Paco De Lucia R.I.P

I woke up yesterday to read the news and I was shocked when the newspaper flashed "Paco de Lucia dies, age 66".
I had a strong feeling of sadness and sense of loss.

One of the few people that really inspires. That's why he's called a master.
 
Major bummer…I saw him with McLaughlin and Di Meola just playing acoustic guitars.

He was incredible. At intermission all the people who didn't get up were musicians paralyzed by the epic talent and performance.
 
Major bummer…I saw him with McLaughlin and Di Meola just playing acoustic guitars.

He was incredible. At intermission all the people who didn't get up were musicians paralyzed by the epic talent and performance.

I've got a DVD of performances from one of those tours. Jaw dropping technique all around but also very moving and emotional. (Di Meola though maybe not quite up the emotional scale but good.)
 
I've got a DVD of performances from one of those tours. Jaw dropping technique all around but also very moving and emotional. (Di Meola though maybe not quite up the emotional scale but good.)
In the concert I went to, Di Meola sounded like he was playing guitar exercises compared to what De Lucia was doing.
 
I remember watching a bio documentary where he commented on recording his album with his brothers or I think McLaughlin and Meola. He said something about how the other two had spent majority of the day time in studio writing whilst Paco was more laid back and having a laugh and ended up having to compose an entire album overnight to catch up. An ENTIRE album in one night! :p
With I could remember which doc that was but I couldn't stop laughing when I saw it. He may have looked very serious in all of his performance videos but he certainly wasn't off-stage :p

Awesome man.

Frankly I am not surprised,Paco was on a whole other level. He was an excellent improviser,flameco music is a way of life and those who master it can come up with things instantaneously.

A true legend has been lost. Will miss him for sure.
 
Skip to 18:00 on this one to experience the "keep up with De Lucia" piece.
I would not want to be that rhythm guy…talk about being in the hot seat!
Paco de Lucia Burghausen 2004 - YouTube

This monster had a metronome in his head. I saw that year at the ceremony of Príncipe de Asturias award, in Asturias, Spain. Great video and great band with other flamenco guitar monster like Niño Josele (who has recorded a flamenco versions of Bill Evans), percusionist El Piraña, singer (cantaor) Duquende and amazing cuban bassist Alin Pérez!

Paco played classical and jazz themes but always mantaining his flamenco spirit and character
 
From Premier Guitar:


Madrid, Spain (February 27, 2014) – Guitarists and devotees of flamenco music around the world are mourning the death of Paco de Lucia, heralded as the greatest flamenco guitarist of our time, at age 66. De Lucia reportedly suffered a heart attack while playing with his children on a Caribbean beach resort in Mexico and died at a local hospital on the evening of February 25.

Born Francisco Gustavo Sánchez Gomes in 1947 in the Spanish port city of Algeciras, de Lucia began playing traditional flamenco guitar at an early age. His father and two brothers also played flamenco guitar, and the four of them accompanied another brother who was a flamenco singer. A child prodigy, de Lucia made his radio debut at age 11 and recorded his first album at 14. At that time, de Lucia took his professional name to honor Lucia Gomes, his Portuguese mother.

For many years, de Lucia devoted himself to traditional flamenco music and became recognized as a master of the genre, following in the footsteps of Sabicas, the great flamenco guitarist de Lucia first met as a youngster. Sabicas became de Lucia’s mentor and friend, and eventually de Lucia was widely acknowledged as Sabicas’ successor.

But de Lucia’s restless musical curiosity and interest in jazz and Latin music led him to explore new sounds. Through collaborations with John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Larry Coryell, and Chick Corea, de Lucia introduced the fiery rhythms and lightning-fast runs of flamenco to rock and jazz guitarists around the world who—until hearing de Lucia—had little familiarity with traditional Spanish and Gypsy music. Released in 1981, Friday Night in San Francisco, which featured de Lucia, Di Meola, and McLaughlin, sold more than a million copies and is considered one of the greatest live acoustic-guitar albums of all time.

"To have worked and played music with Paco is one the greatest blessings in my life,” says McLaughlin. “In the place where he lived in my heart, there is now an emptiness that will stay with me till I join him."

Though guitarists enthusiastically embraced de Lucia’s “nuevo flamenco,” not everyone in the flamenco world endorsed this new sound. Like Ravi Shankar, who brought the melodies, timbres, and rhythms of sitar and Indian classical music to the West and was decried by traditionalists for doing so, de Lucia had critics in Spain who saw the marriage of flamenco and jazz as diluting the pure form. But also like Shankar, de Lucia never lost his heartfelt connection with his musical roots, and his stunning technique, impassioned improvisations, and artful compositions always honored the music he learned as a child in Spain. De Lucia will be remembered as flamenco guitar’s greatest ambassador and one of the finest musicians to ever hold a nylon-string guitar.
 
From Premier Guitar:


Madrid, Spain (February 27, 2014) – Guitarists and devotees of flamenco music around the world are mourning the death of Paco de Lucia, heralded as the greatest flamenco guitarist of our time, at age 66. De Lucia reportedly suffered a heart attack while playing with his children on a Caribbean beach resort in Mexico and died at a local hospital on the evening of February 25.

Born Francisco Gustavo Sánchez Gomes in 1947 in the Spanish port city of Algeciras, de Lucia began playing traditional flamenco guitar at an early age. His father and two brothers also played flamenco guitar, and the four of them accompanied another brother who was a flamenco singer. A child prodigy, de Lucia made his radio debut at age 11 and recorded his first album at 14. At that time, de Lucia took his professional name to honor Lucia Gomes, his Portuguese mother.

For many years, de Lucia devoted himself to traditional flamenco music and became recognized as a master of the genre, following in the footsteps of Sabicas, the great flamenco guitarist de Lucia first met as a youngster. Sabicas became de Lucia’s mentor and friend, and eventually de Lucia was widely acknowledged as Sabicas’ successor.

But de Lucia’s restless musical curiosity and interest in jazz and Latin music led him to explore new sounds. Through collaborations with John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Larry Coryell, and Chick Corea, de Lucia introduced the fiery rhythms and lightning-fast runs of flamenco to rock and jazz guitarists around the world who—until hearing de Lucia—had little familiarity with traditional Spanish and Gypsy music. Released in 1981, Friday Night in San Francisco, which featured de Lucia, Di Meola, and McLaughlin, sold more than a million copies and is considered one of the greatest live acoustic-guitar albums of all time.

"To have worked and played music with Paco is one the greatest blessings in my life,” says McLaughlin. “In the place where he lived in my heart, there is now an emptiness that will stay with me till I join him."

Though guitarists enthusiastically embraced de Lucia’s “nuevo flamenco,” not everyone in the flamenco world endorsed this new sound. Like Ravi Shankar, who brought the melodies, timbres, and rhythms of sitar and Indian classical music to the West and was decried by traditionalists for doing so, de Lucia had critics in Spain who saw the marriage of flamenco and jazz as diluting the pure form. But also like Shankar, de Lucia never lost his heartfelt connection with his musical roots, and his stunning technique, impassioned improvisations, and artful compositions always honored the music he learned as a child in Spain. De Lucia will be remembered as flamenco guitar’s greatest ambassador and one of the finest musicians to ever hold a nylon-string guitar.

He really set a new standard for Flamenco/Acoustic Guitar playing.
 
The virtuoso is silent. What a loss. Thankfully, his music lives on in his recordings and in the memory of those fortunate enough to have seen him perform. RIP Paco.
 
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