11 Etudes

Benjamin Verdery, guitar

I’ve been a Verdery fan ever since I heard him turn three songs by Prince into contemporary classical solo guitar compositions. While I find most crossover projects horribly misguided and rarely meriting a second listen, I always heard a kindred spirit between early ’80s minimalism and the contemporaneous song “Purple Rain” and Verdery managed to bring it out without cheapening either one in the process. There’s nothing so aesthetically shocking on his new collection of solo guitar originals, although it’s really exciting to hear him explore alternate tunings which make his guitar sound like a wide variety of plucked lutes spanning from Western Africa to East Asia. On “Greed,” Verdery simultaneously conjures up the Japanese biwa and the Berber guimbry without imitating either which is no mean feat.

—FJO