Two Mentors in print! A.C.JOBIM & PAT MARTINO

I am so happy to let you know that two of my great mentors are in print with biographies! I was fortunate to have studied with the legendary PAT MARTINO in the 70's and BACKBEAT BOOKS HAVE ISSUED HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY "HERE AND NOW-THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PAT MARTINO".It retails for $24.99- a real bargain. I just picked it up yesterday and it is a great read and even has some lesson material to sharpen your playing chops in the appendix! Secondly, my longest love affair is the great genius ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM whom I met finally around a year before he passed away here ion New York through my dear teacher and colleague Antonio Carlos Barbosa Lima. His biography is:"ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM-AN ILLUMINATED MAN" by his poetic sister Helena Jobim. It is published by Hal Leonard books and retails for $27.99. I hope you rush out and buy them both. The Jobim had to be translated from the Portuguese. Just wanted to pass this by you who are hungry for direct information about two legendary men who have shaped our musical sphere greatly. I am so lucky to have had them as a part of my life.I will probably write up a review of both biographies for you soon as both reads look like quick ones! Stay tuned to the DONNIE CHANNEL for more guitar tidbits I recently attended!

Tribute To JIM HALL Sunday January 15th

On and incredibly freezing night of 15 degrees, I stood outside the venue that housed a special tribute to one of my great teachers- THE LEGENDARY JIM HALL!! The cost of the ticket was a mere $20 bucks but I only decided to attend last Sunday. I had already attended 3 concerts / gigs of colleagues and I thought it would be pushing it a bit but thanks to my brilliant wife (who really knows best), I dressed warmly and headed out into a 17 degree evening to the East side just off the Bowery and Houston Street.

Jan. 15 2012 Sunday 8:00 PM | Honoring Jim Hall
Nels Cline, Vic Juris, Mary Halvorsen, Gilad Hekselman, Adam Rogers, Steve Cardenas, David Binney, Joel Harrison String Choir, Scott Colley and Chris Potter

I was a few minutes after the starting time and found out that the gig was sold out!!! You know that lost feeling of not being able to get into what you knew would be a great event. I could see a duo playing through the window and started crying inside. The doorman was a big guy- ANTONIO - who was a great representative of the venue in that he was meticulous with every prospective client checking ids, and politely informing each person that unless they have tickets or was on the guest, he could not allow them access.I would love to have Antonio as my man in front! He did an excellent job.I was not to be denied ( as Walt Frasier Says!). As I patiently waited for some glimmer of hope,One admission freed up and I was allowed in. I stood my space right to the right of the door in a corner next to a small table! The venue
was packed and I had to see the gigging greats over the shoulders of the folks in front of me! No sweat for me since I am a guitarist who doesn't have to check out that fingerboard. VIC JURIS was of interest to me in that I have known him for a couple of decades and recently worked with his excellent DVD - ALL THAT JAZZ!He has chops to burn and I love the way he navigates around the fingerboards usig intervals of the 5th and 4ths, plus how he plays on the "OUTSIDE"! When you get a chance to experience so many great players strutting their stuff, you realize who many ways you can approach the craft of improvising on our wonderful chosen instrument.
The evening was devoted to either original tunes of JIM HALL or tunes he enjoyed playing. DAVID SPELLMAN is my man as far as the producer of this magnificent event and he is great-having produced many Guitar Festivals here and abroad! I believe he is the best there is and once again,he produced a jewel! Unfortunately Jim could not appear due to health concerns. It was announced from the stage that he called in the afternoon and was sad to inform all that he wasn't up to it. Last year, Jim finally had back surgery for a problem that has been nagging him for years and is still in recovery mode. I called him yesterday-Monday to wish him a speedy and thorough recovery and I would hope that all his friends make sure that he knows how much he means to us as a member of our Guitar family and our Human family! If you see him, Make sure you give him the warmest hug you can muster and look into is eyes and tell him how much you love and respect him and his humanity!

This was an evening full of love and respect for one of the finest human beings and greatest musicians in MUSIC HISTORY! The fact that he can transport to heaven on 6 strings of a wooden box has shown us the way for several decades and I am happy that we celebrate this noble and special human being while he is ALIVE!! There was so much LOVE emanating in each and every performance tonight and I was honored to have been a part of this great moment in Musical History.

I must mention - because I promised - a couple of other fine employees of this fine venue: 1) My beautiful and gracious waitress excelled in quietly requesting orders and gently delivering it with virtuosic effectiveness! Lets hear it for ADDY!!!!!!I believe that was her name. 2) The aforementioned ANTONIO made sure that each and every person entering was fit for entrance and I loved the way he handled everyone with courtesy and respect! This evening was part of the NEW YORK GUITAR FESTIVAL which is being held at several venues around the City for the month of January!

