Phyllis Bolton was a generous woman that, together with her beloved husband Sandy, helped nurture and develop the outstanding classical guitar community in Tucson, Arizona. Although I never had the chance to meet Phyllis, I felt as if I had a vivid sense of her from my discussions with Sandy. As I had already written a solo guitar piece dedicated to Sandy, we both agreed that another piece was needed for the “better half” of this loving couple. My collection of Portraits started in the 90’s and, in each of them, I used a technique of matching musical notes to the regular alphabet. The name of the person to be portrayed would dictate the set of notes to be used as a theme. As my collection of Portraits grew over the years, I tried to develop their thematic material in a variety of ways. In Phyllis’ case, for example, I knew that she loved a wide range of American music and so I made that my focus. The first step was to recreate her name musically by matching her name “Phyllis” to the corresponding musical notes BACEEBE. This theme became the unifying element of the whole composition. I then used each letter in her name to be the first letter of the title of the piece’s seven different (mostly Americana) segments.
Preambulo Hornpipe Yiddish song Lament Lullaby Impromptu Soul music The Preambulo quotes Phyllis name several times introducing the thematic material. This is followed by a lively blue-grassy Hornpipe. As Phyllis was Jewish, it seemed natural to include a Yiddish song. The Lament that follows is based on the traditional American Blues and I hope that Phyllis would have particularly favored the Lullaby due to her love of melody. The penultimate Impromptu is based on American folk rhythms spiced by jazz harmonies and the energetic Soul music finishes the piece with a strong African American groove. To write this piece I dove enthusiastically into the treasure trove of great North American artists who made some of the world’s important contributions to popular art. My thanks therefore goes to Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Tony Rice, Vassar Clements, Bryan Sutton, Bela Fleck, Mike Marshall, Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers among others.