SHEVA at the Heid Out

Posted on 2014-05-16 by Rod Wilson

SHEVA – Van and Shelagh Redecopp (Van on guitar and vocals, Shelagh on fiddle and vocals and guest Rod Wilson on cittern and percussion) at the Heid Out in Cranbrook, May 9, 2014 7:30-11:30pm.

This is not an impartial review of the night’s performance. I am completely biased. I admit it that SHEVA is one of my favorite musical groups and THE HEID OUT is one of my favorite hangouts. So put the two together and the combination is unbeatable. Great food, great beer and great ambience plus an opportunity to play back up percussion for SHEVA. What more could I want? It definitely was a great night with lots of joy and great tunes. The cream on the jellied donut or the drizzle on the Cheesecake was when ‘Gus’ MacDonald stepped out of the audience and borrowed Shelagh’s Fiddle to rip through some Cape Breton styled fiddle tunes. I was ecstatic about the evening, Hedi Romich (the owner) on looking over the full house and the appreciative audience was grinning from ear to ear. Days later the staff were quizzing me about “who was that fantastic young fiddle player” and when was SHEVA returning for a repeat engagement? – very soon I hope. Here are just a couple of images from the night. I was too busy trying to keep up with the band and Gus MacDonald to spend much time taking photos.

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Elena Yeung and the Kootenay Express

Posted on 2014-05-03 by Rod Wilson

Elena Yeung and the Kootenay Express with special guests Michael and Anie Hepher at the Marysville Pub, Sunday May 27, 2014 3pm.

For some of us it was a little slice of Bluegrass heaven. Elena Yeung (banjo and vocals), her great original songs supported by Steve Jones solid bass playing; some choice counter melodies from Karl Sommerfeldt; Keith Larsen’s classy rhythm and flat picking guitar, plus the added bonus of the old-timey sounds of Mike and Anie Hepher on mandolin and clawhammer banjo. Yeah, for the aficionados a little slice of heaven is an apt description. For anybody else maybe it was just a relaxing Sunday afternoon of good music – either way “just another rotten day in paradise”. Although the usual fetish of a single condenser microphone was center stage the musicians broke with tradition and “plugged in” the fiddle, bass and guitar. That suited me – I always find the dancing around a single microphone distracting and, beside you never really hear the guitar and the guitar of Keith Larsen is always worth hearing. Although Lena has recorded a lot of her material it was good to hear live versions of Dandelion, Wake Wake up Little Sparrow, Fire on the Mountain and the wonderfully dreary The Grave Diggers Daughter. One of the joys of traditional music is the sound of great melodies. Karl and Lena did not disappoint with their great banjo and fiddle duets on Dance Around Molly, and Cindy,Cindy. Mike and Anie stepped up to the plate with Steve and Keith on Lazy John. Most people don’t realize that the late rock guitarist Gerry Garcia had some pretty solid Bluegrass credentials and, to prove the point, Keith Larsen played a version of the Grateful Dead’s Friend of the Devil. He also dipped his hat to Mike Jagger and Keith Richards with his rendition of their hit song Wild Horses. There are some songs and tunes that should no longer be performed. For instance, Scottish Bagpipers should refuse to play Scotland the Brave and Amazing Grace. They have been done to death. And, normally, I would put Dueling Banjos and the Orange Blossom Special in the same category. However, this fine group of musicians breathed new life and humor into these old war horses and I have to retract my condemnation – Well done guys!!

