My favourite guitar album of all time, I obtained a commercial reel-to-reel copy in the late 1970's... it having been recorded in 1965 and released as a 'Lansdowne' Production. To say the music is a masterclass in interpretation, restraint, melodic complexity, harmony and execution is an understatement. The album is no longer commercially available, at all, anywhere - so I'm delighted to share it with a new generation of guitar players, appreciators and the global listening audience.
I do not own the copyright to any of this music ('though I have created the visual entirely from scratch) and I seek to make no money from it's distribution/availability here on YouTube.
Much is and has been written about Cedric West and his exceptional talent - he has been the inspiration for a number of leading players and remains - to me, at least, one of the finest exponents of delicate, precise, tasteful and enjoyable guitar music EVER. The personnel on the recording is listed below and is taken from the back cover of the original vinyl L.P.
N.B: No small measure of credit is due to the 'accompanying' musicians (bass and drums) who are supremely gifted at their task of enhancing the lead players with a restraint and aplomb regrettably absent from so many instrumental recordings of today.
The 'gaps' in-between the pieces are exactly the length as on the original album - the ONLY audio-sweetening has been to silence the record arm/stylus noise between tracks, and an enhancement to the volume/compression, which has been kept to the absolute minimum necessary to optimize the listening experience.
I hope this recording brings as much joy to new and established fans of Cedric and his Guitar Quartet as it has to me over the years.
