jazz guitarist and composer

The Ben Wanicur gig at Dizzy’s went beautifully with a nice turnout, a nice scoot through a 13 beat cycle, a little dough plus a nice review from sage jazz writer Robert Bush. Check ‘er out…

The last minute jazz brunch on Sunday turned out to be a fun hit for me. I like playing during that time slot and thanks to all the fans that turned out. The owners dug it too and they’ve hired me to play Sunday brunches marching forth. I hope to see you there downwind sometime soon.

Rounding out last week was a super fun solo show at the Christ Presbyterian Church. At the end of the show I held a little show and tell explaining all of the tech looping/synth/wild guitar effects that hang out on the floor in front of me. Folks dig seeing how the magic tricks unfold.

This is wild! Yesterday I was out surfing and the spot where I was has a surf cam on it. It just got upgraded to a feature that lets you rewind to a particular time of the day and watch the cam. I remember the last wave that I caught was pretty good so I hunted it down (pretty easy) and magnified it a little. What a hoot! I’m the little dot zipping along. Revelation: our life is forever cruising in front of some camera so keep it real, people!

Here’s another interesting YouTube moment. Some months back I worked with composer Michael Roth on a soundscore for the Sam Hunter play The Whale for it’s month long run at South Coast Repertory in Orange County. Matthew Arkin plays the main character and below is a short film of his remarkable transformation into Charlie, the 600 lb. man. Matthew’s actual preparation (make-up, prosthetic, and getting into costume) took about an hour but he sped up the film to show the job in just under 8 minutes. That’s me and Michael playing the music for the video.

Coming up for this week, I’m not playing my regular Thursday Roxy gig but instead I’m thrilled to hear Anthony Wilson’s Seasons Guitar Quartet concert at The Scripps Research Auditorium (formally known as the Neurosciences Institute). Anthony is one of my favorites and his playing with Diana Krall’s group is jazz guitar at it’s finest. He’s an amazing composer too and for this concert, the centerpiece will be his composition for 4 guitars. And he’s picked some of the best players in the world to join him; Larry Koonse is a true hero and is one of my all-time favorites; Chico Pinheiro is an avatar of the six strings and brings the magic of Brasil into the music; A fellow I haven’t met yet but I’ve heard on recording is Julian Lage, and he’s an amazing player. This will be a great show and here is a link for more info. Maybe I’ll see you there!

From left to right, Anthony, Julian, Larry, and Chico.

On Friday night I’m honored to join Gilbert Castellanos and Bob Magnusson for a night of jazz at the Westgate Hotel in downtown San Diego. I’ve played this gig once before and it was super inspiring with Gilbert playing at the top of his game plus an enthusiastic and attentive audience. Can’t wait!

Rounding out the week I’m connecting with saxophonist Brian Levy and pianist Mikan Z. for a wild Saturday romp at Dizzy’s. We’re playing this hit as a slimmed down, no drums, no bass trio—pretty unorthodox trajectory. All the players are world-class so I’m anticipating some fireworks, magic, and comedy bits too. See you there!

That’s the word for now and thanks for reading along.
all the very best, Peter

I’m listening to Maria Schneider’s new release called Winter Morning Walks as I write to you. It’s filling the office air with majestic swaths of creative orchestration. Beautiful!

Over the last couple of months I’ve had some requests to transpose two of my jazz solos books over to Bb and Eb instruments. It took a bit of time but I’m happy to announce that the Charlie Parker book is now available for both concert and Eb instruments. The Sonny Rollins book is now in both the concert key and a version for Bb instruments. In the process of getting these transcriptions over to the computer from their earlier handwritten versions I also was able to upgrade the level of accuracy of the notes and rhythms as I think my ears have improved over the years plus the audio technology that exists today is far superior than what I was using back in the day. Click here to get the details on the books and you’ll dig their inspired notes.

Up for this week is my happily continuing Thursday night hit at the Roxy in Encinitas. I play solo guitar and traverse between Brasil, the Beatles, Gershwin, Hendrix, Bach and Weather Report. I include some of my originals too and I dress all of the music up with ongoing possibilities of loops, escape hatch diversions, spontaneous medleys, and when it’s quiet enough in there, wide open sonic space. It’s a hoot! Come and join me for music and great food.

On Friday night I’m meeting up with bassist Ben Wanicur and his group to play a show at Dizzy’s. Ben’s just released a new CD of his own music and that’ll be the road we travel down for this gig. It’s called The Excluded Middle and it’s interesting stuff with great players and inventive tunes. Check out his site here and we hope to see you there.

I’m thrilled to be included in the Christ Presbyterian Church’s concert schedule and on Sunday night I’ll play an hour long solo guitar program. The church has great acoustics and silence will be our friend. It should be a nice one and look to the gig calendar for the details.

That’s it for now. Stay well and keep the sky in your head, Peter

We were graced with a warm south swell and had many days of good surf. One night we had a great jazz show at the Cabo Surf Hotel, met some cool new folks and shared our sonic propaganda freely. We were in San Jose del Cabo and it’ll be magic day when we get to venture there next.

The Three Musos of Baja! From left to right, Tripp, Bob Magnusson, and Peter.

April in San Diego was a super busy month of playing for me and it turns out that a lot of press and YouTube noise got stirred up.

Starting with 2 new Bop Moderno videos! Hear Gilbert work the mute on the blues and next Tripp plays a great solo on “Chanting with Charles”!

We played a show at 98 Bottles with Anthony Smith’s group and this positive review surfaced reporting that it all went down with “two sets of highly intricate music before a standing-room-only crowd.”

Live at 98 Bottles with Anthony Smith, Mike Wofford, Danny Weller, Holly Hofman and Duncan Moore.

The next night I returned to 98 Bottles to flow through the world of Ella Fitzgerald with bassist Danny Weller guiding the ship and the amazing, and I mean it, fantastic vocals by Rebecca Jade! Yes indeed she sounded great! And along came this review of which Robert Bush, the reporter exclaimed, “Ms. Jade sings with that rare combination of aggressive power and wistful nuance coupled with distinct enunciation that allowed one to understand every lyric.”

Danny Weller’s group at 98 Bottles. Left to right, Peter, Charlie Weller, Rebecca Jade, and Mikan.

And dig the video clip as we cruise through “I Hear Music.”

We took the music to the streets at our Encinitas Street Fair gig a couple weeks back and a lone video guy had the camera right up into our world for pretty much the whole show. The only thing I remember is “why is this guy so close to us?” It turns out that the footage is better for this and I particularly like these 2 vids:

Americana! “Shenandoa” into “Your Smiling Face”

Stevie Wonder’s “As”

Tripp’s daughter Kate joined us on one tune!

Jazz writer Scott Yanow has put together an extensive examination of jazz guitarists and his book The Great Jazz Guitarists: The Ultimate Guide has just surfaced into the real world. Happily I’m included in the lineup and you can go here to check it out.

We had a wonderful show at Dizzy’s with the Mesa College Big Band and the highlight for me was to play with the up and coming flutist James Romeo Jr. This dude has the tone and the vibe and brought magic to the stage. I can’t wait to do it again! He also has a brand new baby boy who was hanging horizontal at the gig.

Peter with James Romeo Jr. and his little jazz baby.

In the works for this week, I’ll be living at the Roxy in Encinitas. First up on Thursday night I’m playing solo guitar and then on Saturday night I have vocalist Kevyn Lettau joining me. Big fun both nights and hope to see you there!

That’s the word for now and thanks for riding along with me.

all best, Peter