DEL MAR — Guitarist Peter Sprague owns a comfortable home in Del Mar, but when he wants to write music or bed down for the night, he retreats to a tiny, gnomish cabin in his back yard.
Sprague is an ambitious, driven artist, but his amenable, soft-spoken demeanor, latter-day hippie outlook (he's a vegetarian and longtime surfer) and preference for shaggy locks and bare feet temper this drive into a calm, unselfish force. His rustic escape hatch, with its steep shingle roof and arched, hobbit-like doorway, says a lot about a musician who has settled on a direction after years of dancing to others' drummers.
In the same way that Sprague shuts out the chaos of modern life in his cabin, he has gradually withdrawn from the hype of the music business in Los Angeles, where he lived only briefly (in 1986).
He has also loosened his bonds to the rising pop jazz band Braziljazz, whose debut album--prominently featuring Sprague's guitar--is gaining critical acclaim and radio play.
For the 36-year-old Sprague, 1991 marked an especially vital period of transition.
Last spring, with Braziljazz's debut release pending, he developed tendinitis in his right index finger, which is essential to his intricate finger-picking style. Along the way, he found time to marry his girlfriend, Stefanie, last summer. As fate would have it, she's a hand therapist.
While he was recuperating during the summer, his partners in Braziljazz--vocalist Kevyn Lettau and percussionist Mike Shapiro--added two other musicians to round out the group as they geared up to tour.
As a trio, Braziljazz had been an extremely roomy and comfortable vehicle for Sprague, who served as the group's instrumental centerpiece. But, with his finger recovered enough that he could resume live performing in November, Lettau and Shapiro retained the expanded-group format, and Sprague wasn't comfortable with the larger setting.
"I'm just a real staunch person for doing music I want to do," he said. "As soon as it started looking like I was going to be playing pop jazz, I decided to move on." He may make a second Braziljazz recording but does not plan to tour with the group.
Instead, he is concentrating on his own music played by his own group, with brother Tripp on woodwinds, plus bassist Kevin Hennessy and drummer Duncan Moore. Sprague will enter a studio early next year to make a new solo recording, his first in four years.
In preparation, he spends most days holed up in his home studio, writing or recording new songs with the band, sweetening these recordings with an array of sounds he adds using a guitar synthesizer.
Sprague also continues what has been his bread-and-butter work for many years: arranging and transcribing music for keyboard player and prolific composer Chick Corea. Sprague has transcribed four songbooks worth of music by Corea's Elektric Band and also plans to publish a volume of transcribed Corea solos. Sprague is also rearranging Corea's song "Spain" for a GRP Records all-star album (on which neither Sprague nor Corea will play).
As a budding jazz player, Sprague idolized Corea for years, sending him letters and tapes of his guitar playing. He finally got the keyboard wizard's attention in 1983 with a tape of Corea's songs, performed on solo guitar. Sprague played live with Corea a few times in 1984 and 1985, but when Corea formed his Elektric Band in 1985, he recruited guitarist Scott Henderson--much to Sprague's disappointment.
"That was a pretty devastating moment, to not get in that band," Sprague said, relaxing in his studio with his guitar in his lap, surrounded by banks of amplifiers, speakers, his Macintosh computer and other electronic equipment. "I felt it was pretty magical, but Chick wanted to lean more toward an electric style."
It was Sprague's work as a transcriber and composer that led him to begin using a Macintosh as a musical tool a few years ago. Now a newer, high-powered Mac has become a centerpiece of his home studio.
Using musical software, Sprague plays a musical part into his computer using a guitar, and notes instantly appear on the screen. He can then edit each composition one note at a time, altering whichever ones he wants to. This process proves especially useful for tasks such as rearranging "Spain," with its 13 musical parts.
Sprague has yet to crack the national commercial radio and recording market in a big way, but he has already produced a sizable recorded legacy--about 30 albums, including six as a leader--and his playing continues to evolve. With his preference for acoustic guitar and his fluid Brazilian-tinged, finger-picked style, Sprague is developing a voice of his own, similar in spirit to fellow guitarist Pat Metheny.
Although Sprague began his jazz career in his teens admiring Wes Montgomery and playing straight-ahead jazz, his musical inclinations have moved steadily away from jazz's mainstream.