Check the review of her last show at the Marysville Pub Elena Yeung doing the Clinch Mountain Back Step . Elena Yeung and the Kootenay Express (Steve, Karl and Keith) will be touring around over the summer. Catch them if you can because we are going to lose Elena to Ottawa. She is relocating in the fall. Sigh!!!!! @@@@@@@@@@@@

LOCALS – a sold out show ends a sold out season

Posted on 2014-04-30 by Rod Wilson

Locals Coffee House, Saturday April 25, 2014, 7:30pm at the Studio / Stage Door, Cranbrook

As always LOCALs served up the cream of local talent in this the last concert of the 2013-2014 season. The old, the young, the novice and the seasoned performers were once again putting themselves out there. The show opened with the well known Daze of Grace and a selection of Sharon Routley’s original material with a slightly different band configuration. Sharon Routley on guitar and vocals; Jubal Routley on lead guitar; Warren Routley on Conga and Rod Wilson Percussion (Darbuka, Cojon, Djembe and Shakers). The songs included The River, Waiting in the Rain, The Balloon Song (aka as The Dream Song). The novice of the evening was Josh Norgard, and although he confessed to some nerves on this his first on stage appearance, it was not evident when he played and sung I’m Yours, Come and Feel the Noise, Say Yes and Electric Rock. Doug Mitchell (guitar and vocals) is a political satirist and humorist whose classic line My Baby Loves Starbucks but doesn’t care a Bean About Me is forever stuck in my head. His opening assault was on Coke (Cola, that is) in Open Happiness ( Open up a Coke, add a little Ice cream, make a float) that explored the diverse uses of the ever popular soft drink. The anti-Fracking song Fracking has found favor with the environmental activists and we are sure to hear more of this little ditty as the political debate over this technology heats up. Last but not least was the song Sibling Rivalry (I wish I was hung like my brother Dave) that raised way more than a giggle from the audience. Tom Bungay is ex-military so it came as no surprise when he selected J.P. Cormier’s ode about PTS in the song Home Town Battle Field to open his set. He followed that up with Learning to Live Again, the patriotic Maple Leaf and the trials and tribulations of domestic relationships in Get out of Here, but Come Back Soon. Erin & Ferdy Belland (“Torch and Twitt” upright bass and vocal duo) ran through some Cole Porter, Miss Otis Regrets; Nat Cole’s It’s Only a Paper Moon (a personal favorite of mine) and Tom Waitts’ Little Boy Blue. Ferdy looked majestic, sinister and super cool dressed in black, sporting a Rasputin beard and playing that super-cool black upright bass. Robin Sudo (vocals) and Jim Cameron (Guitar) chose to do a single medley, or as Jim described it, a triptych that explored the themes of love and loss in three related songs (To Know Him is to Love Him / That Loving Feeling / and a third song whose name escapes me). In true “Goatish” style The Good Ol’ Goats finished off the evening with some new material and a charming new member on keyboard and trumpet. (The trumpet was a really nice touch). Here are some more images from the evening:

Thanks Lorraine, Mark, Jon and all the LOCAL’S crew for such a great season.

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Symphony of the Kootenays – Celebration of Excellence

Posted on 2014-04-13 by Rod Wilson

Open Rehearsal, Saturday April 12, 2014, 12-2pm: Key City Theatre, Cranbrook. Why? It is actually a rhetorical question. With around 100 musicians and 6 orchestral configurations in the performance it was an opportunity for the orchestra and its organizers to demonstrate the complexities of putting together the evening’s concert. Apart from the music it was a case of getting the logistics smoothed out. Judging from the smooth performance later in the evening it achieved its goal while connecting with potential audiences and patrons. Here are some images from the rehearsals.

Rehearsals are over, it’s time for the boots to hit the pavement ……..

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Last Concert of the Season, Saturday April 12, 2014, 7:30:pm: Key City Theatre, Cranbrook with guest conductor Evan Bueckert and the following program:

William Tell Overture – Gioachino Rossini
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 – Johann Sebastian Bach
Caravan – Juan Tizol / Duke Ellington arr. Saucedo
Blue Rondo a la Turk – Dave Brubeck
Harry Potter Orchestral Suite – John Williams
Waltz #2 – Dimitri Shostakovich
Concerto for Cello in E minor – Edward Elgar : featuring Jeff Faragher

