Paper Moon is an original San Diego-based instrumental guitar duo performing an eclectic range of styles. On their debut release "Miniatures," the duo journeys from the gypsy jazz of tracks like "Swing Set" and "Upside" to the Latin/Flamenco inspired rhythmic improvisations of "Rayuela" and "The Freneticist," including an innovative rendition of Francisco Tarrega's classical guitar piece "Vals - Tema de Strauss." The album features acoustic and electric guitars, upright bass, and mandolin. 　　 　　 　　A Short History of Paper Moon: 　　 　　 　　Paper Moon began in 2004, as Scot Taber and Daniel Dever combined extensive backgrounds in guitar performance and composition... 　　 　　Scot Taber studied classical guitar and flamenco under the acclaimed guitarist Adam Schydlower of Gitano and the Desert Prophets and Stephan Schyga of Tel Arc Records' celebrated "Jazzmenco" act La Vienta. At seventeen, he joined the Spanish dance company Danzas Españolas, providing guitar accompaniment for flamenco dancers, later joining Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) graduate Arturo Garibay to form the World Beat guitar duo Taber & Garibay. They released the original album "Andromeda" in 1996 and toured extensively throughout the western U.S. and Mexico. In 2000, after playing in Taber & Garibay for over 5 years, Scot released “Liminal,” a mix of Jazz and World Music, later releasing the CDs “Gone” in 2002 and “Big Perfect” in 2005. He currently teaches and performs in the San Diego area. 　　 　　 　　Daniel Dever was born in Germany but soon made it across the Atlantic to Nashville, where he began his music career playing lead guitar and recording with country bands. Frequently performing at The Bell Cove Club in Nashville, he also gained experience as a studio musician and engineer, working closely with legendary Nashville artist/performer Garland Craft (Firescape records). Dan has also collaborated on jazz pieces for use in commercials and has since been involved in eclectic performance and recording projects, including a role as lead guitarist for rock band Fuzzy Waldorf and the composition of movie scores for independent films. 　　 　　 　　 **ALBUM REVIEWS** 　　 　　By Craig Yerkes 　　The San Diego Troubadour 　　 　　Miniatures, the new CD from guitar duo Paper Moon, is a sly and utterly entertaining piece of work. The approach is delightfully eclectic with nods to such diverse influences as Al DiMeola and the Helecasters with some Django, Metheny, Paco DeLucia, and Wes Montgomery thrown in along the way. Paper Moon has managed to merge these different styles into a truly original sound and approach all their own. 　　 　　Track one, 'Rayuela,' (a straight ahead, up-tempo, acoustic/Spanish-style crowd pleaser) is actually the weakest offering on the disc due to how little it does to forecast how fresh the rest of the recording will be. Paper Moon's two players, Scot Taber and Daniel Dever, move seamlessly between acoustic and electric on the following tracks, bringing all kinds of funky surprises along the way. There is an almost giddy approach dripping off this music, as if they just couldn't wait to add that next guitar part to see what it would sound like. Much to duo's credit, though, it never becomes a guitar orgy thanks to an over-riding sense of doing what's right for the song. Track three, the 7/8 offering called 'The Freneticist,' reminded me of DiMeola's early stuff with a great mix of muted electric licks driving the rhythm and Spanish/nylon-string lead lines adding a Latin fire. 'While She Sleeps' features a wonderful waltz melody and should bring a smile to fans of the super-smooth, octave-style/Montgomery-esque electric jazz sound. This disc really launches into the stratosphere starting with track five, 'Swing Sets.' Its intro features an effect that makes it sound like it's being played through some kind of cheap record player in a cafŽ somewhere in Europe. To me, this clever intro signals that the rest of the disc is designed to take the listener on a trip through the limitless musical world of these artists. From the super tasty gypsy solos on 'Swing Set' and the funky backwards guitar intro on 'CafŽ Antiguo' to the delightful handling of the melody on 'Vals Ð Tema De Strauss' and the beautifully breezy leads on 'Emily,' this is music that keeps bringing smiles. My favorite is track ten, 'Epilogue,' which features a stunningly beautiful, almost otherworldly melody and an equally amazing counterpart of fretless bass, strings, and perfectly complementary sound effects. 　　 　　This CD should appeal to a broad spectrum of music lovers, especially those with an ear toward world music. There is musical invention here to be sure, but everything is done within the context of making music that is just plain fun to listen to. If some of this material doesn't make it into some kind of soundtrack, it will only be because the right people didn't hear it. The Paper Moon guys have pulled off quite a trick with Miniatures, creating an artistically uncompromised musical kaleidoscope that is a blast for the rest of us to listen to. Bravo!