Arturo Solorzano Records at GSI, Including a Duet with Brady Davis

GSI recently welcomed Arturo Solorzano to our showroom in Santa Monica. A classical guitar student at the USC Thornton School of Music, Arturo was one of the six USC students who performed for Pepe Romero during our masterclass last December. For his recording session, he chose two jazz standards and a duet by Roland Dyens.

Arturo opened with “Tenderly,” the 1946 ballad by Walter Gross that became one of the great jazz standards, heard here in Luiz Bonfá’s arrangement. Its long, lyrical lines call for a singing tone and patient phrasing, and Arturo lets the melody unfold without hurrying. He played it on a 1978 Miguel Rodríguez with a redwood top and Honduran rosewood back and sides.

He also recorded Erroll Garner’s “Misty” in the arrangement by Roland Dyens, whose guitar versions of jazz standards have become favorites among classical guitarists. Dyens’ rich harmonies give the tune a warm, intimate character, which Arturo brings out with a relaxed sense of time. For this recording, he played a 2003 Gary Southwell “A-Series”, formerly owned by Scott Tennant, with a spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides.

Finally, Arturo was joined by guitarist Brady Davis, whom our viewers may remember from his duet with Laurel Harned, for “Clown Blanc” from Roland Dyens’ Comme des Grands. Brady played a 1991 Miguel Rodríguez “Centenario”, one of the decorated Centenario guitars built in Córdoba by Miguel Rodríguez Jr. and his son Pepe. Arturo played a 2026 Ariel Ameijenda “70th Anniversary”, built in Uruguay to mark seven decades of the Ameijenda family’s guitar making, with an alerce top from 1930s Buenos Aires stock and CSA rosewood back and sides.

Together, these recordings show Arturo’s ease with the lyrical side of the jazz repertoire and his ensemble playing alongside Brady. We’re grateful to both guitarists for sharing their music with us.