Guitarra Parra

Jazz Fusion Inspired by Traveling

Guitarra Parra is instrumental music from Chris Bihuniak and friends. It's a mix of jazz, blues, rock and latin music with an emphasis on guitar.

Chris was born in Panama in 1967 and has lived in Brazil, Austria, Spain and the USA. He currently lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

As an ASCAP recording artist with 20 albums, children's music awards and performance experience since 1982, Chris continues to be an evolving artist.

Guitarra parra in Spanish translates to "guitar climbing vine."

Review #1

I really enjoyed having this on while I did some drawing. Honestly was great to make this list because I had to go back after to recognize what song I remembered things from and kept finding more cool things. I kept feeling the vibe and not even realizing the song had changed. The way the songs are ordered and the way the album is structured really keep you interested.

Morning Ritual - Lead guitar is really cool sounds very tight and fusiony.

Private Garden - Wonderful to listen to - the flute is so expressive. So cool too with the drum machine type beat coming in at the end.

Medusa - Hypnotic. It felt like a journey and it kind of dragged me into itself. Loved the dynamics of it all- beautifully choreographed.

Gina Mola had some interesting dissonances with the lead guitar around 1:30 I loved - liked the chill vibe of this one, felt like hearing a band across the street sitting at a little cafe or something.

Abizi - Loved the switch up here - made me start moving very groovy with kind of a desert heat to it.

Awake - The groove change around 1:00 is nice- very sharp guitar work here- the drums really give it all life.

Locura I - The atmospheric effects throughout really add depth. Feels like something you’d hear at a swanky jazz club - very tasteful.

Azahar Templar - The repeating walk up riff brought a rock element that really worked. The breakdown chord progression and sounds really perked my ears up and then that drop out part. Fantasticly groovy.

Aragon Rain - Nice interlude. It had a Medieval feeling to it and was delightfully delicate after Azahar Templar.

Awake Again - I thought the callback to "Awake" was well handled and the piano/keys were super well phrased and added a super cool feeling to everything.

Goodbye Fly - The live production sounded great and I always have enjoyed the melody on this one.

Locura II - Very much evoked the same feelings as Locura, super smooth.

Azahar Templar II - Love the inventive synth lines and all the excitement on this one- would be a great song to listen to in the car.

Awake Yet Again - The production on this had some awesome things going on- loved the sparkles. Impressed that you were able to really differentiate the 3 different "Awake" songs. Never felt like you were retreading too much ground and it really anchors things nicely.

Review #2

Excellent flute and horns throughout, and interesting mixing. Lots of subtleties from the 3/2 claves to reverbs and other guitar effects.

Loved Azibi. Aragon Rain was a lovely interlude. Azahar Templar II was fire, especially the multiple synths and its general avant garde-ness.

And I enjoyed the reiterations of Awake that appeared later in the album. My favorite of them was probably Awake yet Again. As an instrumental album, it flows nicely from song to song in a way that I'd rather listen in its entirety over a couple cortados.

Your live recording of Goodbye Fly sounded excellent! You should do a live album.

Review #3

Spent some quality windshield time with Dos Cortados. Wow! It's my favorite guitarra parra record start to finish.

I want all of my mixes to sound like Morning Ritual. Soon after I declared Azahar Templar my favorite track, Azahar Templar II beat it. With Azahar Templar II, I wanted to reduce the boom of the kick drum a little and gently boost the snare but it might have been because I was listening in my car.

Loved the arrangements, loved the sonic textures, horns, sax, and flute were brilliant. Guitars, keys, and bass fit nicely and the parts seemed so well thought out and executed with precision. I hope you're really proud of this effort because you should be.

The "Black Box" album was released in August 2024 and features the Guitarra Parra quartet. The 14-song album was produced in Kansas City, Missouri and has 6 studio tracks, 5 live recordings and 3 remixes.

Musicians: BLACK BOX LP
Chris Bihuniak: Guitar
Davis Michaelsen: Keyboards
Patrick Selley: Bass
Kurt Tilton: Drums