Press Release
"Pierre Bensusan is an incredibly gifted guitar player – more of an artist, really, or a poet. Some of his solo albums make it hard for the ear to believe that he is playing it all solo, which he does. This is not to take away from the humongous heart that goes into his playing. It’s sweet, melancholic, beautifully ancient-sounding at times, and will transport you into the evening with a dreamy stare in your eyes. Bensusan’s latest album, Azwan, features some talented guest musicians too." Hofesh Shechter (Choreographer)
Pierre is a bit of what the world needs right now, a total escape from reality into a parallel universe of amazing music. When I first heard Nick Drake in about 1994, it was like hearing inside my own head. I felt both elated and despondent. Someone else had already created the sounds I was desperately trying surface myself, only better. There didn’t seem much point trying to top that. I stopped playing for a while. Fast forward 10 years, and having discovered Pierre, I felt pretty much the same thing all over again, only this time is was like listening to the voice of god and the universe, speaking through a guitar. Someone had already written the best music possible to write for guitar. Maybe the best music full stop. The ultimate had already been achieved. I couldn’t imagine anything any better. “Intuite” is still my favourite album. As someone once wrote, “it’s what the guitar would want to sound like if it could play it’s self.”Check it out, and then check out over 40 years worth of music from the greatest living composer of music for guitar. Pierre Bensusan. Dave Bevan, CEO of Alive Music Network
"Pierre Bensusan has composed some of the most ridiculously gorgeous guitar music I've ever heard. There are some pieces that I can't listen to while driving because I'll get lost in them and run off the road. Obviously, I loved "4 A.M." at one time in my life enough to learn it fairly well. Other pieces I adore include "Chant de Nuit," "The Arched-Back Woman," "Nice Feeling," and my all-time Pierre favorite, "Silent Passenger." That last one takes me off this planet. Something about it just resonates with some fundamental frequency in my soul and sets it humming happily. Pierre gave one of the best concerts I saw during my whole time at UWM in Milwaukee and I got to play for him at a master class as well.... Every now and then I'll just pop in one of the above-mentioned songs, and others, and just let it wash over me. He is one of the great examples of the effect I can only hope to have on a listener with my own playing. It's what I'm shooting for, anyway, when it's really working."
Adam Cord, Youngstown, Ohio, Symphony Orchestra guitarist
"I have been listening to the new record "Vividly". It sounds just amazing! All the hard work spent working on this and mastering etc. Paid off so well. Congratulations Pierre, I can only imagine that you must be proud of yourself. It's a real gem, so beautiful. You are playing your ASS off!"
Steve Vai
"This is beautiful....Pierre is one of the GREATS!!!! Tommy Emmanuel cgp.
"Vividly" is a gorgeous album.... You can do no wrong my friend. Your musical spirit is forever in my heart....
Jordan Charles Rudess (Dreams Theater)
"Pierre's music gives me the shakes. No other guitarist shares his strange gifts of sophistication, accessibility, and downright joy. Even at its most complex, Pierre's music only needs ears to be enjoyed."
Leo Kottke
"Listening to Pierre’s music is rejuvenating. Beside his extraordinary touch and tone, the notes and melody appeal directly to the tender side of our human nature."
Steve Vai
“I’ve been a fan of Pierre for forever. As a person, he’s a sweet guy. As a guitarist, he’s a monster. He knows DADGAD inside and out – better than anyone. But his listeners don’t recognize it as DADGAD in some sort of obvious or clichéd way. They recognize it simply as beautiful music. And for me personally, there are pieces I grew up listening to, that have been redone numerous times, that Pierre has arranged that I don’t even recognize and that enthrall me.” - Tony McManus
" When Pierre plays, foetal position, head inside, after a moment, there is nothing else to do than close your eyes, enter in his world and listen."
Pierce Brosnan (Actor)
"Pierre Bensusan’s music is a true inspiration."
Suzanne Vega
"Pierre is one of my favorite guitarists. He has created a new way of playing and is the king of the Dadgad tuning."
"I was in Key West, FL. Every afternoon I would sit out in the sun and play my guitar. I’d come in, take a bath and I’d put on Pierre’s tape. I did that every day for six weeks. His spirit was definitely with me. And that was when I wrote Bensusan."
Michael Hedges
"Absolutly fantastic, tremendous music! Can I keep the album?"
Steve Lukhater/Toto
"Pierre Bensusan has an inimitable style, he has really created something. I love what he does."
Doc Watson
"Vivre La Vividry! Je l'adore! Bravo! Its wonderful from start to finish! "Veilleuse" has all of the best aspects of your playing, color, virtuosity and most of all zee feeling! Seriously! "The In- Between", Singing in Engish! Ya Gotta Love "Dadgad Cafe"! It's written all beings must love it! Je dig, "Pas Sage"! Love when you sing, but great changes! Well, they are so many real Pierre Hits here, je te jure! "Les Places de Liberté" is a great ender, love all the voices especially the very very end!! Bravo aussi on the sound of your guitar and the production in general."
Benjamin Verdery
"I was amazed when I first heard Pres de Paris, his playing was very intricate and ornate, but very fluid and obviously rooted in the British Isles tradition. It was as if the baton had been passed by all my favorite British Isles folk and blues players like Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy and Davy Graham. It was very fresh. In subsequent recordings, Pierre's music began to show influences of North Africa, Latin America and American Jazz. I think Pierre has successfully woven these traditions into a very personal style and that's what makes him a special player. He's got a great musical vision coupled with highly-developed technique. Pierre has really pushed the technical limits of what can be done with the acoustic guitar. He's combined techniques and musical ideas in a way that stretches the imagination. His ability to phrase and ornament melodies and extended improvisations is like some of the great jazz players, and yet he uses it in the context of a solo fingerstyle approach that incorporates all the vital elements of a solo style. Pierre has shown that a wider range of music is possible in the solo guitar genre."
Alex De Grassi
"Pierre Bensusan is one of the truly gifted musicians of our time - he plays the guitar as if it was the very soul of himself. He has taken the solo guitar to ultimate heights. It’s really nourishing to hear. He gets more awesome all the time. He’s put a lot of hard work into what he does. He’s just a very big inspiration to me for playing and living. He’s got a direct connection from his soul right to the instrument and it makes you want to get there more. There’s a level of soul there as much as any blues or R&B singer. Maybe more. It’s what everybody who plays music is searching for. Seeing somebody doing their thing that well makes you want to do yours that well, no matter what endeavor it is. There’s nobody I could hold in higher esteem."
George Winston
"Pierre’s music has taken me on incredible journeys, along the route of the steel string guitar, heading into a new world."
John Renbourn
"One of my favourit players, the absolute master of DADGAD."
Larry Corryell
"The American audience must listen to the music of Pierre Bensusan."
Joan baez
"Pierre Bensusan’s music is a gift."
Carly Simon
"Pierre, what you do with folk music, and how you transcend all these various idioms to bring them into to the language spoken today is very important, don't change !"
Pete Seeger
"Pierre is a great guy and of course a legendary musician. I would have offered to be his road manager if I had more time, just so I could hang out and listen to him play every night."
Tuck Andres