Travels with the pirate master — Omar Torrez, Wandering the world with Waits
Omar Torrez playing guitar behind Tom Waits on the Glitter and Doom tour.Omar Torrez has always been a pirate, albeit a pirate of great refinement. Think more Captain Jack Sparrow and less Captain Hook. He’s light on his feet and inclined towards sly exuberance and an appreciation for the finer things in life. He wears scarves and eats well. He’ll steal your women, alright, but he’s going to be very particular about which vintage of wine is also included in the loot, and there is likely to be some parting complaint about the meager quality of your tequila. And that sound you hear as he traipses away will be his guitar, played deliriously, gorgeously and with celebratory gusto. But Torrez, who was famously dubbed the “Latin Hendrix” as a 20-year-old in Seattle, has of late learned the lesson of less refinement. His encounter with one of the great musical pirates of our times has left him a little roughed up, and that has been a very good thing. The heretofore sweet-voiced Torrez went travelling around the world with Tom Waits and has returned home bellowing at the moon. “You get a little dirty, and you realize you like it,” said Torrez, who performs at a songwriter’s round at Saint…
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