I was inspired to arrange this instrumental version of Paul McCartney’s wonderful tune, Blackbird. The intro was inspired by something I saw Martin Taylor play. I asked him about the intro, and chuckling, asked him if I could steal it for my own use. He said, “Sure, I stole it from Johnny Smith”. Martin and I shared a number of such stories in that time period around 2011.
Playing “True”
This song by Martin Taylor is fun to play and has a beautiful melody. It’s a wonderful piece to know on the guitar. I have a written arrangement for it as well.
Members can also view the arrangement here: https://kevinkarrickmusic.com/true-for-solo-guitar/
Mood For A Day
This is a favorite solo guitar piece that I learned a long time ago. I think I was fifteen when the Yes album, Fragile came out, which included this tune by Steve Howe. He was one of my favorite guitarists at that impressionable age, so I immediately took on the task of figuring out how it play it. It remains in my repertoire to this day. My version of it has probably evolved a little over the years.
Swing Essence – Jazz, Dance, & Party!
Swing Essence is a band I formed in 2004 in Colorado. We had a great run for 8 or 9 years and played many wonderful events. I so enjoyed arranging the music and leading this group. Here are a couple of our demo tracks from a rehearsal recorded in 2007.
In The Studio – Sweeter All The Time
In 2003, I put together an album of my originals with this wonderful crew, recorded at the UNC studio in Greely, CO. Pictured (left to right) are Jessy Lucas (bass), Mark Raynes (drums), Greg Heimbecker (engineer), Mark Sloniker (piano), and myself (guitars). Byron Hamer (not shown) contributed on flute and tenor saxophone.
The Happy Guitarist
Here is one of the cuts from that album, featuring the crew in the photo.
Moody’s Mood – Featuring Chrissy Faith
This is a little piece of a demo that I recorded, featuring vocalist Chrissy Faith. Chrissy was a popular and highly employed backup singer in the 80s and 90s and nominated for best rock vocalist for a voice over she did in the movie, No Small Affair. She went on to singing jazz where we hooked up in Portland, OR in 2000-2001. This piece also features my good friends Gary Irvine on drums and Dan Davis on bass.
First Guitar
In 1966, I started playing the guitar, inspired by my older brother Denny, who played bass in a local top-40 band. I was also accustomed to seeing Dan Fogelberg lead his band, The Coachman, at the time. (Dan and Denny were high school age – not at the same school). On Christmas eve that year I was gifted with my own instrument. It was destiny that it was an archtop, the instrument type I would return to later in my journey. This one was pretty rough, but I was thrilled! My niece Laurie is looking under the tree, I imagine to see what other surprises are looming. This photo was taken at our house on Jefferson Street in Washington, IL.
