I first heard Horace Silver’s Peace on a recording by Norah Jones. Her voice was hypnotic; her piano chords were tasteful. Right then, the song became one of my favorite jazz compositions.
In this latest release by Hristo Vitchev, he takes this beautiful piece & adds his own take on it.
In a way, Hristo has kind of recomposed the piece.
The melody is there.
The feeling of the piece is there.
And… Hristo has managed to add his own modern impressionistic take on it.
The intro, interludes & outro are gorgeous.
I love how Hristo uses pedal points to create thematic oblique motion. The dynamics & sustained voices in the piece present quite a workout for the left hand. Even though the left hand fingerings are not written, the note durations can give you an idea of what to do.
Besides this, I also checked out Hristo’s Short Harmonic Etude on Misty.
Between the two, this one is a good one to start with if you want to learn about composition and harmony in context. Misty would be great for learning about arranging solo guitar & including fills.
Both are great.
The best part about this series is seeing how Hristo thinks. It’s one thing to learn chord shapes but it’s a whole other challenge to apply it.
In conclusion, I recommend this if you’re curious about arranging solo guitar in a modern harmonic context.
Pros: Great arrangement, lots to learn.
Cons: None.
TLDR: If you like to get new modern harmonic ideas for solo guitar arranging, this might be a great way to start.
This book was a gift from Hristo to me. Thanks Hristo!
You can get it here: https://gumroad.com/l/yXPJX
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