My Main Man – Jeanfrançois Prins

Jeanfrançois Prins is a Belgian guitarist and composer living in Berlin, Germany. He started recording in Brussels in 1988, and has recorded several albums as a leader as well as several albums with Judy Niemack, Lee Konitz, Toots Thielemans, Victor Lewis, Eddie Gomez, Darmon Meader, and Ray Drummond, to cite but a few.

As to the origin of this composition, Jeanfrançois says: "My Main Man refers to my father, Jeanpierre Prins. He always loved big bands (Duke and Basie of course, but also Lunceford and Hampton . . . ). So the idea for the tune was to give a trio impression of a big band tune."

Here, Jeanfrançois Prins captures the essence of a big band in a guitar trio format. However, as you can hear, he is also firmly operating within a modern conception of jazz guitar, incorporating floaty chromatic harmonies into his writing. Our two-page Chord Melody Transcription shows the voicings Prins plays in the appropriate octave, revealing the guitarist's acute sense of orchestration on the instrument as he seamlessly moves between single notes, double stops, five note voicings and more.

This is great material for the intermediate to advanced guitarist looking to expand their harmonic vocabulary.