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0:00/3:11
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0:00/2:42
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0:00/2:53
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Canto de Amor Cubano 1:110:00/1:11
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0:00/3:43
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0:00/3:16
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0:00/3:01
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0:00/2:06
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0:00/2:00
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0:00/3:30
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0:00/6:28
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0:00/2:36
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0:00/3:55
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0:00/4:00
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0:00/4:32
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Romance de Amor 2:490:00/2:49
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0:00/2:35
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0:00/3:29
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0:00/3:11
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0:00/2:50
Testimonials:
"It's all about the language of the finger-tips. A guitarist has to be a master of "pluck!" Minnesota guitarist, Jim Falbo is a true master. His new recording, Latin American Guitar Legends is what guitar playing should sound like. Languid Latin melodies like Leo Brouwer's "Bewitching Eyes" (Ojos Brujos) are haunting in their simple emotional treatment. But the playful rhythm of so much Latin music is also on full display. Antonio Lauro's "La Gatica" will have you tapping with both feet. Falbo is also a terrific sound "colorist." The Villa-Lobos Prelude No. 1 is performed with sundrenched brightness. (You may need sunglasses while listening!). This is a glorious recording from a guitarist who clearly loves this music and has the chops to caress the listener into a seductive and gorgeous sound world."
- Steve Staruch, radio host on Classical Minnesota Public Radio 99.5 KSJN from 3:00pm to 7:00pm, Mondays thru Fridays.
"I can't help but be drawn in by the sound, style, and warmth of Jim Falbo's guitar playing. There is this simple glory in melodies played by Jim. Just check out his website and immediately, the samples start playing and you get this feeling like a baby angel was just born. Or, like the room is made of fluffy clouds. Or, like falling in love with your SOS again. Or, like falling in love with a stranger at first sight. (Take caution: you might not want to look at strangers while listening to Jim Falbo. I mean, unless you're trying to fall in love with a stranger. No judgment.)
Jim's repertoire includes six categories! Classical/romantic, Spanish, South American, Latin/Jazz Fusion, Folk/blues, and contemporary. Makes me feel kinda lame that I never mastered so much as strumming basic guitar chords. But, if I were to ever be disciplined and skilled enough to play a guitar (one can dream!), I'd aspire to play with the quality, brightness, and flawlessness as Jim does. He puts love songs on a whole 'nother level, like in heaven with cute newborn baby angels. I highly recommend seeing Jim play live... - Liz Xiong, City of Saint Paul's Sounds Perfect, 2016: Year of Music
"Jim Falbo was chosen to play for our banquet because of the fine music samples he has offered on his website. His communication was prompt and professional. In person at our event he was charming. And the music -- oh, it was wonderful! This guy can play the guitar, and the room was filled with warmth, color, harmony ... Everyone felt special. Our group of 41 people had an exceptional afternoon, in large part due to Jim Falbo. He is a stand-out talent, and he has easily earned my highest recommendation. Thanks Jim!"
- Greg M. organizer at the Minnesota Bonsai Society
For more reviews of Jim's wedding services visit: weddingwire.com and theknot.com
Jim played beautiful music before, during and after our ceremony. the music was lovely and just what we were hoping for. Jim was very friendly and very nice to work with. I definitely recommend. - Taylor (wedding on 8/25/19) review at The Knot.com.
Jim was amazing to work with! From the first few emails we sent to the last, he was always very responsive and willing to work with our requests. He allows you to pick one song which he will learn for the ceremony (if not in his repertoire), and he played ours beautifully! We are so glad we found Jim and don’t think our ceremony would have been as special without him. - Chelsea (married on 5/11/19).
There aren't enough superlatives to describe Jim and his skills: Mad skills, very easy to work with, flexible, and able to hit a curveball; we wanted to add a song not in his repertoire and - on very short notice - Jim was able to accomodate us. Jim made our night positively magical, and I cannot recommend him highly enough. - Fred S. (Married on 11/18/2018)/
Jim was great! Super easy to work with. Willing to personalize the music but also easy if you want him to just recommend songs. Doesn't require a ton of prep time which is helpful when wedding planning. Music sounded beautiful! Also willing to bring a microphone for the officiant for free. - Jennifer (married on 8/18/2018).
