Devour Music

Silvan Joray plays "Isfahan" by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

Watch as Silvan Joray, a Swiss jazz guitarist and composer currently based in New York City, performs this classic tune.

Silvan Joray is a Swiss jazz guitarist and composer currently based in New York City. He has gained recognition in the jazz community, having won special prizes at the UNISA International Strings Competition in South Africa 2022 and the Smietana Jazz Guitar Competition 2019 in Poland.

He has performed at prestigious jazz festivals including the Krakow Summer Jazz Festival, Offbeat Jazzfestival Basel, and International Jazz Festival Bern, and has toured in Germany, Norway, Poland, Spain, and Israel.

Joray's latest album, "Updraft", showcases his forward-thinking original style characterized by a transparent tone, crispy articulation, creative rhythmic ideas and extended techniques like quarter tones and „tapping“ which are not traditionally associated with jazz guitar playing. Joray embraces both the openness of European as well as the rootedness and swing of American jazz.

Renowned jazz bassist Larry Grenadier states: "Silvan along with Nadav and Jeff have made a musical statement together that has at its core a sense of history and at the same time moves the music towards the future with bold playing and fresh compositions. Sonically beautiful and captivating music.“

Learn more about Silvan Joray on his website, or follow him on Instagram and Bandcamp.

Guitar Details:

• The guitar featured in this video is a 1994 D'Aquisto "Centura".
• James "Jimmy" D'Aquisto apprenticed under master luthier John D'Angelico in New York City starting in 1952, and eventually came to be considered one of the greatest archtop builders of our time.

This guitar, one of his “Centura” models, was the last guitar that D’Aquisto ever built, finished in 1994. The instrument was commissioned by a client of D’Aquisto, who wanted a 7 string guitar. However, by the time he got to building the instrument, he had forgotten this information and built a 6 string instead.

Learn more about The Blue Guitars/Archtop Foundation, which maintains a very special collection of archtop guitars.

This video series invites a handful of New York based musicians to come and explore the instrument, connecting the rich history of Jimmy D’Aquisto’s luthiery to the future of jazz guitar.

Production Details:

1. Filmed, engineered, mixed, and edited by David Blake.
2. Follow David on Instagram.

Silvan Joray, The Blue Guitars/Archtop Foundation, and David Blake are just a few of the talented musicians and artists featured in this video. Be sure to check them out on their respective websites or social media channels.