There is a new dinner and music concert series cooking in West Sedona this season. On Saturday, June 24, at 7:30 p.m. the event will feature the solo guitar artistry of Rick Cyge at Greg Lawson Galleries in West Sedona. This new music concert series is a collaboration local restaurants and the treasure that is Greg Lawson Galleries.
“We have put together a perfect Sedona evening out for each night of the new monthly concert series, which offers a memorable evening of dining, live music and stunning photographic art,” Cyge said. “All are within a short walk or drive of one another. By purchasing concert tickets in advance, concert-goers will receive discount coupons for the restaurants to use the evening of the show.”
Greg Lawson Galleries features Lawson’s exquisite nature and wildlife photography created from travels to every corner of the world. In the inspiring setting, Cyge will perform his finger-style guitar artistry with arrangements of music from Paul Simon, Elvis, The Eagles, Steely Dan and more.
Over the past few years, Cyge, a versatile composer and arranger, has turned his focus to assembling a vast repertoire of fingerstyle guitar arrangements of the music of the baby boomer era.
He said, “My approach is to identify the key elements of the song, the melody, harmonic structure and rhythmic style and weave these elements into a solo guitar piece that marries those elements into a single cohesive guitar interpretation.
“The first challenge is to identify songs that have the essential elements needed to create this type of arrangement. Not all great songs work as instrumental pieces, and conversely, some somewhat mediocre songs translate well as solo guitar pieces. I do incorporate the use of a phrase sampler to accomplish this live with some very complex pieces such as The Beach Boys’ ‘California Girls’ where so much is happening that I need to layer some of the elements to get them all together — too much to pack into a single guitar part.
“I also create rhythm sections for some pieces assembling bass, drum and percussion parts to embellish the arrangements and record these using keyboards in the studio. I use these mixes to accompany my live performance of those pieces, i.e., Steely Dan’s ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.’ In the end, it is always about the solo guitar arrangement of the song.”
Tickets are $15 each or two for $25, available at RickCyge.com; by calling (480) 481-9647; or during business hours at Greg Lawson Galleries, 2679 SR 89A or by calling 202-0340.