THE VENUE WAS = Rockwood Music Hall
196 Allen Street New York, NY 10002
(212) 477-4155
http://www.rockwoodmusichall.com

Time to get busy! / Guitar World/ Buzzing Concerts

It is 5:41 am, Sunday Morning January 15Th and I have a 9 to 12 gig at Penn Station this morning and spent the last few hours checking out great performance videos on You Tube and found a great Classical Guitar Website that I did not know about authored by Mark Antony called : GUITAR WORLD / Classical Guitar Appreciation! Boy it is G R E A T !!!!!. It has been up since 2008 and I have been stunned that I did not know about this site and will be checking into it as the days go by ! G R E A T
W O R K M A R K !!!!

Here in New York this month, we are having a deluge of Guitar Concerts of all Genres! This week alone, I attended a Tuesday Concert for Guitar and Tenor at Weill Recital Hall,an International Guitar Night at a place called the Highline Ballroom , and one of my all time favorite Hangs is at the MANNES COLLEGE OF MUSIC whose Guitar Degree Program is headed by the great MICHAEL NEWMAN and LAURA OLTMAN! I actually passed up another 3 day festival opening night to see and experience Guitar Heaven in the great musical arms of Mike and Laura. Today - or rather tonight I Hope to attend the last night of a three day festival honoring one of my former teachers- legendary JIM HALL as several greats pay tribute to my dear legendary teacher! When I attended the Thursday International Guitar Night, I was hoping to snag an interview with Brazilian Virtuoso Marco Periera but they were on to another City for another International Guitar Night! We have so many Guitar events to start off this year here in New York and I hope to be able to shout them out to you! I will also try to post reviews of all the events I have attended. They may be on the short side but I hope you will enjoy the coverage. I need to get a couple of hours of shut eye before my morning gig and hope to be able to start posting the great events of this week. Hope you folks are having a great New Year this 2012 and keep plucking those Guitar strings!!

Don

Benjamin Verdery Interview

Listen to the BENJAMIN VERDERY INTERVIEW on YOU TUBE downloaded by UCtelevision! BEN IS GREAT. I've known him since the early 70's FANTASTIC Virtuoso player,teacher thinker and human! Lots of food for thought in this almost hour interview with Brain Head! ENJOY! Thanks Ben!

Donnie Guitar

Whoops! Kenny Hill Interview= 5 parts Whew!

A little New Year Slip! The you tube KENNY HILL INTERVIEW has 5 parts not 3! I'm
listening to it as I write this for you! Sorry for the slip up. Glad I caught it!

Don

Kenny Hill Luthier on You Tube

Check out the 3 part interview with the great American Luthier KENNY HILL on You Tube! I hung with Kenny in 2004 at the World Guitar Congress in Maryland. Great insights into the Building Craft! He touches all the bases! What a gem of an interview.

Donnie Guitar

Hello to 2012 /Peter Fletcher this Tuesday!

I want to say hello to all my buddies around the world with a verbal hug to you all. In particular I want to thank my dear buddy MAURICE SUMMERFIELD for the continued excellence of his Great Magazine - CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE! I look forward to each and every issue. With 2011 in the past and it's tough times for me and my wife, we look forward to better happenings in this year of 2012! I had to step out of the Guitar scene last year and had to stop several projects as I had to secure my health.I'm feeling much better and have been playing gigs since early June of last year.I owe my sweet and dear wife the utmost gratitude for pulling me through my quadruple bypass operation by getting my butt out and walking plus supplying me with
the most incredible culinary miracles!I can never repay her for her great love and caring plus the fact that we lost her father last year after a long illness and the year before we lost her mother! I loved them so much and even now when I think of them, I immediately cry!They were both so sweet and loving. Well let me stop before my tears sprout on to this e-mail. I am hoping to pick up on two outstanding projects that had to be held up - 1) A biog/interview of the Fantastic Brazilian Virtuoso- ROMERO LUBAMBO for Maurice Summerfield and the long overdue interview of the Brilliant German Virtuoso, the Poetic PIA GAZAREK-OFFERMANN. I hope Pia reads this because I returned to her a couple of days ago by closely listening to one of her wonderful recordings of A Fantasy by Sor on the special Torres Copy built by The Fantastic Virtuoso Luthier DARYL PERRY of Canada!Well, I hope that I can get to logging at least a couple of posts a week in 2012. I am out performing almost every day of the week and had to take it easy on checking out my colleagues. In a few months - April 6th - I will turn 62 and am playing better than every as I hunt down lessons on YOU TUBE and my awesome library! Right now I'm checking out various Rock,Metal,Grunge and other wild Guitar styles all in an effort to add some interesting tidbits of different techniques to my arsenal of musical profiles. I will list what I have found to be very useful in this current pursuit and I hope to return to the Guitar scene starting this Tuesday at PETER FLETCHERS Concert at Weill Recital Hall. I will be there to review what looks like a very interesting concert! Peter met me a week ago at one of my gigs at the STATEN ISLAND FERRY. What a wonderful surprise that was! Peter has an awesome talent and works extremely hard at his craft especially on the publicity side. Hope to see some of my buddies there Tuesday. Let me Whet your appetite with a sampling of the program:

