Clive Carroll

About Pierre Bensusan: “It’s Like The Guitar Has Been Given Free Reign To Play Itself!” If you're not already familiar with him, Pierre Bensusan is recognized as one of the greatest guitar players of the 21st century, playing his own "World Music," a fusion of traditional, contemporary, jazz, classical and pop music, making him one of the most eloquent World Music musicians of our time. After releasing Azwan, an album about our oneness and interconnectivity in the midst of a unifying global crisis, French-Algerian guitarist, vocalist and composer Pierre Bensusan returns to the USA, a country he has played for over 40 years. (His second home after Paris.) When Michael Hedges titles one of his compositions "Bensusan," you know the inspiration behind must be special and Pierre Bensusan certainly is. Guitarists from Leo Kottke to Larry Corryel, to Tuck Andres, Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Knopfler, Julian Lage, Andy Timmons, to Steve Lukather have sung his praises. Steve Vai released three Bensusan albums on his label Favored Nations. And it's not just guitarists who are so inspired by Pierre's music, as a recent studio collaboration on Donny Osmond’s latest album Start Again goes to show. Pierre Bensusan is an adventurer of unusual lands. His almost “sacred” music is an intimate and orchestral hymn, a solo crossing on a multi-shell Lowden Northern-Irish guitar subjected to the natural elements: sound molecules and finger pulp on an ebony fingerboard for open tuning, an unique and transparent technique, under the fingers of an adventurous pilgrim. "I've seen Alfred Brendel, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Lynn Harrell, Nureyev, Placido Domingo, etc., etc., perform magnificently. Tonight, in the last half of the second set, Pierre Bensusan went a quantum beyond the warm, compelling, appealing, extremely accomplished guitarist whose recordings and performances I've eagerly sought for over 30 years. He's achieved the sublime – decades of technique, creativity, intuition, passion, and intensity crashed together – a man transformed, singular, stunning. I have so seldom had the privilege and pure animal joy of experiencing this caliber of artistry." - Rain Crow (a fan) “For me, Pierre can only justly be compared to someone of the stature of Keith Jarrett, so total is his mastery of the solo instrument, his dazzling harmony, his many innovations, and his deft command of counterpoint, the jazz idiom, folk expression, and all genres between and beyond. An entire history unfolds as he plays. But really, like Jarrett, the emotional depth – and this is where true artistry often likes to live – of many of his songs and compositions is all, well, breathtaking. With only his steel-string acoustic guitar – and sometimes his rich, affecting voice – Mr Bensusan can disassemble your heart and hand it back to you restored and renewed. As he did to mine tonight. A true giant.” James Volpe Rotondi (editor at Guitar Player Magazine) http://www.pierrebensusan.com http://www.facebook.com/pierrebensusan http://www.instagram.com/pierrebensusan http://www.youtube.com/user/bensusanhq About Clive Carroll Clive Carroll’s unique tone, versatility, and unmistakeable voice as a composer, have seen him become one of the world’s premier acoustic guitar players and “…arguably the most accomplished fingerstylist in the world today...” (Total Guitar Magazine). ​Clive made his musical debut at age two as a banjo-strumming cowboy singing nursery rhymes. His parents had a passion for Irish, American country, and old-time music, and it wasn’t long before he was playing in the family band on a homemade banjo. By his early teens, guitar in hand, Clive was traversing the worlds of soul, pop, funk and traditional Irish music, balancing his affinity for Slayer with the etudes of Tárrega. This breadth of musical curiosity was to become one of his strengths; even as a child Clive was as comfortable accompanying a group of folk singers as he was jamming along to Nirvana or performing on banjo and guitar in the orchestral pits for musicals. Clive went on to earn a 1st Class Honours Degree in Composition and Guitar from the famed Trinity College of Music in London, all the while balancing his classical work with forays into the world of the steel-string guitar. By the time he graduated from Trinity, Clive had not only penned orchestral works, he had a written an album’s worth of solo acoustic guitar music. A chance meeting with English guitar legend John Renbourn proved the catalyst for Clive’s debut album, “Sixth Sense”, which Renbourn deemed “a milestone in the journey of the steel-string guitar”. He subsequently took Clive on the road with him and the pair toured North America and Europe together, launching Clive’s solo performing career. Tours across Europe, North America, Australia, the Middle East, and China, have seen Clive garner praise for his breathtaking, genre-bending live performances. Lauded guitarist Tommy Emmanuel has brought Clive on tour across three continents, and he also appears on Emmanuel’s album “Accomplice One”, flanked on the track listing by the likes of Rodney Crowell and Mark Knopfler. Clive has also toured and collaborated with guitar greats such as John Williams, D’Gary, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Xuefei Yang, and Ralph Towner. In addition to Clive’s four solo albums—“Sixth Sense”, “The Red Guitar” (which Tommy Emmanuel cites as one of his desert island discs), “Life in Colour”, and “The Furthest Tree”—he has written music for television and film. He notably collaborated with John Renbourn to score the film “Driving Lessons”, which features Julie Walters and Rupert Grint of Harry Potter fame. ​2023 saw the release of monumental project, “The Abbot - Clive Carroll plays the music of John Renbourn”, a double-album of solo works alongside ensemble interpretations, featuring 21 guest musicians and a medieval ensemble. “The Abbot” was described by Now Spinning Magazine as “…a gateway to a world of intricate, melodic, and beautiful music. It’s akin to having someone paint vibrant tapestries in your living room—a rich, immersive experience” https://youtube.com/shorts/wBV-vRs87Vo?feature=share