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Ricardo -> RE: Ben Woods (Oct. 7 2023 17:32:26)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: metalhead
Can you tell us more about him , like his journey and all. I see you were very close with him. Ben has been my inspiration...
Since Estebanana missed this or did not have much more to add, I will contribute my perspective. Back in 2003 or so, we were on the Flamenco Teacher forum (a precursor to this one) and he would contribute on occasion, revealing that he was very well informed (ie a working professional flamenco guitarist) in addition to his fusion project. I remember him sharing his Halloween gig where Fanny and her friend (top level bailaoras) where dressed as sexy vampires dancing sevillanas with the flametal band backing (Ben on flamenco acoustic electric, and the others in “traditional” metal band setting). I was quite amused, as I had similar ideas more as a joke and never had the guts to actually do such a thing. Perhaps the Halloween situation provided the perfect opportunity to put it into reality? Funny, cool, scary, people are in costume etc…A little while later I heard him doing original compositions and one had Marty Friedman soloing on it…that is when I got jealous of the guy, because not only was he doing a similar idea I had, but instead of a joke, this was serious business. And he was connected to the industry obviously to have one of my old 80’s guitar heroes contribute to his project. The thing is, he and I are of the same generation and “metal tastes” so to speak. My FT forum name at the time was “Racer-X” and he acknowledged that at some point in our online exchanges.
Soon after my introduction to him, Paco’s new album “Cositas Buenas” dropped, and it caused a lot of discussion. Back then there was a huge divide in the community between so-called “Old School” and “modern” approaches to guitar. Someone legitimately questioned Paco using “Tientos” as a traditional palo or song form title on that album, claiming it more like a modern jazzy rumba etc, and I remember clearly, how it was Ben that stepped up in that moment and schooled all of us… “the very first falseta paco plays on that piece is the main cante melody of the traditional palo”. BOOM!! And right there is the thing about flamenco and cante, and the message of the music and the whole thing. You have to understand flamenco at that level. It seems like a simple thing, however it is NOT. Because the cante defines the FORMAL STRUCTURE of all the palos. Ben was the real deal in my eyes.
So fast forward to about 2009. I was hired by Jesus Montoya (Long Beach CA) to do a show in Hollywood. Arriving early to hang out with my friend and mentor, Jesus asked if I knew Ben. He said he had been working with him and even recorded a heavy metal solea….I was so jealous! [:D] Ben came over and picked us up and we went out to eat. Ben was called “Ben-ha-meen Bosque” by Jesus’ kid (woods-Forrest or Bosque in Spanish) and it was clear he was part of the family like I was as well. We went to check me into my hotel and I started playing for him my “flamenco metal” ideas and we played back and forth for each other with my guitar. I had the flamenco “Battery” and maybe inspired his version later. It was this time that he was transitioning with his double sided album “Flametal” and “Heavy Mellow”, where instead of the metal band plus acoustic guitar (Jesus Solea was part of that group), he was moving in the direction of arranging metal classics for flamenco guitar solo. In all honesty THAT is the thing that more impressed me of all.
In 2011 he came to my gig in Virginia and I invited him to play with me…we did I am a Viking by Yngwie, something we both had together pretty well. There was a video on facebook someone grabbed but sadly it is long gone. He invited me to my hometown music store clinic he was giving the next day. I drove out there (about an hour from where I live now) and watched his solo performance. I actually got emotional because it reminded me of my father, who was a classical guitarist. I did not do much interms of playing with my dad, but one day we were in this same music store looking at music sheets and books, and he asked me if there was anything I would want to have in that book (an anthology of contemporary pop of the 1991 or so). It was junk of course, but he explained he needed one piece in there to do an arrangement for a wedding/bride request. (He played weddings with a trio of classical guitar, flute and cello as his main gig). I was intrigued so I reexamined the book and lied that I needed to have “a couple pieces in the book” too, so he bought it for like $12. Some time later I asked him about the piece and he showed me how he arranged the melody and the bass line and used harmonics etc. I was like “ok, THAT is what my dad does for a living” and finally understood how cool my dad was. He passed away only a few months after that.
So there I was in the SAME music store watching Ben do the same exact thing with all these deeply ingrained metal classics…bass line, melody tremolo, double kick drums, harmonic squeals…all on a classical guitar. I started crying, I won’t lie. I am sure some folks think that music is silly or a joke to arrange in that format, but not me, I totally got what Ben was doing and it was brilliant.
I got to hang with Ben and Arlene at the NAMM show several times, and he visited my town once again (the picture from an above). We always remained friends, talking music online during the pandemic and I dedicated a Racer-X flamenco version to him which he loved (and so did the actual band that commented on my YouTube video). For me the biggest deal of his career was when Jason Becker lauded his music in Guitar Player magazine, and invited him to record on Jason’s last album. His death is a huge loss to the art world, and me personally.
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