Category Archives: Interview

Interview with Will McNicol

Posted on by
Will in the shed
Will McNicol is a seriously gifted guitarist who playas and writes his own material. His concerts often include music by other musicians such as Thomas Leeb.
I gave him a couple of lessons when he was preparing for his Fellowship of Trinity College in London, where he was playing Bach’s Chaconne and Sor’s Sonata Op.25.
I was amazed with the facility with which he turned to playing steel string guitar, and the acoustic guitar is now his main instrument.
Will’s playing has won him numerous awards, most recently being Guitarist Magazine’s coveted UK Acoustic Guitarist of the Year 2011, held at London’s Southbank Centre.
Recently, I was lucky enough that he came and played in the shed – we had an evening of beautiful music and a great party afterwards! It was particularly gratifying that his first teacher, Maurice Albin was present,beaming in the front row.
Here is an interview with Will after that occasion, followed by a couple of candid videos.

Interview with the Jellyfish

Posted on by

In the interview that follows, The Jellyfish Brothers talk about rehearsing as a duo while each lives in a different country, writing music for silent movies and life as travelling musicians away from their families, ending with a reflection on playing in the shed.
It was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with Randy, whose CD Puerto Viejo, I admired so much, and to listen to Ben’s compositions and talk about music with him again.

P1010478

Les Freres Meduses

I had the privilege of hearing Les Frères Méduses (aka The Jellyfish Brothers) for the second time this year. The first time was in Louisville at the GFA and this second time the dynamic duo of Benoît Albert and Randall Avers played in the shed.
In a veritable fluther of jellyfish activity, we were treated to duets by Machado, Bogdanovic, Ivanovic, Laborde, Rami Vamos as well as music by the duo off their latest album “Modern Guitar Duets” and some of their live music for films by Georges Méliès (of “Hugo” fame), “Mekanisk”.
The playing was stunning as well as playful – this was remarkable as Randy had just arrived from Norway and Ben from France a few hours before playing.
Like everything else they do, the ensemble is beautifully precise yet thoroughly musical. There repertoire comes from a less familiar branch of modern guitar music, namely Balkan rhythms with jazz and folk idioms thrown in.

Continue reading →