{"id":1999328,"date":"2025-09-05T13:16:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1999328"},"modified":"2025-09-05T13:16:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:16:38","slug":"guitar-great-peter-spragues-latest-album-is-23-years-old-and-brand-new-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/guitar-great-peter-spragues-latest-album-is-23-years-old-and-brand-new-san-diego-union-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Guitar great Peter Sprague\u2019s latest album is 23 years old \u2014 and brand new \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>San Diego guitar great Peter Sprague\u2019s album-release concert at Tio Leo\u2019s Sunday should be one for the record books. The album\u2019s 23-year-long gestation is almost worthy of a music-fueled reboot of the popular 1960s TV series \u201cThe Twilight Zone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A past collaborator of such jazz legends as Chick Corea, Sonny Rollins, Hubert Laws and Pat Metheny, Sprague will be selling copies of his new album, \u201cThe Width of The World,\u201d at his Tio Leo\u2019s gig. The fact he will not be performing a single selection from it sounds counterintuitive, since album-release concerts are, by definition, designed to promote the album whose release they are celebrating.<\/p>\n<p>But Sprague\u2019s decision to do so \u2014 or, rather, <em>not<\/em> to do so \u2014 is a pragmatic necessity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Width of The World\u201d is a 20-minute concerto that he was commissioned to write for the San Diego Symphony in 2002. He performed it here with the orchestra the same year at Copley Symphony Hall, which is now known as Jacobs Music Center.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"moBdbm4Gjk\">\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/2020\/06\/16\/san-diego-symphony-and-jazz-guitar-star-peter-sprague-are-boosting-their-online-music-presence\/\">San Diego Symphony and jazz guitar star Peter Sprague are boosting their online music presence<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cSan Diego Symphony and jazz guitar star Peter Sprague are boosting their online music presence\u201d \u2014 San Diego Union-Tribune\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/2020\/06\/16\/san-diego-symphony-and-jazz-guitar-star-peter-sprague-are-boosting-their-online-music-presence\/embed\/#?secret=khZJhkn07w#?secret=moBdbm4Gjk\" data-secret=\"moBdbm4Gjk\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Adapting his orchestral opus for a guitar-piano-bass-and-drums jazz quartet would be a fool\u2019s errand, artistically speaking. It is also a logistical impossibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou couldn\u2019t fit the brass section of the symphony on the stage at Tio Leo\u2019s,\u201d Sprague said with a laugh, \u201clet alone the entire orchestra!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No formal recording was made of his \u201cThe Width of The World\u201d performance with the symphony. A friend smuggled in a small recording device to tape the show, but its muddled audio quality and extremely low fidelity rendered it largely unusable.<\/p>\n<p>Constantly in demand as a solo artist, accompanist, recording engineer and album producer, Sprague turned to other projects. His versatility has seen him shine on collaborations with singers Dianne Reeves and Al Jarreau, pianists Billy Childs and David Benoit, bass giant Charlie Haden and such disparate artists as former David Bowie keyboardist Mike Garson and sitar standout Kartik Seshardi.<\/p>\n<p>What, then, has led this 2024 San Diego Music Hall of Fame inductee to now record an album version of his concerto?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had lymphoma and got past it,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, I have Parkinson\u2019s, which is not bad at the moment, but the general arc is that it gets bad over time. So, there\u2019s a sense of immediacy with a lot of what I\u2019m doing. I\u2019ll be 70 on Oct. 11 and I\u2019m putting a large part of my energy into recording.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more immediacy I have now as an artist to see things through and do things. Because I\u2019m getting older and have had some health challenges, I can see the writing on the wall. This won\u2019t last forever, for any of us. This album is definitely the biggest project I\u2019ve ever done and I don\u2019t know if I want to do anything this challenging again.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9451719\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone size-article_inline\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peter Sprague has newly recorded the concerto he wrote and performed in 2002 with the San Diego Symphony. (Stephanie Sprague)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>\u2018Local Living Legends\u2019<\/h4>\n<p>The genesis of \u201cThe Width of The World\u201d dates back to early 2002.