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SCHEDULE...
Most every Wednesday through Saturday...
Cafe Alcazar, 12-2:30, solo instrumentals during lunch /
info
Sundays...
The Reef, 11-2:30, solo instrumentals during brunch /
info
Live At The Cafe Alcazar...
Recorded November 1st, 2001 on electric
classical guitar.
Includes When You Wish Upon A Star, Ain't Misbehavin', Dreamgift, Lullaby Of
Birdland, Norwegian Wood, What A Wonderful World, Plains Of Waterloo,
Londonderry Air (Danny Boy), We Gather Together and 3
originals... The King's Visit, Playground and Cafe Blues.
($16)
info & reviews
/
order
Rick Kuncicky
Ain't Misbehavin'
mp3
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Richard Kuncicky is a musician and composer from Saint Augustine, Florida. For years his solo instrumental music on the guitar has entertained people from around the world as they've passed through this quaint Florida city. Richard spent over ten years as a regular musician at the Milltop Tavern before moving over to the Cafe Alcazar in the Lightner Museum. He has been playing there almost daily for the last four years. His fingerstyle arrangements of standards and popular songs along with his original compositions are truly a treat to experience. Richard performs for many private functions about town and at various art galleries, inns, resorts, country clubs and restaurants in the area. He provides the music at numerous weddings and wedding receptions each month, with his original pieces often being chosen for the bridal processional or to be part of the ceremony. He has played for many local and State politicians. In April of 2001 he provided background music for the King and Queen of Spain at the "King's Luncheon" during their Royal Visit. Richard plays over 300 functions each year (with a total of 394 in 2006) .
Richard Kuncicky is available for bookings
in the Northeast Florida area. To contact him or to find out where
a restaurant, club or festival is located... look in
information.
He has several CDs available...
check out the
recordings
link for more information on what they are and how to obtain them. You can
find him performing at the
Cafe Alcazar
(located at the Lightner Museum, in the historic part of Old St. Augustine,
Florida)
most every Wednesday thru Saturday from noon until 2:30 pm, and at many other
public and
private functions in the area.
Check out his
schedule
for other bookings.
"Diners at the Cafe Alcazar in the Lightner Museum Antique Mall have heard him playing his guitar. The gentle sounds reverberate off the walls of what was once a swimming pool, going round and round like a rainbow of sounds"
Annie Sargent, Compass, St. Augustine Record (June, 2000)
Richard Kuncicky (pronounced kun-sis'-kee) was born in Tallahassee, FL in 1952. His first introduction to playing music was at the age of eight with two years of accordion lessons. By the time he was nine he also started playing the guitar and piano. A few years later, as with many other budding musicians of that era, Rick encountered the influential music of the Beatles. Their tremendous talent had a momentous impact on his young psyche and he turned all of his musical inspiration to the guitar. "I literally learned how to play the guitar by going through Beatle songbooks. Not only using the chord diagrams, but reading the music as well. As they grew in their complexity, so did I, learning new chords and progressions with each new Beatle's album. I immediately started writing songs, trying to imitate their skill (without much success), writing the music out with the lyrics, just like in the songbooks. To this day I still rely on the skills I developed during that period, though I now find it amusing... none of The Beatles could ever read or write music." Through his early career, Rick experienced all he could. He spent some time in New York City playing Rock & Roll, working in a recording studio and getting his first taste of Jazz. Returning to Florida in the early 70's he played Country, Country Swing, and Bluegrass. By the late 70's his path had led him toward St. Augustine and a new evolution. Never forgetting his love for Jazz and borrowing finger picking techniques from a brief encounter with the banjo, Rick taught himself classical and fingerstyle guitar. He fashioned himself anew, creating his own style, finding his true voice. He has since spent his life as a fingerstyle guitarist, an arranger and a composer. Always choosing to follow his own path, as opposed to copying the recordings of other guitarists, he is now producing a body of work with a uniqueness and flavor all his own.
"Although I never intentionally copy other artists, it's obvious in my playing
that I do. I find myself influenced by everyone and everything I hear. These
days I seldom get a chance to sit down and really listen to any recordings, but
in the past some of my favorite guitarists have been Joe Pass, George Van
Eppes, Earl Klugh and Guy Van Duser (just to name a very few). I hate to name
names though, because there are hundreds of them out there that are so good...
with so much to offer. My favorite guitarist is usually the one that is playing
at the moment."
by Sam Pacetti It's been said that wisdom is born of necessity. Necessity being the crucible in which the highest imagination soars. An aphorism well suited to describing the musicality of Richard Kuncicky. A Man who's depth and musical brilliance stem from a life of necessity. Always the self effacing academian Rick Kuncicky is a guitar player's guitar player. Capable of fervent stillness, astounding technical wizardry, a haunting sense of rhythm, and the absolute embodiment of the concept "less is more". Born in Tallahassee Florida, Rick was first inspired to follow his muse at age nine. A turbid indoctrination with accordion and piano lessons. As Rick say's, "It didn't stick". As with many young artists of the era, Rick's initial encounter with the music of the Beatle's had a momentous impact on his young psyche. "It was the chord progressions that so astounded me" recalls Kuncicky, "as The Beatles grew, so did I". Following the path of least resistance, & partly emulating the footsteps of his older brother, he began playing guitar. Through his early career, Rick experienced all he could. A stint in New York, playing Rock & Roll and working in a recording studio. This is where a friend turned him on to Fats Waller and Rick's love for Jazz started growing. Returning to Florida in the early 70's he played more Rock, then Country, Country Swing and Bluegrass music as well. By the late 70's his path had led him toward St. Augustine, where once again necessity dictated new evolution. Never forgetting his love for Jazz and borrowing finger picking techniques from a brief encounter with the banjo, Rick taught himself fingerstyle guitar. An arduous task even with instruction. But Kuncicky is a man who knows few boundaries musically. He soon developed a more refined semi-classical approach to the guitar working on finding "a sound". Inspired by the playing of Joe Pass, George Van Epps, and Guy Van Duser and the writing of Scott Joplin, Fats Waller and Hoagy Carmichael (just to name a few) he fashioned himself anew...creating his own style. Finding his true voice in arranging and composition. His innate sense of melodic potential allowing the freedom to adapt to anything his ears fancied. Embracing this new found validity with a fury, Kuncicky produced a body of work equivalent to his highest expectation. As a young guitarist, I'd loose myself for countless hours in small smoke filled rooms listening to his passion flow...and to this very day attribute much of my early learning to the grace of this man, always ready to give of his time. Rick now spends his hours at home composing and arranging...his greatest love...his Zen...where he's able to "loose track of the constraints of time". He now continues his progeny, writing and arranging for other players. He still performs, quite often, but in quieter settings now, rather that the bars and honky tonks that were so familiar throughout his life. There is a philosophical premise which states that in order for a person to retain their greatest attributes, they must remain unconscious of them. I'm reminded of a statement Rick once made to me in passing, "I learned to play the guitar wrong, and have been trying to correct it ever since." For Kuncicky accepting his brilliance is a hard task. Hopefully he'll always remain unconscious of them, for all our sakes. As a musician, I feel ever privileged to know and write about him.
Sam Pacetti
© 1999-2003 Kuncicky.
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and/or the clients which they
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