Patrick Ferreri explains his CD album

Hello, fellow guitar enthusiasts:

Perhaps you can identify with me. At the age of eleven, I took up the steel-string, plectrum guitar – playing Pop music, Country and Western, and Folk music. I was soon smitten by improvised Jazz and beautifully arranged music in the Jazz idiom. That is what hooked me on arranging, and my life has been a never-ceasing quest to improve my arranging skills. In addition to my love of performing Jazz, and arranging it, I love to teach it. Sharing my knowledge is something I do happily – because that is what I have experienced in dealing with my teachers and my cohorts, all of my musical life. I am currently working upon a series of eight manuals that deal with the subjects of arranging, composing and improvising – for guitar players, specifically.

At the age of nineteen, I took up the classic guitar, and became a pupil of the famed teacher, Richard Pick. My original goal was to use the classic guitar to hone my knowledge and skills in contrapuntal arranging and improvising textures. Little did I know, at that time, that I would become enthralled with the classic guitar itself, and its available repertoire.

After devoting many years to creating classic guitar, classic guitar and flute, classic guitar and violin, etc., transcriptions of classical music, I finally re-turned my full attention to Jazz guitar arranging. I arranged, performed, recorded, mixed and produced my own CD album of Old Standard love songs. My album is entitled, Expressions of Love, and is available on the Internet at CD Baby, and Digstation. If you give it a listen, I am sure that you will recognize my deep appreciation of these tunes, and hear the influences that classical music have made upon my arranging style. My record label is called “Rosa-Turi,” named after my Sicilian, paternal grandparents, Rosa and Sarvaturiddu (Salvatorello in Italian).

Patrick Ferreri, Classical and Jazz Guitarist in Chicago

I took my first guitar lesson in 1950, at the age of eleven. Three years later, I began playing at wedding receptions, banquets, birthday parties, etc., as I continued my studies. I've made my living by playing the guitar, ever since. From the age of 13 to 18, I studied Jazz guitar with George Allen (teacher of most of the guitar players in the Chicago area who can read music, follow a conductor, and improvise in a wide variety of styles). From age 18 to 29, I was a staff musician at the American Broadcasting Company radio and television studios inChicago.

At the age of 19, I became a pupil of Richard Pick, Chicago's foremost teacher of the classic guitar, composer, and author of many materials for the classic guitar. I studied with Mr. Pick for many years, and performed many duo guitar concerts with him prior to his retirement from public performance. From age 29 to the present, I have been a studio musician -- performing in recording studios where music for radio and television commercials is recorded. I also play in many ballet, theatre, and stage show orchestras.

During the 44 years that I have worked in recording studios, I have often performed (as an "extra," and not as a star performer) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Music of the Baroque ensemble, the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Symphony Orchestra, the South Bend(Indiana) Symphony Orchestra, and many other ensembles.

I may play Classical music one day, Jazz the next, Country and Western the next, and so on. I still do such work, and will never retire (as long as my fingers and mind continue to function.) When I perform with orchestras, I sometimes play the classic guitar. For "Pops Concerts," I play the arched-top, electronically amplified Jazz guitar and/or tenor banjo. For commercial recordings, I play the guitar (in almost all of its many forms), the Renaissance lute, the electric fretted bass, the mandolin, the mandola, the mandocello, the banjo, the Russian balalaika, the Greek bouzouki, and the ukelele. I tune all of these instruments as they were designed to be tuned, and I read music in all clefs. On some jobs I must sight-read music, on some I am required to improvise on tunes that I know, and on others I must play "by ear." I enjoy my musically eclectic life. I chose it. It has allowed me to be a devoted and attentive husband, father, and grandfather, while also being a musician.

As a professional musician, I have learned many things concerning music, both as an art and as a career. Perhaps some of my observations may be of value to those who are about to begin a career in guitar playing. I have published a few essays, regarding my insights, and they are available to you from Ferreri Publications.