The common wisdom is to start a program with something strong and familiar and Rossini’s William Tell Overture certainly filled that bill. Every person who grew up in front of the Saturday morning TV cartoons would be familiar with the thunderous brass and percussion fanfare that is the signature of that piece. After the fanfare of the overture died away the logistics crew swung into action and reconfigured the orchestra for the string ensemble of Martine denBok, Sanja Suplevska, Robin Grewcock (violins); Graham Tagg, Alexis Moore, Duarte Silva (violas); Jeff Faragher, Anne Scott, Liz Trembley (Cellos) and Alex Nichol (bass). The string ensemble, without the usual harpsichord continuo, was grouped on stage in a small semi-circle. It achieved the ambience of a private performance in a some old country estate and was perfect for the Brandenburg Concerto. Earlier in the afternoon, during the rehearsals, Barry Coulter (editor of the Townsman) had entered the theater just as the concerto rehearsal started and he could barely contain his excitement. His response was justified; the performance literally bounced and sang with a vibrancy that is such a characteristic of the music of Bach. This Brandenburg concerto was written in 1721 and, here we are nearly 300 years later, and the music is still exciting to hear. Students from the MBSS music program kicked off the jazz and concert band portion of the program with Juan Tizol’s Jazz classic Caravan. Although often attributed to Duke Ellington the Puerto Rican valve trombonist Juan Tizol, a member of Duke’s orchestra for many years, wrote the piece in 1936. Not quite as long ago as the Brandenberg Concerto but still going strong after 78 years in the standard jazz repertoire (click on the link for a taste of the original Juan Tizol’s Caravan). A more recent composition is the 1959 Blue Rondo a la Turk by Dave Brubeck that is in 9/8 with a swing 4/4 feel. The piece was incorrectly thought to be based on Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca The piece was actually inspired by a street performance by a Turkish musician. Turkish music is very big on “eighth” rhythms such as 7/8, 9/8, 11/8. etc. The MBSS musicians finished off their selection with the film music from the Harry Potter series – Harry Potter Orchestral Suite. Once again the musicians of the MBSS music program, under the direction of Evan Bueckert, continued to amaze audiences with their level of musicianship and their ability to integrate into the symphony orchestra. Dimitri Shostakovich is a Russian composer of the Stalinist era so it was surprise (to me) to hear such a Germanic composition as Waltz#2 coming from such an unlikely source. With the tubas, bass drum and percussion it was Oomph-pa music of a superior quality. When I heard that Jeff Faragher was going to perform Edward Elgar”s Concerto in E Minor I deliberately refrained from revisiting the definitive recording by the late great Jacqueline du Pre. I wanted to approach the evening’s performance with a clear mind unclouded by any vivid memories of that recording. I was amply rewarded by the live freshness of Mr. Faragher’s performance. For the encore percussionist Robin Clegg reworked some Bach melodic motifs into an impromptu Celtic inspired romp for cello and orchestra. It was a fitting end of an evening’s “Celebration of Excellence”. Here are some more images of the evening’s performances.

So ends a Season of Excellence. The Symphony of the Kootenays is once again back on a solid musical and financial footing and the following program for the coming 2014-2015 season promises more of the same.

Concert #1 – From Old Worlds to New : Finlandia (Jean Sibelius); Holberg Suite (Edvard Grieg); Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” (Antonin Dvorak).
Concert #2 – A Celtic Christmas featuring Harpist Keri Lynn Zwicker.
Concert #3 – A Night at the Movies
Concert #4 – Classical Greatness featuring pianist Susan Gould playing Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor (it is a pity we have to wait a whole year for this). Also on the program Rossini’s Barber of Seville and Beethoven’s Symphony No.7

So sign up and gear up for another exciting season.

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Quote of the Week – Leonard Cohen

Posted on 2014-04-08 by Rod Wilson

When journalist Beryl Fox talked with Cohen for CBC-TV on May 8,1966, you couldn`t miss the twinkle in his eye. He`d told Fox he pondered getting a tattoo and when she asked “Where? “ he deadpanned, “There`s this place on Saint Lawrence Boulevard“.

