There are a lot of good and great guitarists on YouTube and beyond. Some are technically great, some seem overflowing with feeling and soul in spite of technical limitations. But the really great are those that seem to transcend the instrument to the point where flesh, wood and steel become one. Even rarer are those that achieve that oneness at an early age. Kent Nishimura is one of those rare types.
What struck me most about Kent was not his age but the completeness of his arrangements. Everything you expect to hear is there. Melodies, solos, bass lines and percussion. His dexterity and feel for a song is mesmerizing.
I really don't know much more about Kent. His videos have been popping up on my feed for a while but I only recently gave him a listen so he's still very new to me. All I know is what is on his website. He started playing when he received his first guitar at five years old, He released his first album at 12 years old and has released two more since. He is primarily focused on covers but has composed a few originals. This comp collects 24 tracks from his YouTube channel that I found most satisfying. There's a lot more on his channel so check him out. Enjoy.
Tracklist
01 Smooth Jazz Chillout Solo Acoustic Guitar #1 (Short Version)
02 It's Too Late - Carole King
03 Purple Rain - Prince
04 Don't Know Why - Norah Jones
05 Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder
06 Africa - Toto
07 Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
08 Rylynn - Andy Mckee
09 Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears
10 Careless Whisper - George Michael
11 Hit The Road Jack - Ray Charles
12 Living Inside Your Love - Earl Klugh
13 Human Nature - Michael Jackson
14 Another Brick In The Wall - Pink Floyd
15 Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head - B.J. Thomas
16 Lean On Me - Bill Withers
17 What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
18 The Hustle - Van McCoy
19 You Are The Sunshine Of My Life - Stevie Wonder
20 We Are The Champions - Queen
21 Sweet Love - Anita Baker
22 Lupin III [Jazz] - Yuji Ohno
23 Drive My Car - The Beatles
24 Thriller (Ending) - Michael Jackson
Reality Notes
To be totally upfront and honest I am not a big fan of instrumental music and instrumental covers of popular music is more often a miss than a hit for me. As I may have mentioned in other posts, I prefer songs. I need voices and words. The exceptions are often those that can transcend mere music making and transport you somewhere else. I'm a fan of fingerstyle guitar in general and like Michael Hedges and Leo Kottke in particular but they occasionally sing which helps to move things along. I also enjoy some classical things, big fan of Bach, not so much Mozart or Beethoven. I love Ravi Shankar and can get lost in traditional Japanese koto music. But for the most part instrumental music is a background filler for me. In spite of that, this will not be my last instrumental post. I am enthusiastically adding Kent to that short list of instrumentalists I enjoy but I'm not expecting this to be in regular listening rotation. But if you are a fan of this style of music you will love this.
With the exception of track one these are all covers. Kent has a few originals but mostly interprets songs from other artists. Drive My Car is from Kent's first video he posted and is quite young at the time of recording but his skills even then are impressive. Kent covers a lot of genres so in choosing the tracklist I went with my own tastes. I highly recommend going to his channel to watch him play
Purple Rain and
Brick In The Wall. Both renditions are amazingly complete and must be seen to be believed. There is little to no overlap between the songs on his channel and his official albums so if you are a fan this will sit right alongside those.
I wanted to set a mood with the cover so I avoided using a picture of the artist and instead went with a landscape of meadows and trees. Enjoy.
