat next to her at the Barbosa Lima Concert.I met her in Toronto in 1975 when she came into the Leo Brouwer masterclass I attended all week and she carried the composition he wrote for her "El Decammeron Negro". Sharon was a little on the chubby side quite young but a blazing player-in fact winning the Toronto International Guitar Competition that year. I hope nothing is wrong with her physically at this time because over the last few years, she has been awefully thin and fragile looking.I, in the past, discounted her as not a "Concert" performer because on the stage, she didn't have the volume to reach out in a hall so I stopped attending her concerts. She sounded great on recordings but when it came to concerts, you could hardly hear her. She then developed an amplification system that made her concert worthy and I started to attend her in various genre concerts. She had done quite a bit to "beef up" the Classical Guitar Repertoire, i WAS AT HER GUITAR STREAM CONCERTS held at Carnegie Recital Hall and the Great Trio Concerts she had with my dear Friend and Mentor LAURINDO ALMEIDA and Larry Coryell ( Guitarjam ). Her recent "Guitar Passions" CD once again is a triumphant display of good Guitar Wits. Of course she has added to the Classical Guitar Concerto Repertoire by leaps and bounds and finally this year she will have a documentary released on her life with the Guitar. I,for one,will "eat that baby up" when it is released because this great artist deserves all the respect we can muster.She has "DONE THE GUITAR PROUD"! Now getting back to the excellent interview on YOUTUBE,Check it out NOW.She talks about several important topics including Vibrato,Baroque Interpretation and several useful topics so I hope after reading this little post you investigate her. When her documentary hits the market and I get a copy, I will post my reaction to it.I can't leave this post without stating again that the most glowing performance of the Concerto De Aranjuez was performed by Sharon at the 2004 1st Guitar Congress. I have heard every major Classical Guitarist of our times perform this most popular Concerto and Sharons' Performance in 2004, brought tears to my eyes and moved my heart deeply! Before that performance, my most beloved and moving Aranjuez was in the 70's performed by the great Mexican Virtuoso ALFONSO MORENO! I don't know if any of you know this "Blast from the past Virtuoso, but I do believe he has a few videos on YOUTUBE. His performance, in my opinion was far above any other performance up to then for a very raw energy and deep "DUENDE" feeling.Sharon's performance was imbued with exceptionally wonderful phrasing and nuances so poetic and arching! Her body gestures also transmitted the soul of this overplayed and most popular Guitar Concerto. I wish I had a video of that performance because it was AWE INSPIRING in every way. The tone,The Phrasing The fingerings did everything to give the Rodrigo Gem the most beautiful Performance I have ever heard. Somehow on her documented CD of the same Concerto, I was less impressed as I felt it was to "Cold" a performance. The CD sounded too "clinical" for my taste. I remember sitting and listening at the former "TOWER RECORDS" at Lincoln Center when it firts came out Several times. I also read the brilliant review by my dear Colleague JULIA CROWE in a Guitar Publication in which Julia went into intimate details of the Aranjuez Recording session from Mic choice to the position of the instruments. Anyway- that is not to diminish the greatness of Sharon's artistry in any way. That 2004 Guitar Congress concert was also subtly amplified perfectly.After the concert,when Sharon was signing her CDS, I gave her glowing praise in person and she was very keen on finding out where I sat in the concert hall and how the balance was between her and the Orchestra. At the time I wrote a few words about that wonderful performance,I was also having a tussle with one of our great scholars who asked me point blank what I thought about her performance ( He knew it was a Fantastic performance and knew if I said anything to the contrary I was full of crap!) I told him it was the finest performance I ever heard! That Scholar was Mantanya Ophee - perhaps our most important Classical Guitar Scholar. Also sitting behind me was my dear,dear Friend the owner of the most inclusive Classical Guitar Publication "Classical Guitar Magazine" - MAURICE SUMMEREFIELD - He also agreed that Sharon's performance was a gem! Well, I have gone on longer than I thought I would but remembering this special moment in my life is so precious. I'm glad I had the smarts to be there! I am such a lucky sucker to have been at so many "right places at the right time". I am still having a great time playing and learning about the Guitar! Hope you enjoy my little tidbits on my experiences. Speak to you soon about the great Concert my friend DAVID LEISNER gave in DUO with the BRILLIANT TENOR WILLIAM FERGUSON one week ago at the Rubin Museum here in New York. I was deeply moved and counted me and those in attendance, to have had one of the most poetic afternoons of great music making shared with us by these two fantastic greats! W O W !!!!!!!

Tornado From Brazil-YAMANDU COSTA- Intro

I recently sat through two TOTALLY OUTRAGIOUS performances by the fantastic Brazilian Guitarist YAMANDU COSTA and MAN OH MAN WHAT AN INCREDIBLE GUITAR MONSTER!!!!!! His first concert was sold out long ago, so the Classical Guitar Society of New York added a second performance. I went to the box office early hoping that the DONNIE LUCK would be in favor of getting a "sold out" ticket and I was rewarded for my patience and also bought a ticket for the second concert.I direct your sights to YOUTUBE and check out the great videos of this "FORCE OF NATURE" and you will agree with me that THIS IS SOME HEAVY DUDE!!!!! I need to get my notes from that great night,but jump on youtube and you will blow your mind! He is not only a man who plays at supersonic speed, his sweet and gentle side is also exposed beautifully in a gentle piece written for his son! He played on a NEW 7-string Guitar Made in Canada that he "Loved". I would hazard a guess thta it may be a DARYL PERRY , but could not get close to Yamandu as people were all over him. I first checked him out a few years ago at the 92nd Street "Y" Brazilian Guitar Marathon where no one wanted to play after him! HE WAS THAT CRAZY PHENOMINAL!!!!!I started checking into him on you tube and saw that he has an enormous amount of videos available. He is my type of player- BOLD AND MIND NUMBING GOOD!He has already established himself as a "Guitar God" as far as I am concerned. Part two of this report will be coming today. Got my notes on the table and need to take a deep breath before I divulge them to you because I am already excited about sharing my thoughts about this fantastic artist so stay tuned !I want to check and see if I can find out who the Luthier of his fabulous Guitar is.

Pia Gazarek Offermann - To Be Continued

I will be working hard on alerting you of an great artist who is not getting enough mention in the Classical Guitar World- PIA GAZAREK-OFFERMANN. This woman deserves to be engaged by all who treasure a truly great artist.I have known her for several years now and she really is a "great" waiting to be acknowledged. Just check out her website. PIAOFFERMANN.COM

Sharon Isbin -Classical Guitar Blog

Check out the Classical Guitar Blog for an excellent Interview with the great Sharon Isbin. She has some great information on several topics that really hits the mark. She also mentioned that she will be releasing a Documentary on her life work this year which should be another great moment in the career of this special artist! I was just with Sharon at the Society of The Americas when our colleague and friend Carlos Barbosa-Lima performed this past Wednesday. More on Sharon to come from me.

TOO much Guitar Stuff!!!!

Here I am at 2:19 am on Tuesday Morning trying to get back to sharing So much with you.The Guitar scene here in New York is crazy busy and I have been trying to catch as much as I can!Carlos Barbosa-Lima,Yamandu Costa,Mannes College wiz kids And so much more to hand over to you.I'm trying to get it together before I explode here at the screen so will check my notes and get right back in an hour or so!