Vince Marcopoli

Intro

Welcome to my web page! My goal here is to introduce you to my musical background, interests, and influences, as well as some of my music.

Many thanks to my son Nicholas who has made this website possible!

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy.

Background

I began playing guitar at the age of 11. Somehow it fit my personality. I never needed to be told to practice. As I grew older practicing became a key part of my day. Practicing in the morning before work has become a sort of meditative experience for me that makes the rest of the day better.

Early on (circa 1980), my serious stylistic focus turned to jazz, though I was also hugely influenced by the amazing rock guitarists of the day. Growing up in the Cleveland area, I was fortunate to find awesome guitar teachers to guide and inspire me through this difficult musical style. The teachers that had the greatest impact on me were (in chronological order of my experience) Lee Bush, Dick Lure, and Bob Fraser. I feel lucky to carry around their wisdom, insights, and advice around in my head to this day. I try to “pay it forward” with my own guitar instruction as I try to carry on the great tradition of one-on-one guitar lessons.

After this instructional stage, which lasted through my mid-20’s, I began my own journey of self-instruction guided by the inspirational recordings of some key jazz musicians, such as Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Pat Metheny, and John Scofield.

Due to the combined influences of my personality, my teachers (especially Lee Bush) and the above musicians, I tend to gravitate to more introspective and understated stylings. I’m not an “in your face” kind of player. I want to nudge and pull the listener in with subtlety and nuance instead of hitting them over the head!

In college I pursued engineering studies through graduate school. This additional time spent in school provided opportunities to gain further musical experiences in various college groups at the University of Notre Dame and Case Western Reserve University. I was fortunate that my abilities fit right into those music communities. It was a great source of satisfaction that I could “hang” with these folks while pursuing engineering studies.

Following college, I began my engineering career and family here in the Detroit area, while continuing musical endeavors. I believe my musical growth has been slow but steady and continual, which makes the most sense in my life. My current musical activities consist of playing at church (I belong to St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Utica, MI), and my small group, Jazz Eloquence. And finally, at this point I feel compelled to share “where I’m at” with the internet (you)!

With this introduction, I invite you to peruse the media content of this website. I will be constantly adding and organizing the material here to provide an easy way to guide you through my musical offerings.

All the best,
Vince

Media

Here is a collection of some of my musical output. Except for the solo acoustic video, the material is from my trio called Jazz Eloquence, consisting of my awesome partners Ron Rodgerson on bass and Joe Cilluffo on drums.

To facilitate navigation, I have organized the material into categories. The “Metheny” tab consists of (you guessed it) compositions by Pat Metheny. The “Standards” tab represents older material more traditionally associated with jazz groups. Finally, the “Originals” tab features my own compositions. I believe the unique sound of this group is showcased in each setting. Please take some time to peruse this material and feel free to download the mp3s for your own musical devices! The mp3s are fully tagged with song title, artist (Jazz Eloquence) and Album (Demo) information so they will show up nicely in your music player.

If you hear something you like, or have any general comments or thoughts, let me know! It means a lot to me to know how my music is being received. I hope to engage the listener and that the music makes a difference somehow. It would be great to hear from you. And of course, please contact me if you are interested in having this style of live music for a party or special occasion. It is always such an honor to bring this music to people face to face. There is truly extra magic in a live setting that can’t be captured by any form of audio or video media.

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Metheny Standards Originals Acoustic

Pat Metheny Compositions

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James

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Last Train Home (Trio)

Jazz Standards

All The Things You Are

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What Child is This

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How Insensitive

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Softly As In A Morning Sunrise

Original Compositions

Firelight

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Discovery

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Nothing Compares

Solo Acoustic Playlist

Contact

Elements

i = 0;

while (!deck.isInOrder()) {
    print 'Iteration ' + i;
    deck.shuffle();
    i++;
}

print 'It took ' + i + ' iterations to sort the deck.';