Album Notes

“Of all the toys I've ever had, there's something about the guitar that I can't outgrow. In fact, I've grown more into it.”
--Geoffrey Esty





Interweaving various guitar styles and techniques of classical, blues, be-bop, rock and flamenco in an innovative compositional tapestry, Geoff Esty offers a bold and colorful approach to the guitar. Diverse threads of technique such as classical fingerpicking, bottleneck, and Chapman-stick style fingertapping intersect at the point of surprise and delight.
Mr. Esty began learning classical and jazz guitar around 1982. Since then, he went on to study other guitar aces like A. Spencer Barfield, and has performed regularly in art fairs, cultural festivals, performed live on WCBN-FM in Ann Arbor, WJR-AM in Detroit. Awards won include: Best Guitar at the statewide 1984 School Jazz II festival in Michigan and the Aurora Borealis Award for Jazz Artist of the Year (1999).
“Although hours of thoughtful construction and revision have gone into Esty's works, they often feel as if they are instantaneously being composed and performed improvisationally with such natural ease that for this young artist, it's all a piece of cake. For us as his listeners, it's ear candy, as we celebrate jazz being born again. Let the party begin!”
--Chrysoula Stevens, A2rtNet Journal