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William Flynn

Described as “playing a mean guitar” (Wichita Eagle), William Flynn is a Kansas- based guitarist and composer emerging onto the contemporary jazz community with an increasingly original musical voice. William’s recent professional engagements include sharing the stage with saxophonist Bob Reynolds (John Mayer, Snarky Puppy), as well as performances at The Blue Room (Kansas City), the Charlie Parker Celebration Festival (Kansas City), and the Wichita Jazz Festival. William’s playing and composing can be heard on the Artists Recording Collective label (Traveler, 2017), and Armored Records (The Songbook Project, 2016).

As a graduate student at the University of North Texas, William held the guitar chair with the world-renowned and Grammy-nominated One O’ Clock Lab Band. As a member of the One O’ Clock, William performed alongside such jazz luminaries as John Clayton, Wayne Bergeron, and Terell Stafford, and he can be heard featured on the band’s 2012 release Lab 2012.

As an educator, William has taught, presented, and adjudicated at conferences and universities across the country, including the Seattle Jazz Guitar Society, the South Carolina Music Educators Association, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Missouri, Capital University (Columbus, OH), and South Dakota State University. Additionally, William is the co-author of Mel Bay’s 2016 publication Jazz Guitar Duets.

William holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies from Capital University (Columbus, OH), and a Master of Music degree from the University of North Texas, where he held a position as a Graduate Teaching Fellow.

William currently serves as Assistant Professor of Jazz Guitar at Wichita State University, where he teaches applied jazz guitar, jazz improvisation, and directs the Guitar Ensemble.

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10
Album Review

William Flynn/Tim Fischer: Cross Country

Read "Cross Country" reviewed by Don Phipps


Like a couple of old friends traveling through memories, thoughts and ideas, guitarists William Flynn and Tim Fischer have fashioned their album Cross Country as a conversation of grace and beauty. Flynn, a professor of Jazz Guitar at Wichita (KS) State University, and Fischer, a professor of music at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina's Coastal Carolina University offer up an album of blues-bop originals, each wonderfully arranged so that the two guitarists can stretch the melody while providing tuneful, sensitive and ...

1
Album Review

William Flynn: Traveler

Read "Traveler" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Wichita-based guitarist, composer and educator (Professor of Jazz Guitar at Wichita State University) William Flynn presents a brief program of evocative originals, accompanied by his quartet with pianist Addison Frei, double bassist Young Heo and drummer Matt Young. The mention of Wichita inevitably recalls the title of the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays composition (and album) “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls." In this case it is an apt comparison, as Flynn's music shares similar bucolic atmosphere and song-like melodicism.

3
Album Review

William Flynn: The Songbook Project

Read "The Songbook Project" reviewed by Don Phipps


The Songbook Project from guitarist William Flynn provides jazz enthusiasts with great arrangements of some top-flight songs from the popular music catalog. On this album, one can hear jazz versions of music by the Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Jewel. The musicians all add color to the music. “Tonight Tonight" opens with harmony provided by Pete Mills' saxophone and Flynn's guitar. This is followed by charming and ebullient solos by pianist Lucas Holmes, Flynn and ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Seaside

OA2 Records
2022

buy

Cross Country

ARC - Artists Recording Collective
2018

buy

Traveler

ARC - Artists Recording Collective
2017

buy

The Songbook Project

Armored Records
2015

buy

Follow the Leader

From: Seaside
By William Flynn

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