Sunday Night Jazz Showcase
Program #283 (February 16 at 8:00 p.m.)
Lawson Rollins picked-up the classical guitar at age 15 after hearing the recordings of Spanish guitar legend Andres Segovia.
Though he began his studies in the classical genre, he quickly developed his own style, a combination of salsa, Latin jazz, blues, samba, bossa nova, and classical music.
Lawson's genre-blending playing was marked by a distinctively sparkling technical proficiency, grounded in an uncommonly dexterous classical finger style approach.
After graduating with an English degree from Duke University and earning a graduate degree from the London School of Economics, Lawson moved to Washington, D.C. and formed the genre-busting Latin fusion group Young & Rollins with guitarist Daniel Young.
Their hit debut album Salsa Flamenca immediately landed on the Billboard Top 25 Chart for its genre in the year 2000.
They toured the world, performing at major music festivals and venues like the Sydney Opera House, and made three more records before Rollins left the group to explore new musical horizons.
He moved to San Francisco and created his first solo effort, Infinita, an album that touched on all the music he was interested in. It added Arab, Caribbean, Persian, classical North Indian and other world music colors to the mix.
Rollins continues to inspire and perform for audiences around the world.
(provided by Lawson Rollins)
