It may happen that there are musicians where you live who shine as brilliantly on their instruments as any who have achieved great fame in New York, Hollywood, Chicago, or Nashville. For whatever reason (most likely familial obligations), they have chosen to play and teach in their hometown. If so, you may consider yourself lucky to be able to hear them perform, all the while wondering why they weren’t packing clubs and stadiums nationwide with their musical brilliance.
Now imagine that you are a musician who has achieved a measure of fame as a performer and an accompanist of major stars, who has appeared on The Tonight Show and other television programs, who has played the big rooms of Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe—and has returned to live a mundane life with your family, making a living as a music teacher and proprietor of a small recording studio, playing out locally with a few friends on occasional weekends.
I’ve known Carmen Caramanica and have been floored by his blisteringly brilliant jazz guitar technique for at least 35 years. And though I’d heard hints of his adventures as accompanist and musical director for A-list performers before he permanently resettled in his hometown, It Started with a Guitar: Six Strings and a Dream was a revelation to me.
Carmen, having recently retired from the active management of his teaching/recording studio, has had time to reflect on a l
