Album Notes

This CD features compositions for solo guitar, and 2 pieces for guitar and soprano voice, set to the beautiful and sensual poetry of Pablo Neruda.

The CD starts out with a tribute to Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-lobos, evoking the rhythms and exoticism of Brazil and the masterful skills of his Bach-inspired works, Bachianas Brasileras.

Several of the pieces evoke the quirky, rhythmic and aesthetic guitar compositions of Leo Brower.

Soliloquio as written by a New York Times review: 'an engaging, astringent "Soliloquio" by Jeff Raheb'.

Zu Twa Szi, 'Don't Mind Me I'm Just The Wind', a Swahili saying, is part of a larger work. It is tranquil and deeply moving piece with highly skilled compositional technique and execution.

The 2 vocal pieces of the set were inspired by the traditional Spanish songs set to music by Garcia Lorca and Manuel DeFalla, but with a modern approach.

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Jeff Raheb is an eclectic artist whose work fuses a variety of elements from jazz, Brazilian, Middle Eastern and contemporary musical styles. He has written over 200 works for small and large ensembles and leads his own 18-piece jazz orchestra. His music has been performed internationally and he has been a featured composer on WBAI, WKCR, WNYC and WBVD radio in New York City. Mr. Raheb was a 2002 recipient of the NYFA Fellowship and a finalist on the 2001 Julius Hemphill Jazz Orchestra Composition competition. On 4/2/2005, his piece Topaz Under Moon was premiered in Sioux Falls by the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.