NY Guitar Show Affords Unique Opportu...

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Author Message JohnS Posted on Monday, May 21, 2001 - 12:07 pm:    Hi All: Warning, this is a VERY long story. I went to the 20th Century Guitar 9th Annual Classic American Guitar Show on Long Island, NY yesterday. (http://www.tcguitar.com/) The last time I attended was 3 years ago. I scored my first AS200 then. This year I went with 2 friends. Each are much better players than I and are interested very much in Jazz. So the first place we went to was the Archtop gallery. This would be my buddy Mario's first guitar show. My friend Jim was meeting his guitar teacher, Walter, there. Officially, Walter was attending to demo guitars built by the American Archtop company. Daler Unger is the owner/master luthier of American Archtops. He learned his craft working for the great Bob Benedetto. American Archtop's table had only 3 guitars. 2 were $6000.00 blonde beauties called American Dream. One had a floating pickup, the other a top mounted mini-hum. The third was a stunning looking burgundy burst model with a floating pup. The price tag read $16,000.00 and the word "sold". As it turns out, I was standing next to the gentleman who had just bought it. He was also a student of Walter's (Walter infects all his students with the desire to buy American Archtop guitars. My buddy Jim had come with his checkbook, semi-determined to put a down payment on one.) The happy owner (sorry I didn't get his name) was smiling from ear to ear, as he watched vistors gawk at his new baby. It turns out he already owned one of the American Dream models. So, why did this puppy cost so much? Well, apparently Bob Benedetto gave Dale a going away present of some select, aged spruce and maple. This particular guitar was the 100th made by Mr. Unger and it was constructed using the special woods passed on from teacher to student. The icing on the cake was that Bob Benedetto signed the inside. The new owner was not a "pro" player, but obviously a connoisseur of very fine guitars. Interstingly, his wife did not know he was buying the guitar. (Let's say a silent prayer for him. ) Big deal you say? The story gets longer. Mario sits down to try out the American Dream model. He starts playing a very jazzy sounding progression. Meanwhile a guy at the next table (which was hawking CDs from various artists) starts to set up his Fender amp and pulls out a red, solid body Telecaster with a mini-hum in the neck position. Instantly, he jumps into playing some lively jazz leads to Mario's chords. Music is definitely a "language", within seconds Mario nodded and turned around to play with the unknown musician. I have never thought of a Telecaster being a jazz guitar, but this guy was getting fantastic sounds out it. A good 5 minutes later the assembled crowd was clapping in applause. The fellow congratulated Mario and asked if he had been playing a song. Mario just made it up on the spot! A true jam session. Mr. Telecaster wanted to play more, but Mario handed the guitar to someone else. I asked Jim who the guy was and he mentioned the name. I asked if he knew him and he said he'd heard of him. His name was Scotty Anderson. He was at the table to promote his CDs. (http://www.jcurverecords.com/Default.asp?Page=PRD&CatID=0&SelID=2709&ProdID=3658) Scotty's roots are in Country; he played some Chet Atkins stuff for those of us still hanging around. At this point, I'm really kicking myself for not bring a tape player...or a camera! You want more! OK, here's the kicker. This show has a lot of "talent" playing over the course of the 2 day event, in what they call the "Jazz Cafe". So, the chance of seeing a pretty famous Jazz player is very good...if you know who you're looking for. Unfortunately, I don't. Anyway, Scotty Anderson jammed another jazz tune with the next player to sit down with the American Dream model. They had a great time trading off lead and rhythm several times. Scotty Anderson was a VERY nice person who was very complimentary of both men he accompanied. Next I saw Jim, Dale and Walter huddled together and staring into the large crowd that had assembled in area. Jim hurriedly made his way through the crowd and stopped to converse with a man. He wasn't tall, had short, salt and pepper hair, glasses and a mustache. He was carrying a heavily padded gigbag over his shoulder. Jim came back to huddle with his buddies and then Dale went off to talk with Mr. Gigbag. Both men came back to the booth. Jim had already told me to stake my place out close to the chairs that had be set up in front of the table. He said the next jam was going to "smoke". Mr. Gigbag came back to the booth and relinquished his red bag to the nice lady manning the American Archtops table. Somehow Walter ended up with the $16,000 Legend, while Mr. Gigbag got the Dream model, which everybody else had been playing. The 2 musicians conversed for all of 30 seconds and then started playing. Beautiful Jazz filled the room. They played 2 songs, totaling probably 20 minutes worth of fantastic playing. In between songs, I looked over my shoulder a huge crowd had assembled (including Scotty Anderson). I'm sure one of Walter's dreams was coming true. He was playing with Jimmy Bruno. My friend Jim told me that Mr. Bruno is considered by many to be one of the world's greatest Jazz guitarists. From what I saw and heard I'd never dispute the claim. Several times, Mr. Bruno's prowess elicited quiet chuckles and gasps of amazement. Something akin to seeing a magician pull a Siberian Tiger from his tophat. He never missed a beat, everything he did flowed like a beautiful river. In the end, the applause that erupted signified that something small and very special had been witnessed by a select group of show attendees. I was very happy to have been in the front row, within 6 feet of the whole exhibition. Mr. Bruno shook hands, said quiet goodbyes, picked up his gigbag and made his way through the crowd. When I looked around later, he was gone from sight. A unique set of circumstances, a never to be repeated moment in time, had come and gone. Hours later, as we walked to the car, we recounted the events of the day. Mario's first show had netted him the experience of playing with a reknowned Country/Jazz recording artist...and a Jimi Bruno instructional video. Jim got to meet and speak with someone he considers to be great inspiration. His conversation included the invitation to come back to the booth and play with Walter. Jim left without putting a down payment on a new American Archtop guitar. What he saw caused him to rethink the impact of a new guitar versus studying and practicing more would have on his playing. Jim also bought a Jimmy Bruno instructional video. Me, I got a new T-shirt and a complimentary pick. They'll help me to remember the memories of a guitar show that turned into something very cool. Maybe Mario or Jim will loan me their video's someday. Until then, I'm off to the local Borders to look for Jimi Bruno CDs. Mark Munchenberg (Munch) Posted on Monday, May 21, 2001 - 9:44 pm:    Great story John! A very special moment for you I'm sure. Now what about the guitars?? What Ibanez beauties were on offer?? Cheers, Mark Garry Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2001 - 2:51 am:    Mark, Where's my G.B photo??? Cheers Garry Mark Munchenberg (Munch) Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2001 - 5:09 am:    Garry, Please accept my humblest of apologies. Your picture is right now sitting on my desk, buried under a pile of work!!!! I absolutely guarantee that I will post it express post in the morning. Thanks for your well natured patience. Sorry, Mark

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