GIG-5 Reprise
Featured Sid Jacobs - from Los Angeles
Jazz Guitarist,
Composer & Renowned Tutor
with The
Luis D'Agostino Trio
Thame Barns Centre, Church Road, Thame, Oxon
Took Place on Wed 21st October 2005.with
an Audience of 51 stalwart fans and we lost about £130 on the gig outgoings.
Sid Jacobs
was born in Miami Beach, Florida. Sid spent his first few years in Havana, Cuba
prior to the revolution, after which, the Jacobs family returned to Miami. It is
there, at the age of seven, he began his fascination with the guitar. When his
family moved to Nevada, Sid obtained a position as guitar instructor at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This made him, at eighteen, the youngest
faculty member in the school's music department. After moving to Los Angeles he
developed the curriculum for the Advanced Bebop and Jazz Guitar course at the
Dick Grove School and the Jazz Guitar class at the Musicians Institute
(MI and GIT), where he continues to teach.
Sid Jacobs Website
NB - Sid
is due to return to the UK for a Tour in Spring 2007
Saturday the 17th of March. Afternoon Workshop £10 at the Bull Head in Barnes,
London follow by Evening Concert 8.30pm
Sunday the 18th of March. The Hands and Shears Church Hanborough -
Lunchtime. Free.
Wednesday the 21st of March. Workshop at the Oxford Guitar Gallery, 9 South
Parade, Summertown. Starts at 6PM. Tickets £10.
Thursday the 22nd March. The Spin -
After that, we go to North Wales for 3 days where he teach during the
weekend and we play on Friday and Saturday. I don't have the details for venues
and prices yet but I assume is a little far away from Oxfordshire.
  Eddie
the Editor
Sid gave a very relaxed performance which
allowed him to display his versatile Wes like Thumb Picking, Plectrum Picking
and formidable finger picking & fret techniques and gave a dazzling demonstration of his superb mastery of the Guitar,
(a Hofner Verithin - also sported by Luis to form the - not so Verithin
Twins).
Picture Barry Blight©
Sid's marvellous
solo tributes to the Bill Evans' music legacy induced a brisk sale of his Tuition Book.
Other highlights included:-
Footprints
by
Wayne Shorter -
featured a finely metered bass
riff for Sid to embellish on.
All the Things You Are - Words Oscar
Hammerstein II and music by Jerome Kern
Funkallero - Bill Evans
Smokin' a Hatband - tribute to Wes
Montgomery
Sid dispensed with the plectrum
and demonstrated his mastery of Wes's thumb-picking style, playing octave and
chord passages with the fluency and nuance of single lines,
Black and White & Corcovado - Antonio
Carlos Jobim
Stella By Starlight
-- words by Ned Washington, music by Victor Young
from the film 'The Uninvited' starring Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey.
On Green Dolphin Street
- words by Ned Washington, music by Bronislau
Kaper
from the 1947 film 'Green Dolphin Street' starring Lana Turner and Van
Heflin.
Sid Jacobs with Luis
D'Agostino Trio
- (with Andy Crowdy - Bass and Charlie Stratford - Drums)
Picture Barry Blight©
Thame Barns proved to be an interesting alternative Venue for this
Meeting of Guitar Spirits. The large hall acoustics proved ideal for Sid's
soft spoken intro's and guitar work and he was ably supported by Luis
D'Agostino and his trio members Andy Crowdy on Bass and Charlie
Stratford on Drums. His European Tour which took in Italy and England
continues in France before he returns home to Los Angeles leaving us thirsting
for his return. Thanks to all who took advantage of the occasion and used
their evening to extend their knowledge of Sid Jacobs contribution to Jazz
Guitar and Teaching its students of all levels.
Reviews:
Reviewing a live performance,
Los Angeles Times jazz critic Don Heckman describes him as, "…a highly
articulate improviser… Never at a loss for a new phrase, his improvisations
seemed to unfold with the ever-changing fascination of a set of Bach variations.
Just Jazz Guitar magazine
refers to Sid Jacobs as "a fine and unsung player, whose meticulous attention to
improvisation is reflected in his book…I cannot praise this work too highly,"
"…a straight-ahead artist who
revealed influences from Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery to Charlie Parker and John
Coltrane. Dazzlingly fast runs led to passages where Jacobs tempered his
considerable technique…his improvisation was filled with tuneful, mellifluous
ideas." - Zan Stewart, Los Angeles Times
"…beautiful and sensitive
playing" - Tony Mattola
"…a great player and a great
educator" - Joe Diorio
"…Sid is brilliant in his
approach to the guitar"- Eddie Harris
Book Reviews
As an educator, Sid has made
contributions to Guitar Player magazine, and his Complete Book of Jazz Guitar
Lines and Phrases (book and CD/MelBay Publications) is considered to be a
thorough exploration of the modern jazz vocabulary. Jazz Guitar Improvisation
based on his course for GIT (Musicians Institute) is available from Hal Leonard
Publications in book/CD format.
"…this package is deep" -
Guitar Player Magazine
"I think this work belongs at
the head of the class on the subject in this century." -
Howard Roberts
 Sid
Jacobs with fellow Guitarists from left to right
Henry Johnson,
legendary Johnny
Smith,
Joe Beck,
Sid and Jimmy Bruno
Andy Crowdy
with Sid Jacobs (Picture Barry Blight©)
In 1991, his CD
- It's Not Goodnight was released. It is a straight-ahead blowing session
featuring his original compositions.
In 1998 Sid was the first North American
jazz guitarist invited to perform in Argentina's "Guitars of the World"
festival. In May of 2001 he was invited to perform at the Ankara Music Festival
in Turkey.
Sid's marvellous
transcriptions of Bill Evans' tunes for solo guitar have just raised the guitar
to a new level.
Listen to extracts of Sid Jacobs playing
Bill Evans compositions. Bill Evans for Guitar CD
(RealAudio Format)
Bill Evans
for Guitar
Sid plays Benedetto and
Hofner Guitars
-
for the Luis D'Agostino Trio profiles see GIG-1 Reprise | 
