New York has been wild
Since moving to New York City on July 2nd with my wonderful girlfriend, Stephanie, and our pug, Phoebe, I have had so many amazing experiences.
First of all, I love living in Brooklyn. There has been so much to explore and many friends I have been able to reconnect with. I have already met many amazing musicians, some of which I have been lucky enough to play with consistently. I am so grateful that I am working where I always wanted to be and that I have wonderful friends and family to surround me.
In addition to working and adjusting to the city, I also competed in the 2019 Wilson Center Guitar Competition in mid-August. I had the honor of meeting many talented and eager musicians close to my age and stage of development. Though I placed in the semi-finals again this year, the competition was a great exercise and challenge to refine my guitar playing. In the coming weeks I intend on releasing what I prepared for the competition for all to hear.
In addition to releasing my competition videos, I am really looking forward to working on “The Wes Montgomery Project.” The album “The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery” has been a source of inspiration for as long as I’ve played jazz. I want to transcribe Wes’ melodies and solos off of the album. I believe putting in this work will give me a deeper understanding of his:
1. Tone;
2. Articulation; and
3. Concept
In addition to transcribing these songs for myself, I plan on providing most of these transcriptions for free. That being said, if you are interested in supporting this process I will be setting up a Patreon account.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you soon!
Warmly,
Peter Martin