Episode 14: Vahe Sarkissian!
Episode 14 is live: guitarist Vahe Sarkissian on Armenian rhythms in 10, stupidly low action, and two performances recorded at The Boom Room.
Bub & Pop | Episode 14: Vahe Sarkissian (recorded March 3, 2026)
Our guest this week is Vahe Sarkissian: Philadelphia-based guitarist, rock and jazz player, and Stanley Jordan-esque two-hand tapper.
Vahe is Armenian, and one of the ways he honors that is by arranging traditional Armenian music for electric guitar. The record that got me is Curcuna, named for a Middle Eastern rhythm that he will argue, at length and convincingly, is in 10 and not 5. He walks us through exactly why, and I could have listened to that part all day.
I first crossed paths with him when he opened for Matteo Mancuso at Ardmore Music Hall. He played a tune or two solo, and I was impressed enough that I had to reach out after the show. This conversation is how he got there: a rock player in a jazz school, leaning into two-hand solo arrangements, action set stupidly low, playing around tendonitis, and learning he doesn’t have to be a hero on every gig.
He plays twice for us: an Armenian original, and an arrangement of “Eleanor Rigby” that owes a direct debt to Stanley Jordan. And stay for the NAMM story, where Stevie Wonder sat down in front of his band and listened for twenty minutes. Look out for a new trio album early next year!
It's been a busy week of music! I saw Murray's Law last Friday (review forthcoming) and Stanley Jordan Plays Dead on Saturday (both at Dharma Bums) – earlier on Saturday I was out at Ardmore Music Hall for Mitch-a-palooza, celebrating the birthday of my friend and future Bub & Pop guest Mitch Beer. Tuesday was an awesome Dungeon Crawl with two Bub & Pop alums, Jonathan Colman and Cotter Ellis (and future Bub & Pop guest, Eli Winderman, DJing) – convinced my friend and former guitar teacher Chris Shepherd (the best guitarist I know – literally, like the best) to join me. Wednesday, as always, was the Invitational at John & Peter's in New Hope. (Surely the subject of some future content I release.) And somewhere along the way, I finished my first Guitar World piece that will appear in their October issue.
Busy busy busy over here – and more cool stuff in the works, so stay tuned!
