Stefan Grossman: The English Years In Concert: Recorded Performance

?This is one of those albums that excited me from the word go. When John and I first discussed the possibilities of his recording I was very pleased. You see John James is one of the most creative and important acoustic Guitar players performing and living in Europe today. His music owes little to the days of Davey Graham and Bert Jansch. These were the English guitar heroes of ten years ago. Instead John's music has travelled a path derived from folk music ragtime and jazz sounds. From these sources he has developed a very unique and beautiful style of playing as well as composing.Once we had recorded all the material for this album I knew we had a proverbial 'hotplatter' on our hands. Finally the complete talents of John James seemed to have been captured on record. All of his skills as a guitarist arranger and composer were clearly present. Plus John was happy to transcribed his solos into tablature and we have prepared a PDF booklet that accompanies this CD. This will certainly bring joy to guitarists who have struggled to learn John's intricate instrumentals.? 1977 Stefan Grossman