He plucks with all ten fingers, but it ain’t classical guitar music. He uses
acoustic guitars but his repertoire isn’t old folk bards. Finding words to
describe Montreal-native Don Ross’ unique and original music may be difficult, but what isn’t hard to see is that people love it.
The man heralded as a modern-day Mozart, and the only person to win the U.S. Fingerstyle Guitar Championship twice, wooed and awed more than 100 music aficionados at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall last Saturday night. In a solo performance, the man and his guitar filled the theatre with more music than your average band, and for two hours transported listeners to a never-never land formed and brought to life by his delicate fingers.
Most of Ross’ pieces were of his own creation and usually had an upbeat, light sound, even if at times fast and furious. He is toted as merging flavours of r&b and hip-hop into his guitar creations. This was sometimes hard to hear, but nonetheless the crowd had trouble keeping their feet from tapping or from bopping their heads in time with Ross’ animated movements.
Ross opened with a light and fast, untitled tune, swaying his ample hair like a muppet. Through the set he easily moved from bluesy bits like his “Blue Bear” written while he lived in Berlin, to slower and moving pieces like “Catherine” to faster, hoe-down sounding peaces like “Loaded leather moonroof.” Only two of his pieces were accompanied by vocals, both on love songs, the latter concerning his late older sister whom he never knew. Ross closed with a popular sauntering and swank jazzy Jerry Reid tune, then answered a standing ovation with two more
encores.
It’s easy to see why he’s considered a guitar virtuoso. Ross did everything to his guitars with his fingers imaginable and then some; incorporating strumming, picking, finger-tapping and even banging a beat on the body with both hands, into one song.
Ross’ sound has plenty of emotion but little melancholy, which is surprising since he lost his wife of around 20 years to breast cancer earlier this year.
His music is high-energy, but isn’t rock or flamenco picking, and he masks the technical difficulty with sweet melody.
Maybe it could be called pop-ish new age, if pop ever knew what a man could do by himself and a guitar. His music congers images of soaring above open expanses of prairies, walking down a dusty byou road, or driving through a Vermont country-side exploding with autumn colours. One’d bet that some PBS show used his works as soundtrack material, or should’ve. Perhaps Ross best described his style himself when he called it “heavy wood.”
Ross was invited to perform from his Toronto home by concert organizer and opening act Del Vezeau. Vezeau tackled quicker and seemingly more challenging pieces with more of a minor but all the same entertaining sound. The Kingston resident and Nova Scotia native is coming out with his second album in January and some of his material can be found on mp3.com. Ross has many CDs out, but if you’re interested in taking a dive into the world of solo guitars, his “best of”
CD Huron Street would be the best bet.
acoustic guitars but his repertoire isn’t old folk bards. Finding words to
describe Montreal-native Don Ross’ unique and original music may be difficult, but what isn’t hard to see is that people love it.
The man heralded as a modern-day Mozart, and the only person to win the U.S. Fingerstyle Guitar Championship twice, wooed and awed more than 100 music aficionados at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall last Saturday night. In a solo performance, the man and his guitar filled the theatre with more music than your average band, and for two hours transported listeners to a never-never land formed and brought to life by his delicate fingers.
Most of Ross’ pieces were of his own creation and usually had an upbeat, light sound, even if at times fast and furious. He is toted as merging flavours of r&b and hip-hop into his guitar creations. This was sometimes hard to hear, but nonetheless the crowd had trouble keeping their feet from tapping or from bopping their heads in time with Ross’ animated movements.
Ross opened with a light and fast, untitled tune, swaying his ample hair like a muppet. Through the set he easily moved from bluesy bits like his “Blue Bear” written while he lived in Berlin, to slower and moving pieces like “Catherine” to faster, hoe-down sounding peaces like “Loaded leather moonroof.” Only two of his pieces were accompanied by vocals, both on love songs, the latter concerning his late older sister whom he never knew. Ross closed with a popular sauntering and swank jazzy Jerry Reid tune, then answered a standing ovation with two more
encores.
It’s easy to see why he’s considered a guitar virtuoso. Ross did everything to his guitars with his fingers imaginable and then some; incorporating strumming, picking, finger-tapping and even banging a beat on the body with both hands, into one song.
Ross’ sound has plenty of emotion but little melancholy, which is surprising since he lost his wife of around 20 years to breast cancer earlier this year.
His music is high-energy, but isn’t rock or flamenco picking, and he masks the technical difficulty with sweet melody.
Maybe it could be called pop-ish new age, if pop ever knew what a man could do by himself and a guitar. His music congers images of soaring above open expanses of prairies, walking down a dusty byou road, or driving through a Vermont country-side exploding with autumn colours. One’d bet that some PBS show used his works as soundtrack material, or should’ve. Perhaps Ross best described his style himself when he called it “heavy wood.”
Ross was invited to perform from his Toronto home by concert organizer and opening act Del Vezeau. Vezeau tackled quicker and seemingly more challenging pieces with more of a minor but all the same entertaining sound. The Kingston resident and Nova Scotia native is coming out with his second album in January and some of his material can be found on mp3.com. Ross has many CDs out, but if you’re interested in taking a dive into the world of solo guitars, his “best of”
CD Huron Street would be the best bet.