Jim was great to work with! He's easy-going and friendly, as well as a complete professional; awesome combo. Extremely talented and the music was the perfect compliment to our ceremony and cocktail hour. We're grateful we had the opportunity to get to know Jim a bit and have him be a part of our day. - Chrissie (wedding on 10/7/17) Review from weddingwire.com
We highly recommend Jim. He was so easy to work with and exceptionally professional. He was there early, totally prepared with all the songs we had asked for, and played beautifully. We had several guests comment on the lovely music. The portion of our ceremony with background music went very long. Jim's response was seamless. He kept playing and worked in several more songs that were perfect for the moment. His work is a great value. He is a top-notch professional and charges less than most of his caliber. He even provided a microphone (and a stand at the last minute!) for our officiant, which saved us having to rent one. Thanks Jim! -Erin B. Wedding on 6/10/17
We hired Jim to play for our outdoor summer wedding in St Paul. He was wonderful to work with - very professional, timely with all of his correspondence, and very helpful with suggestions. He was also very accommodating with our own requests for music not on his repertoire list. His music at our ceremony was also lovely- it was a very memorable experience, and we are still getting complements on his music from our friends and family. If we had to do this over, we would choose him again. - Malinda J. wedding on 6/25/16 reviewed on theknot.com
My husband and I knew right away that we wanted a guitarist to play at our wedding ceremony. As I was searching online, I came across Jim Falbo, and I couldn't have found a more perfect musician for our day. He had such a wide range of songs from his repertoire that I had no problem picking out which ones would be the right fit for our special day! He was great to work with- very professional, fast in responding to questions and very reasonably priced! All of our guests raved about Jim and I am so glad we chose him! - Kelsey N. wedding on 6/11/16 reviewed on weddingwire.com
"Jim did the most amazing job with our ceremony music. I originally was going to go with just playing a CD for our ceremony with a couple songs but we found Jim online, I went and checked out a couple of his YouTube videos and immediately fell in love with his version of "All of Me" by John Legend. I didn't want it to be cheesy having a song probably everyone had chosen but Jim's version is completely unique and BEAUTIFUL. It was one of those things that when you hear something amazing you get chills all over your body and I just said yes, we have to have him. I had been worried that my husband to be wouldn't have the reaction of "WOW!" when I walked down the aisle because we were going to do pictures beforehand and he would already see me but Jim definitely helped change my thoughts and I knew he would be the difference in getting that wow factor and my now husband said he was definitely holding back tears (and he never cries!) so I think that says something about Jim's talent for sure! I would recommend him to anyone, he has an amazing talent and you would be lucky to hire him! Thanks Jim!" - Cydney G. (wedding on 4/30/16)
"Jim is an incredible musician with outstanding people-skills. Everyone came up to me to ask who our guitarist was and told us how much they loved the music he played. Jim is super, super easy to work with and just a joy to be around. He was one of the best choices we made for our special day and if I did it over again right now I'd hire him again." - Lynn (wedding on 3/4/16)
"Jim was such a pleasure to work with. He played an exceptional variety of songs, which was exactly what we asked for. We had many guests comment on Jim's talent. He showed up early, set up and started playing. You can tell Jim loves what he does and truly enjoys providing that extra touch to the event. We will be referring him to others and plan on using him for other events in the future." -Jenn O.
Jim's arrangements are beautiful and he plays flawlessly. He has great communication and is extremely friendly. Jim's repertoire covers anything you'd want played or he is willing to learn new material. I would highly recommend him! He made our ceremony beautiful, simple, and personal. Loved him! - Heather A. (wedding on 10/31/15)
Jim was fantastic to work with. Not only was his musical performance during our ceremony beautiful - many guests mentioned throughout the night they loved the acoustic music - but he was courteous and easy to work with. As milestones arrived for our planning, he would help keep us on track to ensure he had what he needed for a wonderful performance. Thank you, Jim, for helping us have a magical day. Your music helped set the perfect soundtrack for our wedding. Our guests had so much fun identifying the different songs and then sharing memories those stores evoked. Thank you again! - Jennifer (wedding on 10/3/15)
Jim Falbo was wonderful to work with for our wedding. I loved the music he played at our ceremony. It was perfect. Jim was professional and prompt in answering all emails and calls. He helped me through choosing the music and even sent me a CD of some of his work. This was so helpful especially planning from out of state. Jim also learned a specific song for our ceremony that was very special to us. I would absolutely recommend Jim for your wedding and/or event! Thank you Jim! - Amy N. (wedding on 7/25/15).
Jim was amazing at our wedding! There was a last minute change that he wasn't informed of before the ceremony (sorry!) but he was able to handle it without any hesitation. We were so happy we had him play at our wedding, it really added that special touch we were looking for! I would highly recommend him to play at any event, as he is very professional, fun, and easy to work with. - Jillian B. (wedding on 7/11/15)
"Jim is not only a wonderful musician, but he's also great to work with when planning an event. The scheduling process was very easy, and he was always quick to respond to emails. He helped us select the best music for our wedding ceremony and played it absolutely beautifully! Many of our guests even commented on how much they enjoyed the music. We felt very lucky to have him as our musician." - Melissa T. (wedding on 6/27/2014).
