Artist: Simon James
Posted on May 26, 2009
Am enjoying the soothing yet rhythmic sounds of UK Latin jazz band Kymaera on their "Rio Moods" album. This is one of those albums by a collection of not-so-famous yet extremely talented session musicians who love making beautiful acoustic music, and one of the reasons I enjoy Kymaera's blend of soft lounge-style jazz is the presence on nylon string acoustic guitar of Simon James, one of the artists behind the fabulous Acoustic Alchemy sound. Of course, the main reason I couldn't resist this album is that it is a tribute to that great bossa nova songwriter, Antonio Carlos Jobim.
After I posted the above, I received an email from guitarist Simon James, who wrote: "Thank you for your kind comments. It's one of the albums I most enjoyed making especially as Antonio Carlos is one of my favourite songwriters. Many of its roots lie in the early days of Acoustic Alchemy."