Album Notes

Self Taught Guitarist/Composer based in Miami, Florida. Born 1953 in Pt. Pleasant, NJ.

Draws on a number of musical influences from the traditional finger pickers, such as, Merle Travis and Mississippi John Hurt to classical modernists such as Hans Werner Henze and Dusan Bogdanovic.

The album Jical represents a cross-section of many different musical styles including tributes to John Fahey and Sabicas.

The piece Jical (pronounced heekall) is a call and response representation of a dialog with the creator. It opens with a basic theme, then states a question with more and more anxiety in hope of a response. It's eventually answered by the main voice.

Hudson Street Fantasy is called that because I used to pass a small tavern on Hudson Street that featured Flamenco acts. I never went in, but came to later find out that Sabicas lived in New York from 1955 to his death in 1990. The piece is a selection of my favorite Sabicas elements in my own voice.

Derek Sivers says:

"Absolutely AMAZING solo acoustic guitar. Not exactly "classical", it blends Flamenco, Folk, and modern Jazz in on a nylon-string classical guitar. You won't believe this is all played by one person on one guitar. Every guitarist should hear this. Every fan of beautiful guitar should buy this. A true virtuoso."

Alfredo Figueroa of Concert Guitars, Inc and the Miami Guitar Alliance describes his music as: "Classical, yet aggressive."

Also a painter and sculptor, all of the album artwork was created by him. The front cover is a 5 by 6 foot painting entitled "Personage of March". The back cover is a 4 by 5 foot painting entitled "Self Portrait No. 1".