Folks I've Taken Lessons With: Jim Campilongo

I took a single lesson from Jim Campilongo back when I lived in San Francisco - it seemed like everybody was stopping by for a few lessons with JC back then. Somehow we ended up focusing on jazz/blues type changes rather than the country inflected playing he is best known for (and that I wanted to learn) - but it was a cool lesson because I could see that he approaches what he does from the same perspective as he (or anybody else for that matter) would a jazz tune. He was a pretty big influence in my decision to eventually pick up a Telecaster and I think of him often when I'm bending the guitar neck around for effect.

Here he is a few years before I met him playing Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" - which became my big featured song with the New York Mandolin Orchestra many years later.