Œuvres musicales

Before composing, I was lucky to have played freelance jazz guitar for nearly 10 years - nothing spectacular - just wallpaper gigs and small tours. When Tim Brady asked me to write a work for jazz guitarist Sam Wilson, I knew I wanted to write something very specific to jazz guitar. I asked Sam to send me some of her favourite pieces - which included varied works from Julian Lage to Roddy Ellias (who I was lucky to have as a teacher). To this I added some elements from my other jazz guitar heroes - Charlie Hunter, Ernest Ranglin, Ed Bickert and Grant Green (particularly Idle Moments). I can't say that I've risen to their level (or Sam's) with this work - but it was lovely to live in jazz-guitar-land again, even just for a while. The title is of course a reference to the guitar itself, particularly archtops.