Ratko Zjaca - Archtop Avenue | RECORD STORE DAY
RECORD STORE DAY

Thank you for choosing to buy locally from a record store!

Ratko Zjaca - Archtop Avenue
Archtop Avenue
Artist: Ratko Zjaca
Format: CD

Details

Label: IN & OUT RECORDS
Rel. Date: 10/20/2023
UPC: 798747715324

You can explore 3 ways to buy:

Find and visit a Local Record Store and get phone number and directions (call first, there is no guarantee which products may be in stock locally)

Purchase now from a local store that sells online or when available from an indie store on RSDMRKT.com

Purchase digitally now from recordstoreday.com (which serves local record stores)

Buy Now

Store Distance Phone Buy
Loading...

Find a local store


DISC: 1

1. Body and Soul
2. Prelude to a Kiss
3. Lonnie's Lament
4. Darn That Dream
5. Monk's Dream
6. For Heaven's Sake
7. Way to Go
8. The Dream of Tomorrow
9. The Heart of Time
10. Alone Together
11. Polka Dots and Moonbeams
12. Someone to Watch Over Me

More Info:

While respecting the harmonic contours and deeply ingrained melodies of those oft-covered tunes, and others presented here on Archtop Avenue, Zjaca puts his own personal stamp on them through reharmonization, subtle rhythmic shifts and improvisational flights. Recording each track with a different archtop guitar, he interprets these beloved standards, and a few originals, with taste and invention. Always mindful of addressing the bass line while delivering rich chord voicings and spinning fluid melody lines, he strikes a delicate balancing act on these 12 tunes from Archtop Avenue. The prospect of playing standards in an unaccompanied setting - juggling chords, melody and bass lines - can be a daunting task for most guitarists. The legendary Jim Hall found the prospect "terrifying," while the great Joe Pass may have set the standard for solo guitar with his series of Virtuoso recordings from the 1970s. Pass' influence weighs heavily throughout Archtop Avenue. You can hear it in the masterful, contrapuntal playing by Zjaca on Duke Ellington's gorgeous ballad "Prelude To A Kiss", on Jimmy Van Heusen's "Darn That Dream", and his introspective take on George & Ira Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me". The longtime resident of Rotterdam, Netherlands explores those familiar vehicles with a mix of reverence and adventure in this intimate and demanding solo guitar outing, his 17th album as a leader/co-leader. Dedicated to the world's most famous guitar builders and inspired by a list of musical teachers who opened up his musical horizons, from Joe Pass and Jim Hall to Joe Diorio, Mick Goodrick and Vic Juris, Archtop Avenue is a compelling addition to the canon of solo guitar and a crowning achievement in Zjaca's career to date.