Music

Samo Salamon – Dolphyology: Complete Eric Dolphy for Solo Guitar

Our friend from Maribor, Slovenia, the fine guitarist Samo Salamon, graces our blog with a new release.  This one is just him alone playing the works of Eric Dolphy accompanied by his guitar and, apparently, his cat adding in a meow or two.

From Samo’s Bandcamp site:

The idea of the project began by practicing at home alone during the many Covid lockdowns, rediscovering Dolphy’s music again. Furthermore, I was inspired to do this album by Miles Okazaki’s great solo guitar Monk project. We had a long talk this year via Skype and it was so great to hear how he approached Monk on solo guitar. In the same manner, I have tried to approach Dolphy, but in my own way. First I transcribed all the compositions by Dolphy and arranged them for solo guitar, trying out different techniques. In the end, I improvised on tunes – sometimes free improvisation and in other cases following the harmonic structure. I have played Dolphy’s tunes throughout my musical career, improvising on them, but rarely in a solo setting; probably because of fear or respect. But now I was like, OK, let’s do it: I told myself I should not be afraid to play single lines or be burdened by the great solo guitar musical heritage, which I immensely respect.

Samo’s playing is warm and joyful, and his work is always welcome on these pages.

Blogger, label owner, record store buyer and all around charming lad who loves to share music with one and all.

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