Colombian Jazz Guitarist Daniel Pinilla

JGT contributor Joe Barth talks to Colombian jazz guitarist Daniel Pinilla.

Daniel Pinilla is a Colombian-born guitarist who came to this country to study at the University of North Texas, where he received his D.M.A., and now teaches at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  He has released a new solo guitar CD entitled Single-Handed. I sat down with him to talk about his approach and the new recording. 

JB:  Growing up in Colombia, talk about what inspired you to play jazz guitar.

DP:  Growing up in Colombia, specifically in Bogotá, I was surrounded by a very cosmopolitan environment. Bogotá is a large city that welcomes people and cultures from across the country and around the world. Before I became aware of Colombian traditional and popular music, I was first exposed to rock, heavy metal, and American pop music.

I started playing guitar at a very young age, largely influenced by my older brother, who was a huge rock fan and had electric guitars at home. By the time I was eleven or twelve, I was already playing seriously, and he finally allowed me to use his guitars. I became completely obsessed with the instrument.

My parents eventually enrolled me in a music program at a university in Colombia designed for middle and high school students. It was an incredible experience because the students studied directly with faculty from the undergraduate and graduate programs. There, I was introduced to jazz guitar by teachers who, at the time, were among the most influential jazz musicians in Bogotá, and possibly in the country.

I was captivated by their sound, their musicality, and the guitarists they introduced me to. From that point on, I became deeply committed to developing my voice within jazz and improvised music.

JB:  Where did you study music in Colombia? Talk about the musical things you appreciated most about those years of your life.

I studied at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. The jazz program there was one of the first of its kind in Colombia and was founded by Colombian musicians in collaboration with faculty from the Berlin University of the Arts, including saxophonist and flutist Tilman Dehnhard.

What I appreciate most from those years is the amount of time we spent playing music together and the heavily theory-focused vision of the program, which really prepared me for the academic work I have done in the U.S. 

JB:  To you and your personal development, what are three of the most influential jazz guitar albums, and why? 

DP:  Jimmy Raney’s Early Stan (originally released as Jimmy Raney Plays). Stan Getz with Jimmy Reney from the early 1950s. I believe it contains some of the best linear jazz guitar playing ever. Raney plays a very sophisticated melodic vocabulary, and he does not comp through the entire album. I consider Jimmy Raney the most sophisticated player of the so-called post-Charlie Christian generation.

Joe Pass’ Virtuoso. This was introduced to me by one of my early jazz guitar teachers. It made me love solo jazz guitar playing and this whole idea of treating the instrument as a full ensemble or an orchestra. I need to approach my solo guitar playing without pretending to copy Joe Pass. 

Jim Hall’s Jazz Guitar. This is Hall’s debut album as a band leader. It is a drum-less album where you can really hear the beauty of his tone and phrasing. His rendition of “Stella by Starlight” is probably why many guitar players gravitate toward playing this tune. It is a masterclass of tone, articulation, being in the moment, and interplay. 

JB:  What did you appreciate most about your time at the University of North Texas?

DP:  I went to the University of North Texas after a period of working intensively in Colombia, where I had already released albums and was teaching extensively, so getting the time to focus on my practice again was a big deal for me. One of my first impressions was the incredibly high level of the students and the fast-paced working culture of the program. Ensembles learned repertoire quickly, performed often, and maintained a very high standard, which taught me a great deal.

My time with the One O’Clock Lab Band was especially meaningful. The tours and ensemble experience were intense and inspiring. I also appreciated the opportunity to study and interact with people like John Murphy, Fred Hamilton, whom I later invited to write the foreword for Single-Handed, and Davy Mooney, all of whom influenced me in important ways.

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JB:  Tell us briefly about your solo guitar CD, Single Handed. Why open the album with Monk’s “Eronel”?

DP:  Single-Handed had been in my mind for more than a decade. Solo guitar playing is deeply connected to my identity as a musician. People who know me closely have heard me perform in that setting for many years, and it has also become a central part of my teaching and musical thinking. Before moving to the United States, I regularly performed solo concerts and informal gigs in Colombia, and during that period, I developed a repertoire of arrangements that felt very personal to me. In fact, the arrangement of “All or Nothing at All” dates back to those years; I revisited it for this recording.

Over time, other projects and responsibilities delayed the album, but in 2022, I finally felt ready to fully commit to it. At the time, I was teaching at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho, and during the summer, I decided to dedicate myself seriously to the project.

I didn’t want the album to consist only of arrangements I had been performing for years, even though some of those are included. I also wanted to challenge myself creatively by writing new arrangements and exploring new possibilities on the guitar. “Eronel” was the first piece I explored for the album, and in many ways, it established the artistic vision for the entire recording.

I had played several compositions by Thelonious Monk in solo settings before, but never “Eronel.” One of the challenges was finding a way to perform it in the original key while remaining in the guitar’s lower register. That approach allowed me to incorporate open strings and certain resonances that gave the arrangement a particular character. I felt that the final result captured the album’s sound and personality very clearly, and I also liked the sense of authority in the performance, which made it feel like the right opening statement. 

