Folk musician Sandy Bull took an unorthodox approach to stringed instruments, influenced in part by sharing an apartment with Nubian oud master, Hamza El Din. His 1963 debut LP for Vanguard, Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo, saw him backed by Los Angeles-based jazz drummer Billy Higgins: side-long epic “Blend” is influenced by eastern and middle-eastern music forms; “Little Maggie” displays a lightning-fast picking style, “Gospel Tune” hearkens to the American South, medieval classic “Non Nobis Domine” is relayed on banjo and “Carmina Burana” is given an individual finger-picking reading.