A fingerstyle guitarist, Hancoff displays exceptional technique and arrangements and a delightfully eclectic repertoire on his debut release. If Guy Van Duser’s stirring arrangement of “Stars and Stripes Forever” is hard to beat as a flag-waver, Hancoff’s transpositions of piano works by Scott Joplin, J. P. Johnson, and “Jelly-Roll” Morton, among others, are almost as effective, brimming with vitality and grace.

--Mike Joyce