May 2006
Born in Beaumont, Texas, Bluford Birdsong began playing guitar at age 10. His father a Bluegrass musician in Portland, Oregon, taught him his first few chords and a basic version of Wildwood Flower. From there Bluford was hooked. As a teenager he played in pieced together rock bands and tirelessly sought better players to learn from.
During college, Bluford spent any extra money he could scrape together to take lessons from the best players he could find in the Dallas Fort Worth area. His first exposure to formal instruction was from a great jazz player in the area. Here he learned to love and appreciate the music of Miles Davis, George Gershwin, Charlie Mingus, Joe Pass and others, all still major influences on Bluford's playing today. It was also during this time that Bluford first heard great Chord Melody arrangements of Jazz Standards.
The unique style solo guitar, eventually lead Bluford to the Classical Guitar. He studied under one of the finest players in the state off and on for about 10 years. Here Bluford was exposed to the music of the great Spanish composers such as Tarrega, Sor, Torroba. His instructor also introduced him to more contemporary composers such as Leo Brower and Manuel Ponce. Bluford's Jazz and Classical influences ultimately lead him to take up writing original pieces for the guitar as well as arranging new versions of jazz standards.
Today Bluford plays around the Dallas-Fort Worth area at coffee houses, restaurants and the occasional private party. His performances are intimate with wide appeal to all ages and musical tastes. In a typical set Bluford may open with a Gershwin tune, then go original compositions, then some Cuban preludes, and wrap things up with a renascence Lute piece. While the music may be very diverse in its origins, Bluford manages to weave it altogether into a wonderful relaxing evening of music.
Bluford uses the K&K Pure Classic and Pure Preamp: "I own two beautiful hand made classical guitars. I was very reluctant to go the pick-up route, but continued to be frustrated by the unpredictable challenges using an instrument microphone introduced, feedback being the chief obstacle. I came upon the K&K system in Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine. I called K&K and had a lot of questions. They were very patient with me and clearly understood my dilemma. I ultimately went for it and had the pick up professionally installed in my Giambattista Spruce Top Guitar. This was the best money that I have spent on equipment in the last five years! I could not believe the clarity I got the first time I plugged it in. Initially I was a bit under whelmed by the volume, but after running it through the Pure Preamp I was completely satisfied. This system is quiet, clean, and with proper speaker placement I know longer deal with feedback. In fact, the quality was so good that I ran it straight into my mixer and into to my digital recorder to record with. It is on par with a decent condenser microphone for recording and much easier to deal with. Fantastic Job Guys! I will recommend this product to all of my friends!"
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