Last October while I was serving Mel Bay Publications at the Guitar Foundation of America convention and competition in California, Bill Bay informed me that I had inadvertently missed a historic occasion back at "the plant" as we like to call it. Jazz guitarist Frank Vignola and his amazing quintet had played a gig in St. Louis and showed up on very short notice to offer the Mel Bay staff an impromptu warehouse concert, including an original Vignola tune called "Luke."

In addition, the quintet was gracious enough to grant a group video "Artist Interview" and each of the members gave a short video lesson with Frank on lead guitar, Vinny Raniolo on rhythm guitar, Rich Zukor on percussion, Pete Coco on bass, and Casey Driessen on fiddle. The two guitar lessons appear in the "Jazz Guitar" and "Flatpicking Guitar" columns of this issue of Guitar Sessions and the percussion, bass, and fiddle lessons will be offered in the corresponding Mel Bay webzines- Percussion Sessions, Bass Sessions and Fiddle Sessions in February.

January is the birth month of the great Gypsy jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt (1910-1953). As the Frank Vignola Quintet plays in a style that Frank calls "Gypsygrass," i.e., a combination of Gypsy jazz and bluegrass, it is fitting that we present this wealth of spontaneous video information in the month of January. I hope you enjoy the Frank Vignola Quintet's Guitar Sessions performance, lessons and interview and stop back frequently during the coming year.

Best New Year's wishes,
Stephen Rekas
Guitar Sessions Editor

To learn more about the Frank Vignola Quintet please visit Frank's MySpace page.

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