Festivals have been attempted and the jury is still out whether they were a good idea. As a new round boots up this summer, along with a new strain of Covid, here is a safe festival that somehow has been sitting in the can for almost a year (my how time flies). Legends, legends in the making, and some upstarts.
Bill Frisell Trio, Recorded July 3, 2021
Move over James Brown, Samo Salamon may go down in history as the hardest working man in show business. He has written over 300 compositions and recorded 35 albums as a leader to date. Last year Salamon recorded two terrific albums of Covid-required remote duets, and begins this year with an album of solo, acoustic guitar performances of works by Eric Dolphy. He has also posted over 150 YouTube interviews with a variety of jazz instrumentalists including modern guitarists, Bill Frisell, Nguyen Le, Joe Morris, Eivind Aarset, Elliott Sharp, Mary Halvorson, and others—all in roughly one year! I turn the interview tables on Samo in this fun session.
Two mind-boggling masters of modern guitar dance with and around each other at a house concert, in Lincoln, MA on December 1, 2021. Fortunately it was captured on video.
Photo by Reed Hutchinson
It looks like things are opening up. But if you are like me—not quite ready to hang out around hundreds or thousands of people who may or may not have been vaccinated—you might prefer to stick with the Guitar Moderne virtual festival. Watch some newly available videos by legends Terje Rypdal and Bill Frisell, as well as great performances by A-team modern guitarists Mike Baggetta, Marc Ribot, and Eliot Sharp in the comfort of your disease-free home.
You say you are interested in finding some modern guitar music that you haven’t yet heard? Just head on over to The Modern Guitar Show segment at Jack Sonni Guitar Radio any Saturday and Sunday night at 11pm Eastern Standard Time.
Curators Michael Ross and Joel Harrison will endeavor to open your ears to new sounds from an old instrument. The options for doing so are multiple. You can download the Jack Sonni Guitar Radio app for the Apple or Google Store, you can go to the Jack Sonni Radio website, the iHeart Radio site, or the Live 365 site.
