Having released over 30 groundbreaking albums under his own name in addition to appearing on literally hundreds more as a sideman, the legendary jazz guitarist, Kenny Burrell, is one of the most influential musicians of the past century.
I was considering calling this interview, “Stalking Stochelo Rosenberg”. The much sought after guitarist was in Montreal to play a concert at the Place des Artes Theatre in Montreal and I’d been hunting him down.
With a career that spans five decades and multiple genres, it’s no surprise that guitarist Tommy Emmanuel is respected by players and music fans the world over. His unique finger style technique of playing with all ten fingers has dazzled and amazed even legends, so much so that Emmanuel was presented with the “Certified Guitar Player Award” by the great Chet Atkins, an honor earned by only four other guitarists before Atkins’ death in 2001.
In my early development as a guitarist, I had aspirations to play as well as Jim Hall one day. Jim Hall and Ron Carter’s Alone Together is one of the main records that inspired me to learn how to play jazz guitar, and his melodic inventiveness maintains my attention even until this day. I saw him perform at the National Guitar Workshop this past summer, and his playing did not cease to surprise me.
In this interview with one of the most influential jazz guitarists alive today, we discuss his duet recording with Ron Carter as well as many other things. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did!
Jazz, like many genres of music, is defined by its classifications. Is this artist a Beboper? Is this artist a Modern Jazz performer? Do they play Modal Jazz, or Latin Jazz, or Fusion? It seems that everyone from record companies to festivals to radio stations to fans are constantly trying to figure out how to categorize artists and their musical output. This is a great way to help fans figure out if they will like a new artist, being able to compare them to an artist they already know, but it also leads to problems because some artists just don’t seem to fit into any one category of classification with their music.
For many musicians, being given a 50 plus minute drum solo to listen to, then asked to write and record a duo track to accompany that drum solo, before devoting two years of one’s life (on and off) to the project would seem out of the question, if not a little crazy. But that is the scenario that Chapman Stick player Trey Gunn found himself in when he teamed up with percussionist Marco Minnemann on their duo album Modulator. The album features a pre-recorded drum track, which is almost an hour in length, that Gunn was then expected to work with as he composed, improvised and recorded his second part of the album. The result is not only thought provoking from a compositional and musical standpoint, it is an engaging work of avant-garde art that pushes one to break down their expectations and boundaries as they join these two world-class musicians for this hour-long epic ride.
New York City jazz guitarist Chris Taylor’s music transports jazz aficionados on a sonic wave that is both aurally and imaginatively appealing and one that is magically visual in its coloration and drive. East Coast jazz can be grounded in traditional jazz, but some artists dig into the improvisation mode to channel the essence of their musical palettes in very personal journeys. And from what I’ve heard of Taylor, his willingness to drive hard into improvisation can be tastefully melodic and fearless.
With the online guitar learning community exploding over the past decade, several names have risen to the top of the heap as the leaders in online guitar education. One of these players is Jimmy Bruno, and recently Jimmy has branched out on his own, after working with another company on a previous website, to launch a new site called the Jimmy Bruno Guitar Workshop. If the past is prologue to the future, then this site should be a great resource for guitarists of all levels and backgrounds that are looking to better themselves as players, and all at a very affordable price.
Back in around 1999, I was studying jazz performance at Vanier College in Montreal. As any typical young player in the ‘90s, I was into the classic players such as Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino and Joe Pass, a few obscure guitarists like Lenny Breau and Ed Bickert and of course had spent my obligatory time with Pat Metheny’s catalogue. But then one day my teacher Nick Di Tomasso, who had incredible foresight, gave me a record and said, “If you think those guys can play, you need to check out this album, it’ll change your life.” That would be an understatement to say the least. The album was Dust by the New York based, virtuoso guitarist Ben Monder.
It’s not easy growing up with a parent who is a famous name in their chosen field, especially if one decides to pursue a career in the same vein as their well-known mother or father. Often times it is hard, or even impossible, for one to step out from their parent’s shadows and make a name for themselves, no matter what career path they choose to pursue. While this is the case with many musicians, guitarist Marcel Powell is proving that one can carry on their parent’s legacy, while at the same time creating an entirely separate, and highly successful, career in their own right.
