Read This Post in Three Languages
I go by a few different names, depending on where I am and who is talking to me. I introduce myself as Arthur Fowler (in English, that is), but many of my old friends call me Arty. The guitarists that I love start in the rock vein: Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia. Then there’s Wes, of course, and Kenny Burrell. I think then my teachers would be my biggest influences: Jack Grassel and Joan Soler. I have some John Scofield overtones, and here in Kagoshima I saw a wonderful show by Kohichi Hiroki, and I have two of his records on my play list now. Most of my listening is jazz, the peak years of the 50s and early 60, though a couple of recent albums by Jeff Tain Watts, Matt Wilson, and Ravi Coltrane have made their mark. As for singers, well, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, and Diana Krall, …
I love the blues, especially, these days, Lurrie Bell, and I have a sense of affinity for the stringy acoustic music of North Africa and Asia, though I don’t know the names of what I listen to.