Guitarists—by temperament and historical inclination—are
instinctive collaborators and accompanists, as well as, inevitably,
duo partners. Among such presently numerous pairings, perhaps the
most luminous is the first-tier guitar tandem of John Williams and
John Etheridge, respectively the instrument's premier classical
virtuoso and the equally esteemed and recorded multi-genre guitar
legend. Between them, the Williams-Etheridge Duo combine five
centuries of classical, jazz, world, rock, folk, and new-age
inspirations to create a peerless musical experience applauded by
awed critics and mesmerized capacity audiences the world
over.
Even today, it is still a widely held perception that the guitar is
a limited, even primitive instrument despite the achievements of
Segovia and other innovative predecessors. With Williams
unquestionably among the most recorded solo guitarists of the past
half-century, and more than 200 Williams and Etheridge individual
album releases to date, these resourcefully versatile musical
masters have, perhaps even more than any of their contemporaries,
notably expanded the publically perceived musical boundaries of the
guitar. Both partners are famously, fiercely, and most visibly
major proponents of their chosen instrument in all its
possibilities, and over the years have found their association to
be a most ideal platform to educate an increasingly growing
international public to the limitless potentials of guitar
music.
Their critically applauded bestselling 2006 Places
Between album typically features works by the two guitar
masters and a widely disparate range of genres and international
composers that span the previous two centuries. Williams has said,
"In every contemporary activity in music, whether it is commercial
music, film music, popular music, jazz, and all these influences
that are now called world music or ethnic music, the guitar is a
crucial part of it—not just an extra thing you have to adapt, a
little imitation of something to play on guitar, but it actually is
an integral part of what all these cultures are doing and using, so
in that way the guitar is unlimited." And, as Etheridge once
remarked in a 2007 interview about his partnership with Williams,
"There is no limit to what we can do together."
—Bob Golden is a veteran of the music industry who is currently
vice president of marketing at Carlin America, a major
multinational music publishing corporation.