On his new record, Repertoire, Shane Parish shines as a master virtuoso, arranger and interpreter on the guitar.

Available now through Palilalia Records, this album finds Parish adapting works from a massive range of artists into elegant solo acoustic guitar pieces. Songs from free jazz greats like Thelonious Monk and Alice Coltrane, experimental artists such as John Cage and Aphex Twin and even Mr. Rogers are broken down into their most elemental forms and beautifully channeled through Parish’s subtle but meticulous fingerpicking.

Classic esoteric pieces like Sun Ra’s “Lights on a Satellite” and “One Red Rose That I Mean,” by Captain Beefheart, are played with such an attention to detail and melody, you get the sense that Parish not only knows these songs intimately, but he has lived within them as well. Without question, he has made them his own. Many of these tracks weren’t even guitar songs originally, but the Athens, GA-based artist worked them until they felt like they were born for solo fingerstyle guitar.

A brilliant example of this is his version of Eric Dolphy’s “Out to Lunch.” Dolphy’s original recording didn’t feature chords and was largely an improv piece, so Parish composed his own chord progression to shape the harmony that he felt was implied by the melody.

This covers album is no gimmick, and it’s not a lazy cash-in. This took some major work to pull off and to pull off well. You can absolutely feel the craftsmanship and sheer talent that went into its construction, performance and recording. This is a record that deserves a standing ovation when it’s over.

Get your copy on vinyl or digital today.

-KH