JB:  Next is “April in Paris.”  That song is also featured on your “Solo Guitar Concepts” YouTube video.

DP:  Yes, you are right, and thank you for mentioning that. One of the new elements on this recording is that I included the verse of “April in Paris.” It is a very beautiful part of the tune, and in many modern recordings, it is often omitted or not explored in depth. I wanted to bring it back into the performance and treat it as an essential part of the arrangement rather than an optional introduction.

On this record, I was also very conscious about the length of the performances and how much improvisation or solo development actually serves the music. That is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and in a way it connects to lessons I’ve taken from Thelonious Monk. In his solo recordings, he often doesn’t “solo” in the conventional sense; instead, he presents the melody and then develops it through subtle variation, sometimes without extensive improvisation.

Following that approach, especially in the ballads, I focused more on the integrity of the themes themselves and shaped complete performances out of the melodies, rather than expanding them into extended solo sections.

JB:  Coltrane’s “Countdown” is quite the musical workout.

DP:  Yes, as I mentioned earlier, I wanted to challenge myself on this record and explore new approaches. I have actually played “Countdown” in a solo setting before, and there are a couple of videos of me performing it, but with a tune like this, the challenge is never really finished, so I felt it deserved to be included on the album.

On this recording, I chose to play it at a slightly slower tempo than the original to let the harmony and motion breathe more naturally on solo guitar. In the original version by Coltrane, the theme is primarily stated at the end of the performance, during the head out. I’ve always liked the melodic material itself, so I decided to start the piece by presenting the theme in a rubato setting, almost as an introduction, before moving into the more rhythmic and harmonic density of the tune.

JB:  Sam Rivers wrote “Beatrice” for his wife.  What drew you to this song?

DP:  Yes, that is right. Interestingly, this album ended up including three tunes named after women: Eronel (Lenore), Beatrice, andLuiza, which was a kind of happy coincidence.

Beatrice is a beautiful, perfectly crafted short form ballad. I place it in that category of concise, complete pieces where everything feels essential, like “Peace” by Horace Silver, “Blue in Green” by Evans/Davis, and “Central Park West” by Coltrane.

JB:  It appears that you play what looks like a custom-made guitar.  Tell us about it.

DP:  This is not a custom-made guitar. It is an Eastman AR810CE that I bought used in 2012 from a shop on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. It was built in 2006.

I’ve always been somewhat of a “one-guitar” player, and this instrument has been a very reliable companion for the last 14 years. At times I’ve considered upgrading, but whenever I try other guitars—often instruments that are significantly more expensive—I usually come back to the same conclusion: this guitar responds very well in my hands and feels right for my sound.

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JB:  Tell us about the gigs you play and the jazz scene in lower Michigan.

DP:  I’m still new to the area, but the jazz scene in lower Michigan is very active. In Ann Arbor, we have a significant jazz club, The Blue Llama, that attracts some of the best musicians around the world to the area and also showcases local jazz musicians. There are other important clubs, such as The Ark and other venues that often host live music. In Detroit, places such as Cliff Bell’s also promote local musicians and present more renowned acts. The Detroit sound often overlaps heavily with soul, gospel, funk, free improvisation, and more experimental settings. 

It is a hybrid ecosystem: academically strong, historically deep, community-driven, and stylistically broader than people outside the Midwest often realize. Detroit has one of the most important jazz legacies in the US, especially for hard-bop. The city produced giants such as Elvin Jones, Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers, and our own Robert Hurst, a colleague at the University of Michigan. 

JB:  I can’t ask about every tune. I like the energy in your rendition of “All or Nothing at All.”

DP:  This is actually the hardest arrangement on the record to execute. I wrote it in 2012 after hearing Jonathan Kreisberg’s version of “Caravan” in Bogotá. It was later released on his album One. I was interested in exploring whether I could create something with a similar kind of counterpoint between a moving bass line and an independent melodic line.

I used “All or Nothing at All” as the vehicle for that idea, almost as an exercise in independence between voices on the guitar. I revisited the arrangement for this recording, bringing it back to the original concept I had when I first wrote it in 2012.

JB:  Tell us about the closing song, “Eyes of the Valley.”

DP:  During the pandemic, I began capturing drone footage of landscapes in the Pacific Northwest, and these stunning vistas inspired me to write short musical pieces. The music for ‘Eyes of the Valley’ was born from a scene of a valley in Northern Idaho.

There’s a Colombian composer who uses the phrase ‘Eyes of the Valley’ to evoke the unique gaze of women from a certain part of Colombia. I used to say that phrase to my wife, always honestly, but also with a touch of humor. This title is a direct translation, and though the meaning in Spanish is more specific, it carries that same heartfelt essence. So, as Sam Rivers with Beatrice, this tune is also written for my wife, and my rendition of “Luiza” by Antonio Carlos Jobim is also a dedication to her presence in my life. 

I wanted to conclude the record with a piece that would reinforce the album’s intimate character. And this tune, with the lush harmonies as well as the alternate tuning, really captures that essence. 

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