AMERICAN TENOR AND CLASSICAL GUITARIST PREMIER NEW WORKS AT WEILL RECITAL HALL AT CARNEGIE HALL JANUARY 10, 2012, 8 pm



Program features New York premier of a major work by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and commission of composer Clarice Assad



The American tenor David Michael Schuster and classical guitarist Peter Fletcher will perform a varied program featuring music for guitar and voice, in both original and transcription versions on Tuesday evening at Weill Recital Hall, 154 West 57th Street. The complete program is as follows:



Praetorius – Courante, Ballet, Volte (from Terpischore)

Mompou -- Damunt de tu només les flors (from Combat Del Somni)

Ponce – Preludio (in the style of Weiss) and Preambulo (in the style of A. Scarlatti)

Clarice Assad -- Enquanto a noite durar (world premier)

Schubert --- Ständchen; Der Leiermann and Die Post (from Winterreise)



- INTERMISSION –



Tedesco – The Divan of Moses-IBN-Ezra (1055-1155) op 207



Tickets are $35- $45 and may be obtained at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, from Carnegie Charge at 212-247-7362, or online at www.carnegiehall.org.







Italian Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco composed The Divan of Moses ibn-Ezra, Op. 207, in 1966. It is a cycle based on the 12th century writings of Spanish poet/philosopher/rabbi Moses- ibn-Ezra and performed in English. Divided into five sections, the music leads the listener on the poet’s journey, and perhaps the composer’s as well, through the songs of wandering, friendship, wine and the beauty of country life to the evils of the world and eventually, to the grave.



This performance of the Tedesco will be a Carnegie Hall debut and the first time The Divan has ever been performed in its entirety with a male voice. The entire cycle has been given, at last count, 7 times, with its world premiere given in 1973 in Copenhagen and has only been recorded twice with the soprano voice. Through extensive research and through Mr. Schuster’s acquaintance with the composer’s daughter in-law, Lisbeth and granddaughter, Diana, much was learned about the history of the cycle, and information was garnered from other guitarists as well as from some of the most respected music historians around the world.







Artists:



Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Grammy Award-nominated Clarice Assad is making her mark in the music world as a versatile artist of musical depth and sophistication. A pianist, arranger, vocalist and composer, her works have been performed world wide. Her music— sought out by musicians both in the classical and the jazz realms—has been performed and recorded by many of today’s top artists, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. As a performer, Clarice Assad has received high acclaim for performances of her original compositions and standards in jazz and Brazilian music. Assad has been described as a “charismatic singer” (New York Times) and as “a fine classical and jazz pianist, composer and jazz-infused pop stylist” (JAZZ Times).

www.clariceassad.com





Tenor David Michael Schuster has a career which spans 30 years and is well known to opera and concertgoers throughout Europe. From his debut with the Albany Symphony Orchestra and recital debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1981, to the stages of Spoleto, Italy and the Bavarian State Theater in Munich, Germany, where he was a leading tenor from 1989-1995. Stated The New York Times: “[He] shows a tenor voice not only unusually rich and full in the lower register, but unforced and brilliant in the upper register as well.” Mr. Schuster also appeared as tenor soloist with the RTSI Orchestra in Lugano, Switzerland, where he performed many operatic roles as well as many oratorios and toured throughout Europe appearing as Manrico (Il Trovatore) and Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) and Raoul (Les Huguenots).



A versatile and in-demand artist, Peter Fletcher performs over 100 concerts every year under the auspices of Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists. Proclaimed Peter Burwasser of Fanfare Magazine: “Fletcher plays it all with a gracious virtuosity that makes for a very pleasing hour plus of unaffected musical poetry.” In addition to playing standard works for classical guitar, Mr. Fletcher believes in expanding the repertoire by transcribing works from other instruments and programming new works. His current project with Centaur Records is a all-Grieg album for which he himself is writing the transcriptions. Scheduled release date is September 2012. www.peterfletcher.com



This concert is presented by www.amocanti.org .


HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS AND MAY YOU HAVE A LONG VISIT FROM THE GOOD HEALTH DOCTOR!

DONNIE "GUITAR" Witter,Jr.





For more information, or to schedule an interview, please contact Antonia Thornton, 212-749-5420 or pf.guitarist@gmail.com