"Jim Falbo was a delight to work with! Professional, talented, super sweet. He is a huge reason my event was such a success. I would recommend Jim without hesitation and will be booking him for future events!" - Author Juliann Rich (book release: 6/21/2014)
"Jim was wonderful throughout the entire planning process and of course on the big day! He helped us select great music for each part of our ceremony and was flexible about being ready to play indoors or out. I can't say enough about his skill as a guitarist or how easy he was to work with." - Hannah A. (wedding: June, 2014).
"Jim was fantastic. He played guitar for our wedding on 6/14 and provided a beautiful accompaniment to our ceremony. Not only was he a great guitarist, he was super easy to work with. Emails always received a prompt response, he was very helpful in his comments on the ceremony and worked with us to provide what we wanted. As part of his fee, he will arrange a piece of your choosing not normally in his repertoire. I highly suggest taking him up on this. He arranged Raspberry Beret by Prince for us and it was fantastic! We were planning an outside ceremony and didn't know for sure that we could be outside until 45 minutes before the wedding. Jim was flexible and set up quickly as soon as we knew where we would be. He was very reliable and professional. It was great to have amazing music without having to worry about it." - Mike O. (wedding: 6/14/2014)
"I would highly recommend Jim if you are looking for some beautiful, tranquil music for your wedding. He earned all five stars. Jim is very talented, professional, and passionate about playing his guitar, and he doesn't just play what he wants, but he was more than happy to learn new songs that we might want in our wedding, without us even asking. He even played a song by The Cure for me, and he did it beautifully! He is genuinely interested in making your big day special and unique to what you like. We had him play during our ceremony and reception. He was such a pleasure to work with and talk to, and there was never a moment where we were unhappy with him. He showed up at our wedding early and was ready to go when we needed him. He was well-groomed and respectfully wore a suit and tie, and was pleasant to everyone. He plays classic guitar beautifully, and it really made our wedding complete. We wouldn't have changed anything as far as finding a musician!" - Laura H. (wedding: 06/16/2013)
"Jim did an absolutely fantastic job playing guitar at our wedding ceremony in June 2014. He was very easy to work with and his music is beautiful! We received a ton of compliments. Would definitely recommend him if you are looking for music for a wedding or any other special event." - Kelly H. (wedding: 6/07/2014).
"Jim was excellent to work with and was very responsive leading up the our wedding day. Jim didn't hesitat to learn a new song when we requested a unique recessional song. He learned it within a couple weeks and rocked the song at our wedding! Jim was more than willing to work with us to tailor his music to the feel of our outdoor casual wedding (American Folk and Latin music)." -Angie S. (wedding: 08/09/2013)
"Jim was wonderful! Great selection and flexible as wedding started 30 mins late." - Megan S. (Wedding: 5/31/2014)
"My husband and I were so pleased with Jim. He tailored his music to meet our requests and needs; and, he made suggestions that added to the mood and flow of our ceremony. He was prompt, courteous, and professional." -Ellen and Tom (Wedding: 9/7/2013)
"Jim was wonderful. I got many complements from my guests on what a great guitarist he was. He was on time, responded to my emails quickly and was very professional. I can't say enough good things about him. Most importantly his music was beautiful and his talent and passion for the guitar shines through his playing. I would highly recommend Jim to anyone looking for a guitarist for their special event." - Kim P. (Wedding: 06/08/2013)
"Jim played for our wedding reception and all of our guests were so impressed with him. He was amazing to work with and an incredible talent. I would recommend him to friends and family, or anyone looking for beautiful music at an event." -Keira N. (Wedding: 9/1/2013)
Check out these companies, musicians, and/or products I endorse and support!
Strings By Mail.com
Martin Reynolds (Luthier) (St. Paul, MN)
Willie's American Guitars (St. Paul, MN)
Stephen Kakos (Luthier) (Mound, MN)
Minneapolis Guitar Quartet
Savarez guitar strings
Taylor guitars
Richard Howell classical guitar luthier (Victoria, Australia)
Jamestown Choralaires
Steve Newbrough
Fender guitars and amplification
Elixir guitar strings
Classical Minnesota Public Radio
Classical Guitar Insider - Podcast with Bret Williams (a seriously funny dude with great insight into the classical guitar community, featuring many great guests in New York City).
Minnesota Guitar Society
88.5 Jazz FM (Minnesota)
Eric Clapton
David Russell (Guitar)
Ben Woolman
Wedding officiant: Judge Tom Armstrong
Wedding Photographer Becca Dilley