Paco de Lucía at SFJAZZ Spring Festival at Paramount Theatre - Oakland

After decades on the road as one of the world’s most revered guitarists, 64-year old flamenco legend Paco de Lucía has become a quietly elusive figure who drops from public view for years at a time. De Lucía was largely unknown in the U.S. until the recording Friday Night In San Francisco, a sensational 1981 acoustic showdown with jazz stars John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola, that cemented his status as a guitar hero. He made acclaimed appearances on records by Chick Corea and others in the ‘80s, and a thrilling reunion of The Guitar Trio led to a Verve album and world tour in 1996. But the Andalusian master maintained a steadfast commitment to flamenco as his primary art form...

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After decades on the road as one of the world’s most revered guitarists, 64-year old flamenco legend Paco de Lucía has become a quietly elusive figure who drops from public view for years at a time. De Lucía was largely unknown in the U.S. until the recording Friday Night In San Francisco, a sensational 1981 acoustic showdown with jazz stars John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola, that cemented his status as a guitar hero. He made acclaimed appearances on records by Chick Corea and others in the ‘80s, and a thrilling reunion of The Guitar Trio led to a Verve album and world tour in 1996. But the Andalusian master maintained a steadfast commitment to flamenco as his primary art form. Landmark recordings including Siroco, Zyryab, Luzia and 2004’s masterful Cositas Buenas further reinforced de Lucía’s reputation as a peerless virtuoso who has single-handedly reinvented the flamenco vocabulary. His latest project is an unprecedented collaboration with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Vitoria Suite, an extended work that uses jazz and blues to investigate the indigenous music of the Basque region. The guitarist returns to the Bay Area for his first performance in four years — and those who attend will never forget it.

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