Pepper’s Theme

“Pepper’s Theme” is an original instrumental intended to be in the early 1960s style of the Shadows. The song commemorates our adoption of a beautiful 3-year-old female German Shepherd from our local animal shelter.

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One Hand One Heart

This is my instrumental version of “One Hand One Heart”. Music is by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It is from the musical West Side Story, which debuted in 1957.

I was a bit surprised to be unable to find any guitar instrumental versions from the early to mid sixties of this lovely tune. For that matter I could also not find anything more recent by the Shadows or the Ventures. The Shadows did record some of the songs from West Side Story, including “Tonight” and “There’s a Place for Us”.

Bari is Back

“Bari is Back” is an original instrumental guitar-rock/rockabilly track to commemorate the new body I got for my baritone guitar.

Shadow Run

“Shadow Run” is an original guitar instrumental intended to be similar to the early 1960s style of the Shadows.

Summertime

This is my instrumental version of “Summertime“, which was composed in 1934 by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess.  The song soon became a popular and much recorded jazz standard.

The Ventures included a cover on their 1962 album, “Mashed Potatoes and Gravy”, with Nokie Edwards playing the lead.

Corcovado

This is my instrumental version of “Corcovado” (known in English as “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars”) It was written by Antônio Carlos Jobim in 1960. An English lyric was later written by Gene Lees. The Portuguese title refers to the Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro.

Five O’Clock Shadow

“Five O’Clock Shadow” is an original guitar instrumental intended to be similar to the early 1960s style of the Shadows.

Silence is Golden

This is my instrumental cover of “Silence is Golden”. Most people remember this lovely song as a 1967 hit for the British group, The Tremeloes. It reached #1 in the UK and #11 on the USA Billboard charts.

However, the song was first recorded and released in 1964 by the Four Seasons as the “B” side to “Rag Doll”. It was composed by producer Bob Crewe and group member Bob Gaudio. With Bob Crewe often assisting with lyrics, Bob Gaudio wrote a string of hits for the Four Seasons, including “Sherry”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Walk Like a Man”, “Dawn (Go Away)”,”Ronnie”, “Rag Doll”, “Save It for Me”, “Big Man in Town”, “Bye Bye Baby”, and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”.

The original Four Seasons arrangement was not changed much by the Tremeloes for their hit.

 

Manhã de Carnaval

This is my sixties-style instrumental arrangement of “Manhã de Carnaval” (“Carnival Morning”) by Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfá and lyricist Antônio Maria.

“Manhã de Carnaval” appeared as a principal theme in the 1959 Portuguese-language film, “Black Orpheus”. It was one of the first Bossa Nova compositions to gain popularity outside Brazil. Particularly in the United States, the song has become a jazz standard and is considered to be one of the most important Brazilian Jazz/Bossa songs that helped establish the Bossa Nova movement in the late 1950s.