Jerry's Music
2017
Yossarian’s Dream
Yossarian’s Dream is almost a retrospective work in that the 10 tunes represent music from many different periods in Jerry’s musical journey. The inclusion of Steve Howe’s (from Yes) “Clap” is an homage to Jerry’s main influence on the guitar. The other cover, “Berceuse” by the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer connects with Jerry’s formal study of classical guitar during the late ’70s and early ’80s. The tune “Matagalpa” was originally recorded on Jerry’s first CD Many Dances, and this new recording presents the tune on steel string guitar instead of nylon string (classical guitar). The tune “Portable Fruit” was originally included on the Jerry’s second CD, Sound Like This. What is different about this new version is that Jerry developed an extensive loop for this tune and incorporated it into his live performances. This new recording includes the loop and stretches the tune out to over 8 minutes.
The remaining tunes demonstrate Jerry’s experimentation with percussion, odd meters (a section of “Yossarian’s Dream” is in 8 and 1/2), and an orchestral sense of arranging melodies. The goal was to capture the intensity of the acoustic guitar as a solo instrument.
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1999
Many Dances
This is Jerry’s first collection of original music for solo guitar. The 12 tunes encompass wide-ranging styles of music; from classical to fingerstyle to delta-blues. As a collection, this music has been described as sounding like “Segovia playing the music of Leo Kottke, while thinking about Robert Johnson.”
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2004
Sounds Like This
While Sounds Like This is focused on the sound of the steel string acoustic guitar, the music presented continues to demonstrate Jerry’s wide-ranging musical interests and eclecticism. 11 original tunes are presented, along with the well known “12th Street Rag.” Dan Newton joins Jerry for 2 duets of guitar and accordion. In addition, Jerry branches out into exploring the guitar as a percussion instrument (“Portable Fruit”).
