This was another show that I attended based on a friend’s suggestion. I had heard of Pierre Bensusan, the French-Algerian guitarist who is celebrating his 40th anniversary as a musician, but had never seen him perform or even heard more than a few numbers.

Pierre Bensusan

Pierre performed to a sold-old crowd last week at Club Passim, which I knew would be the perfect place to see him.

Pierre

Most people in the audience had seen Pierre perform so they knew that we would be seeing some fantastic guitar playing.

Pierre

I thought his musicianship was excellent, but it wasn’t the set break when I spoke with the man sharing my table that I fully appreciated just how good Pierre is.

Pierre

He explained that Pierre uses an unusual tuning on his guitar and that, because he has long fingers, he can span many frets and play combinations of notes that many guitarists cannot (see photo above).

Pierre

His music is very rich; at times if I closed my eyes, it sounded as if there was more than one guitar on stage.

Pierre

I cannot speak to the songs he played, but I imagine they spanned his 40-year (so far) career. He talked about his most recent release; he was asked to put together material for a live album, and by the time he chose the music, he had enough for a three CD release!

Pierre

Pierre told some interesting stories to introduce his songs, including one about how spending a night looking at shooting stars with his wife compelled him to write one particular song.

Pierre

I hope next time I see Pierre perform – he does tour the United States on a regular basis – I will be familiar with his music so I can appreciate it even more than I did.

Pierre