<\/p>\n<p>It was then that Sprague was contacted by Jung-Ho Pak, who was concluding his tenure as the San Diego Symphony\u2019s music director. Pak had been wowed by a 2000 concert that teamed Sprague with the Grossmont College Orchestra. He invited Sprague to compose a concerto and to perform it with the symphony at a concert billed as \u201cLocal Living Legends.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the same concert, Pak also featured Grammy Award-winning violinist Mark O\u2019Connor (who was then a Bonsall resident). The triple-bill lineup was completed by now-deceased keyboardist and composer Bruce Donnelly, who performed in the blues-rocking San Diego band the Mighty Penguins, composed film scores and was a former staff songwriter at MCA Publishing.<\/p>\n<p>Sprague took two months off to compose, arrange and hone \u201cThe Width of The World.\u201d While he had previously written music for string quartets, this was his first orchestral work. Stylistically, it draws from classical, jazz, baroque, Celtic, flamenco, Middle Eastern music and more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComposing this was an awesome task,\u201d the eclectic guitarist said in a 2002 San Diego Union-Tribune interview previewing his concert with the symphony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve done smaller pieces and worked with string quartets, but this is a whole other level. A good comparison is writing a letter versus writing a novel. With a novel, you don\u2019t know how it is going to end \u2013 and you even wonder: `Is it ever\u00a0going\u00a0to end?\u2019 You have to think in big scope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And how does Sprague regard his concerto today, 23 years after he debuted it with the San Diego Symphony \u2014 and just weeks after he finished recording and mixing his album version of it?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone asked me in 2002 why I wrote a concerto, and I joked that it was for the money!\u201d Sprague said of his labor-of-love composition. \u201cBut it was always in my mind that I wanted to hear it done the way I envisioned it originally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of it is the same, but there were a few parts in the second movement that Jung-Ho suggested I omit for the concert, and we did. For the new version that I recorded, I added those parts back because they were important to me. At the time of the concert, I thought that maybe Jung-Ho had made some good points and I wanted to go along with his vision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther than that, a lot of it is the same music on the album. The tempos are the same, I just made a couple of changes and a couple of edits. I was really happy with the original piece, so any little changes I made were subtle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even so, transforming a piece that had only been performed once by a full orchestra into a new album without that orchestra was no easy matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had (computer) files with the music that I\u2019d made for the original composition in Pro Tools. But because they were 23 years old, I couldn\u2019t access them,\u201d Sprague said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had to take them up to these specialists in Los Angeles who specialize in restoring old files. So, there was a month or two of audio forensic work to resurrect it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9284637\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone size-article_inline\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"The Peter Sprague Quartet will perform Sunday at Tio Leo's in Bay Park. From left are pianist Danny Green, guitarist Sprague and bassist Mackenzie Leighton. Drummer Duncan Moore is not pictured. (Courtesy Peter Sprague)\" width=\"650\" data-sizes=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/DMT-L-CVLIBRARY-SpragueTrio-0417-01.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1\" data-attachment-id=\"9284637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/DMT-L-CVLIBRARY-SpragueTrio-0417-01.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 620w,https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/DMT-L-CVLIBRARY-SpragueTrio-0417-01.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/DMT-L-CVLIBRARY-SpragueTrio-0417-01.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/DMT-L-CVLIBRARY-SpragueTrio-0417-01.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/DMT-L-CVLIBRARY-SpragueTrio-0417-01.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Peter Sprague Quartet will perform Sunday at Tio Leo\u2019s in Bay Park. From left are pianist Danny Green, guitarist Sprague and bassist Mackenzie Leighton. Drummer Duncan Moore is not pictured. (Courtesy Peter Sprague)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>Downsizing<\/h4>\n<p>Unable to afford to hire the San Diego Symphony or any other orchestra, Sprague recorded \u201cThe Width of The World\u201d this year at his Spragueland Studio in Encinitas. He used a combination of live musicians and his guitar synthesizer, which he deftly employed to perform the parts of various orchestral instruments. It\u2019s the same guitar synthesizer he used 23 years ago to compose his concerto.