Alan Banks

"Embedded in the rugged landscape of the West Pennines, St James’ church is an imposing Victorian structure I last visited in July 2001, when the performer was the same Alan Banks and the organisers were, like tonight, the Hebden Bridge Guitar Society. In the intervening years much has happened in the life of this amiable young Western Australian. He has become a father, returned to his native Perth complete with newly augmented family, and has even undergone an extensive image makeover, the Hispanic moustache and luxuriant mane of thick dark hair giving him more than a passing resemblance to the bass player on Mason Williams deservedly revered Handmade LP from 1970. But most important of all Alan Banks has successfully made the hazardous transition form impressive young guitarist to mature and commanding soloist."
 "Richard Charlton is producing some of the most inspired and accessible guitar works of the present era. He has also found a superb ambassador in Alan Banks to whom 'Turlough’s Ghosts' is dedicated."
"The middleweight 'Suite in G' by Losy (or Logy) provided a baroque appetiser for the inexhaustible Bach Chaconne. Banks dynamic account commanding attention in a manner that, like all the best versions made this huge masterwork run for a fraction of it’s true duration."
"'Spanish Dance No. 5' by Granados and a revival of the once ubiquitous 'Asturius' by Albeniz led to Alan Banks, own wonderfully audacious transcription of Monti’s 'Czardas' this time-honoured crowd pleaser concluding a compelling performance from a guitarist whose time will surely come soon."
Paul Fowles
- Classical Guitar Magazine

"Australian guitarists are usually worth travelling some distance to see, and Alan Banks from Perth, WA provided ample rewards for tonight’s rural excursion to the Yorkshire border. Selected highlights from the renaissance lute epic Monsiuer’s Almaine revealed that Banks has very fast fingers."
Sonata Eroica is one of Guiliani’s most extravagant dramatic parodies, and as such requires equal measures of brilliance and irreverence on the part of the performer. Banks proved more than equal to this double challenge the endless assault of flashy scale figures revealing serious technical skill but far from serious creative intent. Torroba’s once fashionable Madronos and Falla’s never unfashionable Miller’s Dance offered the first of two successful invasions of Spanish territory, a double helping of Albeniz in the second half developing the concept with equal conviction.
In the meantime, Peter Sculthorpe's contemporary classic "From Kakadu" provided a timely reminder of the wealth of quality guitar music the Australian scene has produced over the last few decades. It was this, together with a breathtaking account of "Koyunbaba", that established Banks as a guitarist of truly outstanding ability, the kaleidoscopic imagery of both works emerging in full detail within a framework of unblemished technical precision. A recent arrival in the UK Alan Banks is without a doubt a distinguished new talent – my congratulations go to the Hebden Bridge guitar society for spotting him first.
- Classical Guitar Magazine