Early Years: Exciting Sound of Flamenco

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of Juan Martín's 1974 debut album including four previously unreleased bonus tracks. This much coveted and legendary album is now available for the first time on CD and it's purity hits you immediately. Juan's highly idiomatic playing on his 1972 Gerundino guitar is captured brilliantly and intimately. The sound is pure, close and unadorned, revealing his variation of dynamics and tone colors. He performs 10 flamenco styles which range in mood from the tragic seguidillas and tarantas to the exhilarating and driving bulerias and rumba. Already his originality as a composer was emerging mixed with influences from his idol Niño Ricardo and teacher Paco de Lucía though recently it was commented by a Málaga colleague José Chaparro that Juan makes these variations somehow sound integral to his playing, his interpretation taking the material to possibly a deeper level. In this sense there is a similarity with a classical pianist or violinist's interpretative take on a Beethoven concerto or in a lighter vane, a Chopin nocturne, Juan having been called the Chopin of the flamenco guitar by the reviewer in the Berner Nachrichten. We have also added four tracks that have never before been released recorded with the famous flamenco singer Rafael Romero 'El Gallina' when Juan bought him to London to appear at the Wigmore Hall and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1976. The CD comes with a 12 page booklet of information and photos in English and Spanish.