From the recently published Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, Edited by by Jeff Burger, Chicago Review Press, ISBN 978-1-61374-758-2, year 2014

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The “Reel” Deal – Caladh Nua

Posted on 2014-03-26 by Rod Wilson

This is the real deal – check the Caladh Nua Documentary

and the YOUTUBE clips The Cruel Lowland Maid, The Templehouse Reels, The Banks of the Lee, and Richard Thompson’s Beeswing

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The East Kootenays are not exactly the center of the Celtic universe, and yet, over the years we have been treated to some of the finest Celtic musicians that the planet has to

offer. We have seen the likes of Andy Irvine (a legend in Irish music), Ron Kavana, the Irish bands Dervish, Four Men and a Dog, and Danu ; the Alberta band Celtara; The Harbour Trio (with Don Ross) from down east; Cape Breton fiddlers Natalie McMasters, and in a week or so, Ashley MacIsaac. This list does not include those musicians that have a little bit of green in their repertoires and performance styles. The ones who immediately come to mind are Dehli to Dublin (D2D) and that incredible acoustic guitarist Martin Simpson. Now we can add to the list the band that has just performed at Centre 64 – Caladh Nua (“new harbour” or “new sheltered place”). This quintet of musicians include Lisa Butler (vocals and fiddle), Paddy Tutty (fiddle, viola and bodhran), Derek Morrissey (button accordion), Colm O’Caoimh (playing a beautiful cedar top Lowden guitar) and on Irish tenor banjo and Irish whistle, probably one of the tallest Irish speaking men on the planet, Eoin O’Meachair. Just to set the mood and get the feet tapping the band kicked off a night of brilliant music with a set of reels followed by a set of jigs. For the first traditional song of the evening Colm provided some light opening guitar textures for The Cruel Lowland Maid followed by Eoin joining in with some nice chugging banjo rhythm behind Lisa Butler’s vocal. Colm’s guitar playing threw me for a bit. At the beginning I thought he may have been using an open tuning. As it turns out he plays in standard tuning and uses an unorthodox “baseball bat grip” technique that guitar teachers warn you against. They claim it is awkward and inefficient. Yet it works well for Colm and his playing is a study in how to add magnificent bass lines to highly rhythmic accompaniments. By the way, Lisa’s voice is very reminiscent of Dervish’s Cathy Jordan and Eoin’s banjo playing brings back echoes of the legendary Dubliners. That pretty well set the pattern for the evening. Lots of dance sets, solo pieces and great songs scattered in between. For me the standout performances of the evening were the reworking of Bill Monroe’s The Goldrush coupled with the tune Terry Teagan; My choice of the vocals was Lisa’s The Banks of the Lee and Colm O’Caoimh’s outstanding outstanding interpretation of Richard Thompson great narrative song Beeswing.

For the last set of dance tunes the band offered a free CD for the best dance performance in front of the band area. A young dancer responded with a spontaneous performance that was out standing. I only know her as “Joe the Plumber’s Daughter”. I always hope for at least one “Money Shot” from each performance I cover. Here it is for the Caladh Nua concert and an outstanding shot it is, if I do say so myself.

Here are some more images from the evening.

Thanks should go, first of all to the musicians, then the volunteers and staff of Centre 64 and the Kimberly Arts Council. Thanks to the sponsors Pedal and Tap for feeding the musicians and Mountain Spirit for the accommodations. Thanks to Terry for the lights and thanks to Ray and Marty for the sound and also to Keith Nicolas for the being the MC and chief organizer.

