| Greetings Good Folks! These frozen fingers, writing to you from the upstairs perch at SpragueLand. I’m glad to be home after a wonderful Euro run with jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves. Gorgeous music, the easeful warmth of the Islas Canarias, the narrow streets leading into the castle in Beja, the divine Indian food in France, the coldest railroad station on planet earth outside of Amiens, and the magnetic concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. All of it, fantastic and too, it’s always great to be home!
Here are some visuals:  This is a performing arts building in Tenerif, Islas Canarias. It’s gorgeous and it’s HUGE. It’s a Wiamea Bay wave coming right at you!  On our last day in Tenerif I went swimming in what we called BP Oil Beach. Not the cleanest water but I was out of time and without a car. Still, super warm water and the good vibes of the Canaries seeping through.  From the Canaries we went to Beja, Portugal. I loved this little town square with the sails above to provide shade.  Also in Beja I discovered a castle and climbed to the top. Here’s the view down the spiraling stairs.  From Beja we travelled to France and one of the places we played was in Amiens. Our hotel was a block from the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens. Medieval cathedral builders were trying to maximize the internal dimensions in order to reach for the heavens and bring in more light. In that regard, the Amiens cathedral is the tallest complete cathedral in France.  On the train from France to London. I’m bundled up and even though the train is warm I’m still defrosting from the “coldest train station in the world”.  Playing in London with Dianne Reeves.  Taking a bow in London! I’ve been really busy in the studio lately working on a bunch of different projects. Yesterday I finished a guitar track for some musos from Santa Fe, New Mexico and embracing the magic of this digital age, they just FTP’d the files over to me and from there I added guitar and sent the results back the very same way they came. The music and the money flow and the wild thing is that I’ve never met them in person. Jump in, it’s 2013! I was starting to wonder about this but luckily a friend of mine reminded me that: “Not everything on the internet is true.” My friend Irving Flores has just released his latest CD American Influence. This is a project that we mixed over here at SpragueLand and I added some guitar on it too. Irving is from Mexico and now lives here in San Diego. He plays piano and plays up a storm. This is a collection of his compositions and arrangements and they are all in the Latin style. Go here to hear some samples of the music and if so inspired, maybe even buy the CD. Congratulations Irving on a wonderful project!
Coming up this week, we’ve got a concert at Dizzy’s on Sunday evening with vocalist Allison Adams Tucker, Monette Marino on percussion, Justin Grinnell on bass and me on guitar. The concert is billed as “Unplugged: From Brazilian to the Beatles and Beyond!” and indeed it’s a joyous collection of great tunes and spirited musos anxious to spin them into the wind. We rehearsed a few days back and it’s sounding GOOD! Allison’s voice is magic and yep, we’re sort of unplugged, paired down, gentle and letting the songs do their thing. We’re including a new tune I wrote called “Islas Canarias” plus we’re debuting a brand new arrangement of The Beatles’ “Here, There, and Everywhere”. I hope you can make it out and share the moment with us. If the weather is still running cold, be sure to bring warm clothes to the gig. Baby it’s cold in there!  Allison Adams Tucker Next week I’m planning a Roxy solo guitar night and it’s been a while since we all met up and had one of these cool nights. Bring your ears, bring your empty stomachs and we’ll have a night of music, friendship, and great food. Hope to see you there!  Happiness is playing the guitar! that’s it friends and it’s good to be in touch again, Peter |
“Modinha”
I love Antonio Carlos Jobim’s music and this week’s song is a little off the radar from his more popular tunes. But it’s one of the great tunes! Vocalist Andy Villas-Lobos first introduced me to this piece and I was floored and stumped as to how it how it had previously passed me by. It’s haunting and beautiful. I brought it into our Road Work Ahead project On The Road Again and we came up with a fresh new approach to what is usually done as a bossa nova. Instead, we invoke the slow lilting swing of John Coltrane and head that way with it. It’s a cool take and I like the CD too. Check it out!
Heard of you from Barend Hemmes. Would love to come one of your concerts.
I am Massowia von Prince, Magdalene von Prince nee von Massow was my grandmother.
Hi Massowia, great to get your note and thanks for checking out my music. Yes, I’d love for you to come to a concert and the best would be if you want to sign up for my email list. I send it out every week and it lists where we’re playing.
Follow this link:
http://petersprague.com/newsletter/?p=subscribe&id=5
thanks, Peter