Devour Music

Robert Papacica plays "But Beautiful"

Young Arts Award recipient Robert Papacica began playing guitar at the age of 10, and was a member of the Kuumbwa Jazz Center education program and the SFJazz High School All Star Big Band.

• He is also an alumni of the International Association of Schools of Jazz 2019 led by Dave Liebman in Zagreb, Croatia.
• In 2022, Robert also received an outstanding graduate student soloist award from Downbeat Magazine and was selected to be a part of the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. under the direction of Jason Moran.

As an engineer, Robert has mixed his own releases such as ARK, as well as the Arnie Sainz, Marshal Herridge, and Tony Moreno album entitled Darts on the Adhyaropa Records Label.

• He has also mixed Johannes Hamm's record featuring Drew Gress and Miki Yamanaka to be released in 2024.

Robert currently resides in Brooklyn, New York where he preforms and is an educator for Jazz Empowers, a non-profit organization providing jazz education to the New York School System. He also has taught as an adjunct guitar instructor at the NYU Steinhardt School.

Visit Robert Papacica's website

1994 D'Aquisto "Centura"

James "Jimmy" D'Aquisto apprenticed under master luthier John D'Angelico in New York City starting in 1952, and eventually came to be considered one of the greatest archtop builders of our time.

• His guitars have been owned by Jim Hall, Grant Green, Joe Pass, and George Benson, among many others.

This guitar, one of his “Centura” models, was the last guitar that D’Aquisto ever built, finished in 1994. The instrument was commissioned by a client of D’Aquisto, who wanted a 7 string guitar.

• However, by the time he got to building the instrument, he had forgotten this information and built a 6 string instead.

This video series invites a handful of New York based musicians to come and explore the instrument, connecting the rich history of Jimmy D’Aquisto’s luthiery to the future of jazz guitar.

• The instrument is now under the care of The Blue Guitars/Archtop Foundation, an organization that maintains a very special collection of archtop guitars.

Learn more about The Blue Guitars/Archtop Foundation

Filmed, engineered, mixed and edited by David Blake