So this morning I received a newsletter from the PBS show Echoes about the shows that will be on this week. I was excited when I saw that tomorrow John Diliberto will be interviewing one of my favorite guitarists, Jesse Cook about his new album The Blue Guitar Sessions. Knowing that I will forget all about listening tomorrow night, I thought I better go listen to the album this afternoon. So I went over to MOG and put it on. Now for those of you who are not familiar with Jesse Cook, Here’s some information from Wikipedia:
Jesse Arnaud Cook is a Canadian guitarist, composer, and producer. Widely considered one of the most influential figures in “nouveau flamenco” (new flamenco) music, he incorporates elements of flamenco rumba, jazz & many forms of world music into his work. He is a Juno Award winner, Acoustic Guitar (magazine)’s Player’s Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco Category, and a three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for Guitarist of the Year. He has recorded on the EMI, E1 Music and Narada labels and has sold over 1.5 million records worldwide. Full Bio.
I don’t really remember when I started listening to Jesse’s music, but I don’t think it was long after the 1996 release of his second album Gravity. That is such a great album and still one of my all time favorites, the moods that he creates with his music are just amazing! Anyway, The Blue Guitar Sessions album, is his 8th studio album, and is a departure from his normal fiery flamenco style. It is a much more subdued and subtle album, but still has some great guitar playing. Cook set out to make the album after listening to Adele’s album 21, he wanted to create a ‘blue mood’ record. From his website:
“It was the simplicity of it,” says Cook of Adele’s work. “For me it was amazing that an album, where many of the tracks were just voice and piano, was a pop record. I loved it. It creates a world where we get to really hear her voice and also the pianist can be more expressive. It just becomes a much more intimate album, a much more personal album and I thought I would love to do that.
He did it and he did it very well! Currently, the album is number 25 on the Echoes Top 25 list for February and Number 46 on the Zone Music Recorder Top Airplay Chart for February of 2013.
So if you’re a fan of good acoustic guitar, check it out!!
Now let’s go “Into the Night” with the track “Gone” from The Blue Guitar Sessions
