Guitarist playing ‘Parlour Tricks’

Classical guitarist Jason Tuesday isn’t just one of the first aboriginal guitarists in Canada–he’s about to become the first to record his own CD.
“Parlour Tricks: An Introduction” will be coming out in late spring, or perhaps as early as April. Tuesday, who’s already spent several hours in the recording studio, said the album will be filled with classical guitar standards.
He admitted other classical guitarists might say these songs fit on the “overplayed” list but Tuesday stressed he wasn’t recording this album for other guitarists.
He was recording it for the listener.
“Everyone I’ve played for hasn’t heard this music before,” he said. “As far as an introduction to this music, it’s still great stuff to listen to.”
Originally from Big Grassy north of Bergland, Tuesday is a music student at the University of Manitoba. He picked up classical guitar about three years ago.
With his father, Percy, acting as his manager, Tuesday has enjoyed some early successes, playing with guitar greats like Liona Boyd. Much of that initial success stems from his uniqueness as an aboriginal guitarist, he said, which he tried to reflect in the title of his CD.
“Since I’ve been playing classical guitar and travelling around, not that I don’t make an impression, people hire me to see an aboriginal play guitar,” he explained, hence the parlour trick.
“It’s a little homage to what got me in the door,” he laughed.
“[Natives] have been stereotyped as country western or rock,” Percy Tuesday interjected. “We never have been classical players.
“It’s new to the aboriginal community. They want something they can put into their car and listen to while driving,” he added.
Tuesday will be taking off for Scottsdale, Az. in February to play in a concert with other First Nations artists. But though he’ll be playing classical guitar there this year, that might not always be the case.
“I can’t see myself always playing classical guitar professionally,” he admitted, noting he liked to play around with other styles of music, especially jazz.
“I’ve been playing five to six years, and not even scratched the surface on what I want to learn,” Tuesday said. “It’ll have to be a while [before I settle.]”