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA full orchestra uses 10 or 12 violinists playing in unison to get that really nice, thick sound,\u201d Sprague noted. \u201cSo, I used orchestral samples and then real strings. I had a violinist, cellist and contrabassist record each of their parts three times and used all three parts each played to make it sound fuller and richer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His 2002 concert with the San Diego Symphony teamed Sprague with fellow guitarist Fred Benedetti, a longtime musical partner. For his new \u201cThe Width of The World\u201d album, Sprague played both his and Benedetti\u2019s parts himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFred played steel-string and nylon-string acoustic guitars at the concert, so that\u2019s what I did for the recording,\u201d said Sprague, who also plays electric guitar on the album.<\/p>\n<p>For a first-time orchestral work by a musician whose expertise is in jazz, not classical music, \u201cThe Width of The World\u201d is an impressive achievement. Sprague had led and written for his string consort for years, but in a more intimate jazz-meets-chamber-music mode.<\/p>\n<p>In crafting his first concerto, he happily embraced some of his biggest musical inspirations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy biggest influences on the piece were Pat Metheny and Chick Corea,\u201d said Sprague, who has worked with both.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of the parts in the first movement call on the brass section to be like a big band, in terms of rhythmic accuracy, which a lot of orchestral brass sections are not used to doing. One of the biggest lessons I learned doing this in 2002 with the symphony is musical balance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith an orchestra, live on stage, there were microphones to turn up to make the flute section or the bassoon louder. In the recording studio, I could really control the balance and make the magic happen using volume control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two of the musicians featured on the new album \u2014 drummer Duncan Moore and violinist Bridgit Dolkas \u2014 also performed with Sprague at the 2002 concert with the San Diego Symphony.<\/p>\n<p>For his album release concert Sunday at Tio Leo\u2019s, Sprague will perform with Moore, bassist Mackenzie Leighton and pianist Danny Green.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be super cool if we could play something from the album, but that\u2019s not possible,\u201d Sprague said. \u201cSo, we\u2019ll play some of my other things, some Beatles songs, and pieces by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Hoagy Carmichael.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His new album is available from various streaming services and in a limited edition CD run via his website: <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/petersprague.com\/\">petersprague.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Can Sprague envision ever performing \u201cThe Width of the World\u201d again with the San Diego Symphony or any other orchestra?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be challenging, but if anyone is interested I\u2019d love to give it a try,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still have all the written scores for each instrument from the original concert. They\u2019re in storage under my house. So, if they haven\u2019t been eaten by rats, we\u2019re good to go!\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Peter Sprague Quartet, featuring Danny Green, Mackenzie Leighton and Duncan Moore<\/h4>\n<p><strong>When:<\/strong> 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7 <\/p>\n<p><strong>Where:<\/strong> Tio Leo\u2019s 5302 Napa Street, Bay Park, San Diego<\/p>\n<p><strong>Admission:<\/strong> Free<\/p>\n<p><strong>Online:<\/strong> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tioleos.com\/#block-yui_3_17_2_1_1701901703231_161033\">tioleos.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.sandiegouniontribune.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>San Diego guitar great Peter Sprague\u2019s album-release concert at Tio Leo\u2019s Sunday should be one for the record books. The album\u2019s 23-year-long gestation is almost worthy of a music-fueled reboot of the popular 1960s TV series \u201cThe Twilight Zone.\u201d A past collaborator of such jazz legends as Chick Corea, Sonny Rollins, Hubert Laws and Pat [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1999329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[22691,21741,308544,308545,335507,335508,22482],"class_list":["post-1999328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-california","tag-entertainment","tag-latest-headlines","tag-music-and-concerts","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-things-to-do"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Guitar-great-Peter-Spragues-latest-album-is-23-years-old.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1999329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}