MY road to Spain (Part II)

As I engulfed myself in all things “Black Orpheus”, I found myself on a brief vacation in Puerto Rico, where my steps towards “Spain” evolved. While there, in a small hotel lounge, having an evening cocktail and a bite, a guitarist sat in the corner performing instrumentally. He was playing over bass and drum tracks he had pre-recorded live at home (as bass is his primary instrument), and lo and behold he started serving the music I was "digesting" as I ironically drank and ate.

I smiled as he ran through his own Latin-tinged standards, and really caught my attention with Charlie Parker's "My Little Suede Shoes". He noticed me and could tell I knew what he was playing for sure. In between tunes we started talking about his Godin guitar, the background tracks he pre-recorded, Charlie Parker, Larry Coryell, Dizzy Gillespie, etc and he then told me about his meeting Miles Davis. (This was a huge connection for me, as I had just met Ron Carter, John Scofield, Jack Dejohnette, Herbie Hancock, etc. and was studying a bit with Coryell whenever he came to New York. Furthermore, I was starting to integrate a lot of Miles lines into the music I was writing and working on. Thus, Miles, was a hot button, as always.) He then played a traditional piece that stuck with me called “Saludos, Saludos” and finally, as I expected, “Black Orpheus”. It’s possible at some point he did also play “Spain” and I didn’t know it at the time, or missed it. But, I wasn’t quite ready for that yet. More to come...

Tribute to Charlie Parker’s “My Suede Little Shoes” (great lineup!)


And...Further down the road to Spain...


More to come!