After Thoughts: Have you ever wondered why Bluegrass, Old-Timey and Celtic musicians, while reworking essentially the same common ore body of traditional material, come up with such distinctly different outcomes? Some of it has to do with the instrumental configurations employed. Bluegrass with its standard instrumentation of guitar / banjo / dobro / standup bass/ mandolin and fiddle approach the music in a different way to the Celtic reliance on fiddle / accordion / flute / Irish Bouzouki / bodhran combinations. In fact there is no standard Celtic configuration. Often musicians just take what is available and blend or bend it into the notion at hand. Even the guitar (not a traditional Celtic instrument) is approached in a different way with the use of odd open tunings ( DADGAD, Dropped D or open G) that enable accompaniments that would not work in a Bluegrass setting. The banjo in Celtic music is an entirely a different beast to its American cousins. It’s a four string instrument tuned like a mandolin (GDAE) and played with a plectrum to duplicate or enhance the melody line of the tune. Old-timey music is closer to the Bluegrass tradition in material and temperament than to its Celtic roots. The vocal traditions are similar but, of course, reflect their own specific cultural and geographical conditions. I think the big difference is how each tradition handles the instrumental music. Celtic music is more emphatically dance music so therefore there is a tendency to string together a whole “swack” of tunes to keep the dance momentum going and that imposes a different set of conditions. Bluegrass and Old-timey music tends to stay with a single tune that allows for the performers to indulge in more significant variations and solo opportunities. The end result is that the these traditions favor more “open” tunes with lots of space in the melodies for altering the melodic line and a reliance on standard chordal cadences (IV-V7-I) to keep everybody on track. In Celtic music the melody is king and very few Celtic musicians will tamper with the melody on the fly. The only musicians who immediately comes to mind who willing favor melodic variations are the American fiddler Liz Carroll and Cape Breton’s Ashley MacIssac. Because of the harmonic modal nature of Celtic music the standard IV-V7-I cadences may not work (a dominant 7th chord may lead you in the wrong direction). As I said melody is king in Celtic music so that it is imperative that the performers know the tunes inside out so that when one melody ends the new melody is picked up immediately. There is no reliance on the chordal cadence to keep you on track. The secret of a good performance lies in how smooth the transitions from one tune to the next is a accomplished. It can be so smooth that the audience may not be aware or it can be like a racing car shifting gears. Maybe that’s what drives the dancers.

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Music, Music, Music

Posted on 2014-03-26 by Rod Wilson

Maybe it is the first real sign of spring. Who needs a ground hog looking for his shadow? A jam packed weekend of live music may just be a better indicator. I attended three venues of live music over the weekend and who knows there may have been more spread around town. The Heid Out in Cranbrook (Friday), The Creekside Pub (Saturday) in Kimberley, and The Stemwinder Bar and Grill at the Kimberley Ski Hill (Sunday) were all alive with “live” music.

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Dave Prinn, at the Heid Out in Cranbrook, Friday March 21, 2014, 7-10pm

The Heidout is a noisy room but one with great ambience, great food, superbly crafted beers and, on this particular night, graced by one of Cranbrook’s finest interpreter of classic rock and folk/rock. Dave ripped through two sets for a very responsive audience before inviting his partner in crime from the duo Vested Interests, Bill Renwick, to join him for some bluesy classic tunes and originals. Bill has one of those voices reminiscent of Neil Young but much better. If Neil Young had a good voice he would sound like Bill Renwick. It seems that Heidi’s intends to make live music a staple on the Cranbrook scene and it it most welcome. Let live music rule!!

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TUCKERS TROUBADOURS, at BJ’s Creekside Pub in Kimberley, March 22, 2014 7-11pm

I’m not a big fan of “star-spangled Nashville” country music but I do like the rolled up sleeves down to earth country music that favor great songs and great tunes delivered with impeccable musicianship and style. Tuckers Troubadours fills that criteria to the nth degree. The usual line up (Larry Tuck- bass ukelele, Doug Simpson – rhythm guitar, Dave Carlson – mandolin, and Bud Decosse – lead guitar) was on stage at BJs, and a fine group of individuals they are, but for this evening they were outshone by the guest appearance of Bud’s daughter Stacey. She has been kicking around the local music scene for many years, in fact ever since she was a teenager, and it was good to see and hear her in such a pleasant setting. Let’s hope we see and hear more of her at BJ’s Creekside Pub in the future

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APRE SKI JAM SESSION, at the Stemwinder Bar and Grill (Kimberley Ski Hill), Sunday,March 23, 2014, 3-8pm. This was part of the ski resort’s regular apre live music session. There was a great turn out of local musicians in age groups that spanned the spectrum from teenagers to the geriatric. The music was mostly classic rock with some folky stuff and a few Irish tunes on Cittern thrown in for good measure.

