Manfred Dierkes - Four Brothers And A Thumb

When a young musician named Manfred Dierkes (b. 1966) produced his debut “It‘s About Time”, the reaction was one of thrill. Dierkes immediately played his way to a secure place as a rising star on the firmament of orchestral jazz guitar, and he has since been resolutely working out all of the possibilities made available by the archtop jazz guitar. The fingerstyle jazz of this Berlin guitarist is of the highest level of virtuosity. With his acoustic archtop sound full of warmth and crystalline clarity, Dierkes shows complete mastery of style and a magic sense of the groove. This guitarist weaves together bass lines, chords and melodies into dense orchestral arrangements that create wonderful tense phrases - just listen to his version of “Over The Rainbow”, where the theme appears entirely in artificial harmonics over a sharp accompaniment. With “Four Brothers And A Thumb”, Dierkes has set a milestone in fingerstyle jazz guitar.