Jason McGuire

Design by Gustavo Lanzas

Jason shares the story behind his newest recording "Distancias":

In February 2002, I set out to record my debut CD. I recorded my Taranta, "A Mi Arturo" (1995), to try to establish a high quality guitar sound to be the template for the rest of the album. After four years of studying recording techniques and attempting countless test recordings, I arrived at a method that sounded good to me. It was my intention to self-produce the album on a very tight budget. Gregory James, a local jazz player, offered to become the executive producer, and he played a few of the songs for Cookie Marenco, a five-time Grammy nominated recording engineer, who agreed to work on the project. This shift in dynamics enabled me to involve local singer and songwriter Jose Manuel Blanco "El Grillo," who spent many hours learning the songs and arranging about 80% of the percussion parts. Sudhi Rajagopal handled the tabla parts, and we brought in Danilo Paiz to play on my rumba for the Afro-Cuban feel. I played djembe on the fandangos and clay pot on the alegrias. Jose and I had a fantastic time collaborating together on our tracks, we took our time to get things exactly where we wanted them.

Later I realized I wanted to add some other colors, so we called in bassist Kai Eckhardt, regarded as one of the best in the world, and Benny Rietveld, from Carlos Santana's band. They did great work, especially Kai, who truly loves flamenco and was excited to collaborate. Later violinist Chris Kranyak, known as "El Hungaro," finished up his part and right on time, since I had to leave town to serve as the Musical Director of the New World Flamenco Festival in Irvine, California. Once Cookie Marenco, Gregory James and Jose and I got into the studio for post-production, we were intent on achieving the best possible mix with such a complicated series of songs. It took me a long time to make this record, but I think the time I and everyone spent on this was valuable, and I hope everyone enjoys it. Some of my flamenco friends from Spain listened to it before mixing, and they paid me the ultimate compliment: they want to play it for their companeros in Spain..that's cool.

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The much anticipated CD by Jason McGuire "El Rubio" is now available. 'Distancias' features all original compositions by Jason and includes appearances by world-renowned bassists Kai Eckhardt, Benny Reitveld (Santana bassist), and the vocals and percussion work of Jose Manuel Blanco "El Grillo."

The CD is $15.99 and can be purchased online at www.caminosflamencos.com.

Also available at venues such as ODC Theater, Timo's and Tapas.
For further information, contact Jason McGuire at elrubio@telocity.com

Give the gift of music this Christmas, this special recording makes a great impression to friends, family and aficionados!
www.caminosflamencos.com

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