For this album, American fingerstyle guitarist Peter Janson chose to record with a variety of world-class musicians from a variety of musical genres – Jamie Bonk (Smooth Jazz Canada “Guitarist of the Year” nominee); Steve Hunt (keyboardist with Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Clarke, Alan Holdsworth); John Lockwood (bassist with Pat Metheny, Dizzy Gillespie, Boston Pops); Raymond Gonzalez (performed with John Renbourn, Peter Lang, Ellis Paul); Bertram Lehmann (performed with Joe Zawinul, Rebecca Paris, Natraj); Chris Lopes (bassist with Nina Ott, Jeff Parker); Henrik Bridger (bassist with Makoto Takenaka); Julie Woods (performed with Roberta Flack, Livingston Taylor, Jeffrey Osborne).
Peter Janson, primarily a solo guitarist, created Beautiful Day, the first in a series of Peter Janson & Friends albums, as an artistic rendition of his belief that if we are to achieve true peace and joy in the world we must all learn to caringly and creatively work together. In addition to the captivating instrumentation, the vocalists only sing vowels and a few consonants, as a gesture of the recognition of the universal connections we all have in our most important form of communication, spoken language, and as a symbol of the hope that we can indeed have a future of beautiful days.
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BIO
American fingerstyle guitarist/composer Peter Janson is self-managed, self-produced, and the head of his own successful record and music publishing company EWM Records / Eastern Woods Music.
Hailed as “perhaps the leading contemporary acoustic fingerstyle guitarist today” by Randy Alberts of NAR magazine, Peter Janson has received numerous fantastic reviews. According to Wind & Wire magazine, “Peter Janson is one of the best acoustic guitarists recording today…a true artist’s soul.” His Beautiful Day recording was the 2006 NAR Lifestyle Music Awards winner for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. His newest CD, Winter Gifts, has received critical acclaim such as: “undeniably beautiful” (Carol Swanson, ChristmasMusic.com), “perfection...beautiful and highly creative” (Anne Williams, NAR magazine), “...filled with an artist’s brushstrokes” (Kirk Albrecht, Minor 7th.com), and RJ Lannan (NAR Reporter 2007 Holiday Reviews) says “the album is subtitled Seven Songs for the Season and I wish it were seventy. This is one you can play all year long.” His discography includes six domestic and two international albums, and he has been on four international compilation albums.
An experienced performer, Peter Janson has been a featured performer at such venerable venues as The Mozaic Room in Avon MA, Blackstone River Theatre in Cumberland RI, The Attic in Santa Cruz CA, The Living Room in New York NY, and the Healdsburg Guitar Festival, Montreal Guitar Show, and the Newport Guitar Festival. And he’s shared the stage with a variety of acoustic artists including guitar luminaries Alex de Grassi, Ed Gerhard and Chris Proctor, singer-songwriters Brooks Williams, Greg Greenway, Raymond Gonzalez and Tim Harrison, Celtic artists Aine Minogue, Aoife Clancy, Robbie O’Connell, and more...
Peter is a key endorser for Tippin Guitars, Thomastik-Infeld strings, and G7th capos, and is often requested to demonstrate these fine instruments at national and international guitar festivals. Recently he has been asked to perform on guitars built by Michael Bashkin, Mario Beauregard, David Berkowitz, Bob Laughlin, and Ervin Somogyi.
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