So over the last few days I have been listening to the album Mosaic from the guitar duo of Dan Young and Lawson Rollins. The album is a fantastic collection of their own compositions, which come from different styles including: salsa music, Latin jazz, blues, samba, bossa nova, flamenco, and classical styles. Resulting in a music that is a blending of Nuevo Flamenco, World Music, and Latin Music genres.
Daniel Young and Lawson Rollins first met in Washington, D.C. in 1998. Rollins started out as a classically trained guitarist before moving into Latin American and flamenco guitar styles and Young holds a degree in jazz from The New School in New York City.Soon after they met they began collaborating and since then they have produced four highly acclaimed albums. Mosaic is their fourth and was released in 2006. They have also been included on various compilation albums. They write the following on their website about their music:
“Basically, we’re striving to break down artificial barriers that have evolved in music. We’ve tried to open ourselves up to a diversity of influences and to explore new paths for creative expression,” Dan explains. Lawson agrees: “Working together has really forced us to combine elements of our very different musical backgrounds and has resulted in a natural fusion process. Young & Rollins is really a hybrid of different styles that joins our enthusiasm for experimentation with a respect for different musical traditions.”
And about the album Mosaic:
MOSAIC represent a new level of artistic achievement for the duo and exemplify their deep and multi-faceted creativity in a musical language that is impossible to categorize in a single genre. Veteran music critic, Jonathan Widran, describes MOSAIC as “uniformly engaging and brilliant” and writes, “As engaging as the tunes and the bright productions are, those who listen closely are bound to find themselves intoxicated by the intricate weavings of the two guitars.”
So let’s start a quiet Saturday with “Serendipity” from their first album Salsa Flamenca