D'Aquisto's Last Guitar - Tal Yahalom

Tal Yahalom performs Thelonious Monk's "We See" Traveling the borders of genre and style, guitarist and composer Tal Yahalom seeks to weave a wide spectrum of aesthetic elements into a distinct musical language – committed to engaging storytelling and attentive interplay. Born in Israel and based in New York City since 2014, Yahalom has been exploring and fusing the worlds of hard bop, alternative rock, free improvisation and impressionistic classical music. Looking to expand the sonic and textural vocabulary of the guitar, he pursues unconventional, creative ways of instrumental playing – both acoustically and through a flexible array of effects. He is drawn to the elusive balance between composition and improvisation, clarity and mystery, the subtle and the intense. https://www.talyahalom.com/ https://www.instagram.com/tal_yahalom... ‪@tal_yahalom‬ https://www.talyahalom.bandcamp.com ------ 1994 D'Aquisto "Centura" James "Jimmy" D'Aquisto apprenticed under master luthier John D'Angelico in New York City starting in 1952, and eventually came to be considered one of the greatest archtop builders of our time. His guitars have been owned by Jim Hall, Grant Green, Joe Pass, and George Benson, among many others. Now his guitars are coveted by players and collectors all over the world, with two of them even residing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This guitar, one of his “Centura” models, was the last guitar that D’Aquisto ever built, finished in 1994. The instrument was commissioned by a client of D’Aquisto, who wanted a 7 string guitar. However, by the time he got to building the instrument, he had forgotten this information and built a 6 string instead. D’Aquisto assured the client that he would fix the problem after an imminent trip to California but sadly, he died before he returned home. This video series invites a handful of New York based musicians to come and explore the instrument, connecting the rich history of Jimmy D’Aquisto’s luthiery to the future of jazz guitar. The instrument is now under the care of The Blue Guitars/Archtop Foundation, an organization that maintains a very special collection of archtop guitars. @theblueguitars https://theblueguitars.com/    / @theblueguitars     / theblueguitars   ------ Filmed, engineered, mixed and edited by David Blake https://www.davidblakemusic.com