Concertante for Guitar, Jazz Piano Trio and Strings

About

In writing my Concertante for Guitar, Jazz Trio and Strings I was inspired by the celebrated Concerto for Guitar and Jazz Piano Trio by the French composer and pianist Claude Bolling. The second movement began life as a Rumba for solo guitar in 2011 as part of a two movement Latin suite entitled Tango y Rumba. The third movement was destined to become a song - the chord progression and melody were written around 2013 - I thought that all I needed was lyrics when in fact what I needed was some more instruments! The harmonic progression simply twists and turns between major and minor tonalities and is an opportunity for all performers to be featured as a soloist - hence the "Concertante" in the title. All that was left to write was a first movement which was completed in 2017. I found myself quickly veering into Latin American territory and decided to be led along - the result is a kaleidoscopic movement that exposes elements of Latin, Blues, Jazz and Classical genres. These, combined with the Spanish touches in the final movement encompass the major musical styles that have influenced me over the last thirty years