​JulianBreamGuitar.com

Acknowledgements

My first thanks go to a gentleman called Richard Sliwa. I ran into his name as I was scouring the net for musical information. Always trying to increase my understanding of the musicians that I enjoy, I ran into his site dedicated to John Williams - the classical guitarist. The first thing I said to myself was "wow"! This site is so complete! He must be a friend of John Williams in order to have access to this much information. Well, as you go through his site on John Williams, he makes it VERY clear on numerous occasions that he does NOT know John Williams personally and that his site is not an official website for the artist. So, I said to myself "why can't I do that with another classical guitarist that I enjoy and has no website representation?"  I have often wondered why a lot of older classical guitarists do not have a website. I don't think that just because an artist no longer records or tours is reason enough for record companies to stop promoting their music.  Indeed, most websites maintained by record companies are not that informative anyways. They provide you with future information that may generate sales like new recording and tours.  They have little interest in informing the public on the artist's history aside from the short obligatory bio that is used over and over on every single promotion. Mr Sliwa's website on John Williams is anything but that. It is jam-packed with information, he does not take liberties with the information he is presenting and has a healthy admiration for his subject's accomplishments.  I have modelled my website on Julian Bream in many ways to the things I find successful about his site. I will probably fall short when compared to Mr Sliwa's efforts but I will give it my best attempt. 

Many thanks to the classical guitar "maestros" that have personally taught me anything on the guitar, however minimal or great. To Mark Schulle, Francisco Burgos, James R. Hunley, Celin Romero and Pepe Romero - your instructions and/or words of encouragement, past and present, mean a lot to me.  To the guitarists that are continuously playing in the background of my mind from early on to the present- Andrés Segovia, Los Romeros, Christopher Parkening, John Williams, Manuel Barrueco and so many others-a big "THANK YOU" to you.

Also, many thanks to Graham Wade, John Duarte, Stuart W. Button, Thérèse Wassily Saba and Tony Palmer. The fact that they all took a journalistic interest in Julian Bream made a large part of this website possible. Their desire to educate us throughout the decades through their magazine articles, books and liner notes provided me with tons of reading enjoyment.

I would also like to thank 3 of my grandparents that I found to be very artistic and probably had a lot to do with my love for music and words, either through exposure or genetics. My grandmother, Abuela Ena, was a beautiful amateur singer. When she first came to this country and found herself having to work in a factory, her time was made more enjoyable because her workmates would ask her to sing to them while they all sewed. My grandfather, Abuelo Lulo, was not a singer or a musician but he was crazy about music. He was at every local music festival and would typically swing by our house and take the grandchildren with him. He would tell us stories of his friendship with the guys from La Sonora Mantancera and how he would drive Celia Cruz to and from the clubs because she was young and poor in the early days. He was the original "party animal" and tons of fun. My other grandfather, Abuelo Chávez, was a poet in exile who became locally known since his poems were oftentimes published in local papers. It's odd how depression and longing can bring out an artistic side that you did not know existed when your life used to be nearly perfect.

Finally, Julian Bream...thank you!

William Chávez, 2013