DISCLAIMER: I do not own this material. This upload is shared for educational and archival purposes only. All rights belong to the respective copyright holders.
A rare solo nylon-string set from Bill Connors, recorded live at the Tralfamadore Cafe in Buffalo, New York on October 21, 1978, and aired as a “Jazz Alive” FM broadcast. Connors is often remembered for his early electric work, but this performance catches him in that deeper acoustic territory—where touch, time, and harmony do the talking.
On this recording Bill plays :
Melting
Face In The Water
I had several hours long private lessons with Bill at his apartment in the city circa 1985 at bit after the Step It album was released. He was tremendously patient and willing to explain in detail his technique and concepts.
Bill's ideas on scale fingerings and applications were foundational parts of my playing going forward.
Bill even called John Suhr over at Rudy's Music to intonate my Strat for me.
( which John Suhr basically did by eyeballing the saddles and adjusting them without listening ! )
After leaving Return to Forever, Bill Connors made a decisive turn toward the nylon-string guitar, immersing himself in classical study and treating the shift not as a stylistic detour but as a complete technical and aesthetic re-grounding. He studied in Vienna with Heinz Teuchert, rebuilding his approach from the hands outward — focusing on tone production, right-hand articulation, control of resonance, and economy of motion. For Connors, the classical guitar was not simply an unplugged electric; it was a different instrument requiring a different discipline and sensibility.
That transformation is fully realized on Theme to the Guardian (1978) and Swimming with a Hole in My Body (1980). The music inhabits an intimate, spacious sound world shaped by touch rather than amplification. Dynamics emerge from the fingers, phrasing unfolds with patience and clarity, and harmony is allowed to breathe. Even when the writing is harmonically modern, the execution is grounded in classical technique — lyrical, controlled, and architecturally aware. These recordings document a period in which Connors stepped away from fusion virtuosity and redirected his artistry inward, toward refinement, nuance, and the expressive possibilities of the nylon string.
Here are interesting excerpts from 2005 Abtract Logix interview :
https://abstractlogix.com/bill-connor...
"After I left Return To Forever and got into Classical, based on my observations of Julian Bream, I began to explore all these techniques that I presumed he was doing based on the appearance of his hands, which was something of a primary influence on me as a guitar player.
I really listened and watched his hands. That had a profound impact on my understanding of guitar playing. I started to understand what technique is and what the hands are for, based on what I’d perceived. His hands were virtually immobile. He’s clearly in a class by himself, highly sophisticated. The guitar, you know, is still in its preliminary stages, although I think Bream has had a profound impact on his entire field. I think players are gradually developing more serious types of technique.
It’s one of the odd things about my career, the different directions I’ve pursued. So when my students ask me, I feel that I do have something to offer, having some knowledge about all these different areas that people do think about. Should I learn Classical? Should I play with a pick? At one time or another, I’ve done most of them. Not just done it, but kind of staked my whole career on it and became kind of obsessed with each of those techniques."
Want online lessons? If you’d like help building position fluency, sequence vocabulary, and fingerboard comprehension in a calm, exploratory way, I offer online lessons.
I use Whats App but can also accept invites on Google Meet if that's something easier for you.
I can be reached at:
basicsforbaroqueimprovisation@gmail.com
My Basics For Baroque Improvisation channel has a Free Resources Library (PDFs, examples, downloads):
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/bxnk9g...
In an effort to expand what this channel is able to offer I'm uploading interesting material I've gathered through the years.
I’ll keep adding new materials as the channel grows.
Feel free to use these for practice and study.
Dropbox is easy to join and free :
https://www.dropbox.com/register
You do not need a Dropbox account to open this link and download the PDFs—just click and view/download in your browser.
Community note: I’m working towards setting up a free WhatsApp discussion group for questions, clips, and exchange. I’ll announce the invite link in an upcoming video.
If you’re enjoying the channel and
would like to leave a me tip
please do so here :
paypal.me/johncmccain
Информация по комментариям в разработке