Greetings Friends of Sound,
Hoping this missive finds you well.
For me, it’s been a time of catching up on some recording projects but by far my most focused agenda has been to wrestle with my old school website.
It was failing on two major fronts — first the lack of compatibility on phones and iPads and second, the online store was operating on fumes, serving up phantom orders and disappearing downloads.
So with all that in play I got help from saxophonist Mark Lessman who not only can play a mean and sassy improvised solo but who also wields a sword into the land of ones and zeros, a true code monkey if there ever was one. Also chipping in on web wisdom was an old school mate, Bruce Gresham who then lead me to Seattle based Jon Brown — a levitating scholar of code.
These fine fellows helped me complete the new PS website — hopefully fulfilling it’s current mission and beyond.
Here’s where you go if you care to explore:
At this moment we are cold in Cali but really how can we complain? Well, we can because it’s not as warm and exotic as Cabo Frio. And for today’s vid we present a possible soundtrack for that mental vacation that you’ve been dying to take.
It was way back in 1997 when Earl Klugh released his “Finger Paintings” record and it was a unique moment hearing this great guitarist play pretty melodies on a nylon guitar. Up until that point almost all of the jazz guitarists played steel string electric guitars exclusively. Earl’s approach was all his own.
“Cabo Frio” was one of the stand out tracks from that album and its samba groove and clever melody line still resonates with me.
Here’s the band:
Peter Sprague — guitar
Danny Green — piano
Justin Grinnell — bass
Duncan Moore — drums
Tripp Sprague — flute
We have a new album that’s being released today!
Hurricane Country — Peter Sprague Plays Grusin and Klugh
For this recording we played some of the beautiful music composed and played by Dave Grusin and Earl Klugh. Both of these musician’s records were on heavy rotation at my house in Del Mar growing up and each added a unique influence to modern jazz.
Dave Grusin not only plays jazz piano but also a huge part of his career has been dedicated to composing music for film and TV. His score for the movie “Havana” is one of my favorites —lush orchestral moves, gorgeous chord changes, and stellar melodies is his stock and trade.
Earl Klugh was one of the first featured guitarists to break in on the scene playing nylon string guitar instead of electric guitar. There was Charlie Bird before him but actually no one else in the jazz arena. It was a unique sound and it inspired me to put down the pick and get those fingers acclimated to the nylon strings. Earl has composed some wonderful songs too.
I’ve selected some of my favorite tunes and then did a little rearranging to get them to work with our group. We like the compositions and we also like to improvise — the blendo of SpragueLand!
Available on all streaming platforms including:
Spotify
Apple Music
Peter’s online store
We’re going live and in person this coming week for an evening concert in Fallbrook. It’s at the Mission Theatre on 2/16/25 with Tripp on sax, Danny on piano, Mack on bass, and me on guitar. Super fun stirring up sound in the classic environment of the old theatre. Please join us if you can…
That’s the word for the day and thanks for reading along with me, best, Peter