As part of its 10th Anniversary schedule of events, The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University has announced that tickets are on sale for an April 1 concert featuring the Grammy winning guitar master Laurence Juber.
Part of the 2016 Winter-Spring Performing Arts Series, the 8 p.m. show finds the London-born musician making a long-overdue return to central New Jersey, on the heels of the 2015 album Fingerboard Road and the imminent publication of his third folio of innovative pop song arrangements for guitarists. It’s also a rare opportunity to enjoy a performance by a musical guest artist inside the auditorium of Monmouth’s historic Wilson Hall, a warm and intimate setting in which to experience Juber’s celebrated finger-style technique and encyclopedic knowledge of alternative tunings.
None of which is to suggest that the cerebral, innovative guitarist could not boast his own “rock star” moment. As a member of Paul McCartney’s Wings, Juber joined his hero for that 1970s band’s final album and arena-filling tour, sharing in a Grammy award for the instrumental “Rockestra Theme” and seeing his likeness featured in top music press publications on both sides of the Atlantic. While the experience remains a calling card in a career of more than 40 years, it ranks as but one highlight along a timeline that has found the sought-after session man playing Monty Norman’s iconic guitar figure in James Bond adventures, appearing on hit records by Charles Aznavour, Belinda Carlisle and Barry Manilow, and illuminating the soundtracks to fondly remembered TV shows (Happy Days, Home Improvement) and feature films (Dirty Dancing, Good Will Hunting).
Since the release of his sophomore solo album in 1990, however, Laurence Juber has staked his claim to fame (and a dedicated cult-fandom following) on his ever-evolving interest in finger-style acoustic guitar. It’s a career vector that has seen the California transplant issue more than 20 recordings under his own name (including two volumes of Beatles arrangements), score major accolades, and acquire a second Grammy award, for his interpretation of Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther Theme.”
A performance by Laurence Juber is a delightfully unpredictable affair that delivers the passion without the show-off pyrotechnics; that boldly re-imagines the work of influences from Jimi Hendrix to Jerome Kern; that dances Astaire-like between genres and styles as only a true lover of music can do. He’ll surely dazzle in his own quiet way—and if the stars align, he may even entertain a request for his bluesy, percussive ode to getting around in the Garden State, “New Jersey Left.”
Tickets for the April 1 concert by Laurence Juber are priced at $28 (with a Gold Circle seating option available for $35), and can be reserved through the Monmouth University Performing Arts Box Office at 732-263-6889, or online at www.monmouth.edu/arts. Tickets for other upcoming Performing Arts events—including the Borealis Wind Quintet (April 10) and Switchback with Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill (April 22)—are also on sale now. To schedule interviews, please contact Kelly Barratt at 732-263-5114.
IMAGE TAKEN from gameskinny.com
