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Rob -> RE: Some Scottish people CAN play guitar! (May 24 2004 21:19:22)
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[This is my second attempt at sending this LONG email which took me half an hour to write. The first time I did it, it disappeared into cyberdump. [:@]Here goes.]
Pour yourself a vino, sit back, relax and listen to my David Russell story...
Back in the 1970s I had spent a few years unemployed (thanks Maggie!), but spent my time learning classical guitar. One day I came home to my flat after having been away for a few days. As I opened the front door, my guitar came floating towards me on the top of about three feet of water. The mains had burst a couple of days before. I lost everything. Suddenly the postman arrived with my social security cheque (35 pounds!). I dried out my guitar, cashed the cheque and hitch-hiked to Spain...
I spent six months busking in the street playing my repertoire of mainly Spanish music (Tarrega, Albeniz, Granados, etc and Bach). I visited Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla, Malaga and even Torre Molinos! I met a few guitarists who showed me some flamenco, but it was WAY too frightening for me then to take any further. I slept rough on the streets, but managed to raise enough money to get a flight back to London.
In London I went to The London Guitar Studio, run by Juan Tejiro (? wrong spelling, I’m sure). It was just the two of us in the shop on a rainy Monday morning. After six months on the road (literally) I was playing with a lot of fluidity and ease. After 20 minutes or so, Juan turned to me and said: ‘Do you have a teacher?’. I said no, and he gave me a note with the name and phone number of David Russell, whom I had never heard of. So I found myself in Golders Green, getting a lesson from this nobody! I played really well (can’t recall what I played) but, man, he really turned me over! In a very gentle way, of course, he just tore me apart. But he must have seen some hope, as he asked me to return in three months. During that three months I found out all about this nobody, and when I returned I was a nervous wreck! I played terribly! The worst I’ve ever played...and he suggested I get a local teacher (the ultimate insult!!).
Since then I’ve seen David Russell many times in concert and rate him the greatest classical player of his generation. And I hope none of you entertain the idea that classical guys can’t improvise. This guy can, brilliantly in any style or period.
[This is the short version of the original letter, which was MUCH better[:@][:D]]
Rob
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