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Social Cement

Posted on 2014-03-14 by Rod Wilson

“T’was a dark and stormy night”, and then some. The drive out to the metropolis of Wardner was like driving on the inside of a black hole. Every glimmer, every reflection, every photon of light seemed to be literally sucked up in the black void of night. Staying on the road was a matter of keeping one’s eyes glued to the white line on the edge of the highway and adjusting one’s navigational skills accordingly. Strangely enough this was my first visit to Wardner and I didn’t know what to expect. Although I have only had a passing acquaintance with the notion of traditional dancing this trip to Wardner was a chance to enlarge my experience. The town was so small that I was through it and out the other side of the “city limits” before I even ventured to look around to see if I could find the Community Hall. As it turned out it was on a side street, there is only one, and once on it there was no mistaking the Community Hall. The street was jammed packed with vehicles and finding a spot to park was a challenge (parking difficulties in Wardner on a Saturday night who would have thought it was possible). In this black void of night the hall was a blaze of light, with the walls pulsating to sound of stamping feet, laughter and the wail and screech of fiddles, mandolins, guitars and banjos. To use an old jazz expression – the joint was jumpin’. And, as such, for most of us, it was not a normal situation. It was a reflection of circumstances and situations of a time long gone. By that I mean there was a time when music had a social context and a lively night of live music was a more normal thing. It was a time when music was a social cement that bound together families and communities. It was different to our modern concept of music in clubs, discos and pubs. Although even those situations, for most of us, also seem to be fading into the past. There was a time when music was more entwined with our daily lives. A time for friends, family and straight forward socializing. A time when a night out at a dance or picnic meant a trip to the local school house or community Centre and, heaven forbid, LIVE MUSIC. It was a time for friends, family and heaven forbid (again) a night of fun unadulterated by the commercial motives of image and spectacle. The Square Dance at Wardner Community Hall was a throwback to those simpler times of music, dancing and socializing. The actors in this grand mish/mash of fun were the dance caller Leslie Gotfrit from Calgary, the dancers (of course) and a collection of local musicians collectively known as The Kootenay String Benders that appeared to be led by Mike and Anie Hepher. The band also included Van and Shelagh Redecopp, `Gus` MacDonald`, Shauna Plant, Drew, `PotLuck Steve`, Steve Jones, Rod Wilson, Reg Parsons, Heather Gemmell (trying her hand on fiddle) and many, many more. The large number of young musicians in the ensemble proved that the fate of acoustic music, particularly mandolin players, in this area is in good hands. The musicians kept dancers on their toes with lots of those familiar melodies that must be encoded in our DNA. Such tunes as The Soldiers Joy, Blackberry Blossom, Swannoa Waltz, Big Sciota, Whiskey Before Breakfast, Old Joe Clark, Squirrell Hunters, Nail the Catfish to the Tree, Liberty, etc. The steady pulse of familiar melodies and rhythm kept the feet moving. The flow of bodies was controlled by the deft instructions of caller Leslie Gotfrit. The dances may not have been familiar but that didn`t matter. Just follow the shouted instructions to avoid the traffic hazards of dances such as The Torpedo and after that just have fun.

Apart from the fun objective the dance was a benefit to raise money to support 14 year old Jenna Homeniuk in Calgary’s Childrens Hospital. Jenna is receiving treatment for Leukemia. So apart from the good cause it was a chance to re-establish something that has been long lost. The chance to give music it’s true value as a social cement in our daily life. And, you never know, it was just so much fun that we will want to do it again.

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ps. Need a dance caller contact Leslie Gotfrit at 403-200-3300 or Lgotfrit@me.com

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Today’s Trivia (#1) – Guitar Heroes

Posted on 2014-03-13 by Rod Wilson

“A real acoustic revival is going on now ………. guitars, mandolins banjos and ukeleles are making a comeback. The sales of high-end and custom acoustic guitars have risen by 39 percent since 2009 while electric guitar sales have plummeted, according to the National Association of Music Merchants. More than half of the guitar sales are now acoustic as trends in popular music shift from rock to more acoustic-focused country, according to the Music Business Journal”. …………….. Jenny Lee in the Vancouver Sun, Saturday March 8, 2014, pages D1 and D2.

