Mark Whitfield ......

[Ampig]

Have been listening to The Marksman. I think maybe his first album. This is some classic stuff and incredible playing
The Marksman - YouTube

[Onlyserious]

It knocked me out when it first came out--and still moves me--especially the title cut. Listening now, he surely was one of the "young lions" of his generation. Now, of course, he's merely a lion.

[Cunamara]

I got to see him live last summer and attended a master class afterwards. Very nice man, very knowledgeable in addition to being a stellar guitar player. He introduced his signature model D'Angelico, one of the points of which is that it is very light in part for reasons discussed below.

Mark talked about having had neck surgery; sometime back he was having trouble with weakness and control of his hands and went to see a doctor. He was initially diagnosed with ALS, which needless to say it was pretty distressing since most people die within a year or two of diagnosis. At some point after receiving that diagnosis he was called and told that the diagnosis had been revised and that he had spinal cord compression and needed surgery. Mark had the surgery, things are back to normal.

He talked about the cause of his back and neck problems being his posture when playing with the guitar. If you look at old photos of him, he stands oddly with his left shoulder raised very much higher than his right shoulder, which he can simply no longer do following the surgery and hardware placed to protect his spinal cord. Testament to his grit and determination, as well as to the skill of his surgeon.

[Aiq]

First I heard was Patrice, wore that out.