Llinás, Valdes, Sharp – String Schemas 2023

Guitar instrumental

Guitar virtuosos Daniel Reyes Llinás, Harvey Valdes, Elliott Sharp are releasing their collaborative album “String Schemas” on October 6, 2023 on 7D Media.

“In April 2022, I was about to perform in Brooklyn for the first time since the pandemic. Offering a solo set didn’t excite me much, so I invited my avant-garde jazz-wizard friend, Harvey Valdes, who had just released his superb recording of Bach’s lute works on the electric guitar. To complete the trifecta, I reached out to downtown legend, experimental guitarist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp, whom I have been a fan of for many years and recently reconnected with. Harvey and Elliott generously joined me, delivering incredible solo sets. Later, Elliott proposed closing the evening with improvisations. The vibe was so great that we decided to repeat the experience a few months later. ‘String Schemas’ serves as the documentation of those memorable moments.” – Daniel Reyes Llinás

Daniel Reyes Llinás, a Colombian composer, guitarist, and producer, derives inspiration from rhythmic and melodic angularity. He weaves atonal architectures with vibrant lyricism into his music. As a leader, Daniel has released two albums: “Molino,” a captivating collage of world and new music, and “En Remolinos,” a bold exploration that blurs the boundaries between improvisation and composition. His contributions can be heard on Parias Ensemble’s experimental “St. Mark’s sessions” and on the eclectic collaborative EP “re:SET vol:1”. Daniel has scored films, theater productions, and dance choreographies. Most recently, his solo guitar debut, “Códices,” comprising a series of modern guitar études and improvisations co-produced by Trey Gunn, is scheduled for release on 7DMedia on November 3rd, 2023.

Harvey Valdes, a guitarist of searching, sophisticated musicality, can traverse styles from avant-jazz and Middle Eastern music to improvised film scores and the compositions of Bach. Harvey has an intrepid curiosity about the guitar’s sonic and expressive range; he is also a trained player of the Arabic oud. To date, he has released four albums as a soloist/leader: “Novare”, his interpretation of Bach Lute Suites on electric guitar, “Solitude Intones Its Echo”, a set of concise, engaging solo improvisations; “PointCounterPoint”, a bristling, Mahavishnu-meets-math-rock trio album, and “Roundabout”, his solo debut featuring lyrically inventive takes on jazz standards.

Elliott Sharp is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, author, and visual artist who leads the projects Orchestra Carbon, SysOrk, and Terraplane and whose compositional strategies encompass fractal geometry, chaos theory, algorithmic approaches, genetic metaphors, and new techniques for graphic notation. He has been awarded the Berlin Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and fellowships from the Foundation for Contemporary Art and the Center for Transformative Media. Sharp is the subject of the documentary “Doing The Don’t” and has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. His composition “Storm of the Eye”, for violinist Hilary Hahn, appeared on her Grammy-winning album “In 27 Pieces.”