(That reminds me of when my son was a young teenager. He was cracking his neck to acquire an electric guitar. And yet by the time he was in university he had switched to an acoustic instrument “because you don’t have to lug around a heavy amplifier”)

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Paco de Lucia dead at 66 years

Posted on 2014-03-04 by Rod Wilson

It always comes as a shock when a legendary musical figure suddenly passes away. More so when, in this day and age, 66 years is not considered old. Recently the news has been littered with the passing of a number of very significant musicians. Pete Seeger at 94 years passed away a few weeks ago. Jazz guitarist Jim Hall at the age of 83 years also slipped away a few weeks prior to Pete Seeger. Last year Dave Brubeck at 91 years passed away and not too far back in 2009 Les Paul also passed away at the age of 94 years. Unfortunately Paco didn’t have the longevity of his colleagues. Pete Seeger, Dave Brubeck and Les Paul were household names. Jim Hall maybe not so much and outside guitar circles Paco de Lucia probably would elicit the response ?Who. Paco de Lucia in the post Sabicas, post Carlos Montoya flamenco guitar eras was probably the most significant flamenco guitarist of the past thirty years. Paco de Lucia Wikipedia entry . For his innovations in “New Flamenco” Paco was a towering figure in Flamenco circles but outside Spain he is probably better known for his collaborations with John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola in the The Guitar Trio. This was a very successful group on the international touring circuit in the 1980s. It was based largely on the marketing strategy that three incredibly fast guitarists would be a box office hit. On that basis it definitely was a success but from my perspective I didn’t find the music particularly attractive. John McLaughlin’s huge body of work in his East/West collaborations with Indian musicians is probably way more significant than his work with the Guitar Trio. Al Di Meola never figured large in my sonic universe. The whole idea of three guitarists playing super fast never really appealed to me. Even Paco expressed the opinion that he preferred “controlled expression to velocity”. In regards to Paco, his innovations in New Flamenco, including the introduction of the Peruvian Cojon (box drum), far exceeded the musical values of the Guitar Trio. Outside of The Guitar Trio one of the high points of his career was his performance of Joaquin Rodrigo’s guitar concerto Concierto de Aranjuez in 1991. Until asked to perform the piece Paco was not proficient at reading musical notation. ^“Biographer Pohren, however, at the time of writing his biography in 1992, said that he was still not proficient and had found a bizarre way of learning the piece, locking himself away. His performance with the orchestra under Edmon Colomer was highly acclaimed, a sensitive, atmospheric rendition that composer Rodrigo himself praised, describing it as “pretty, exotic, inspired” … I might add that Paco plays it with a great deal of feeling, far more than is normally heard. And that goes for the orchestra that backs him up.” – wikipedia. After having heard numerous recorded versions by some of the great classical guitarists, and having heard the piece numerous times in live performance I can only underscore the notion that Paco’s version is probably the most exciting. If you want to hear his version click on the following link The Rodrigo Concerto . While you are at it check out any of the hundreds of YOUTUBE entries in the side bar. Also of interest is Michael Meert’s documentary Paco de Lucia – Light and Shade (A Portrait) on YOUTUBE. Click on the following link Light and Shade Documentary . It is also available on DVD.

On February 25, 2014, while vacationing in Mexico Paco de Lucia died suddenly after complaining of chest pain.

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Rod Wilson's Blog

Tag Archives: music

SHEVA at the Heid Out

Elena Yeung and the Kootenay Express

LOCALS – a sold out show ends a sold out season

Symphony of the Kootenays – Celebration of Excellence

Quote of the Week – Leonard Cohen

The “Reel” Deal – Caladh Nua

Music, Music, Music

Social Cement

Today’s Trivia (#1) – Guitar Heroes

Paco de Lucia dead at 66 years