Jazz Articles about Will Bernard

Will Bernard 4-Tet: Medicine Hat

by Mike Jacobs
March 27, 2024

Will Bernard & Beth Custer: Sky

by Mark Corroto
August 16, 2023

Luckily there are no record producers or record executives for creative music these days, because clarinetist Beth Custer and guitarist Will Bernard would be out of a job or, at least, a recording contract. That is because neither of the artists' interests can be categorized, pigeonholed, or compartmentalized. Custer performs chamber music, jazz, trance, pop, blues, silent film soundtracks, trip-hop, rock, folk, tribal, and ambient music. Likewise, Bernard has his fingers in jazz (from straight ahead to soul and jazz-rock), ...

Will Bernard Finds His Own Path To Jazz Career

by Jim Trageser
August 4, 2022

Guitarist Will Bernard doesn't consider himself a “regular" jazz player. He says this occurred to him when he was being asked to play on some recording sessions in New York. “In New York, I've been doing some recording—I did three records for PosiTone, which is more of a jazz label. They're actually based in L.A., but they record mostly in New York. He was calling me in to do jazz sessions, and I think, 'I'm not ...

Will Bernard: Pond Life

by Mark Corroto
May 4, 2022

All great performances, be they athletic or musical, start with a solid base. For guitarist Will Bernard that is a trio with drummer Ches Smith (Ceramic Dog, Snakeoil) and completing Bernard's bass (sic) with both the acoustic and electric input of bassist Chris Lightcap. Upon this foundation Bernard is inspired to expand his music with the help of keyboardist John Medeski and saxophonist Tim Berne. Medeski can be heard on the guitarist's 2008 album Blue Plate Special (Palmetto Records) and ...

Will Bernard: Ancient Grains

by Kyle Simpler
June 22, 2021

In the culinary world, ancient grains is a term used to describe grains that have been virtually unchanged for centuries but are often used in modern recipes. Will Bernard uses this idea as a metaphor in his album Ancient Grains. The basic concept is that the instruments used in this recording, such as guitars, organ, amplifiers and drums, are vintage in different ways. Some are actually vintage instruments while others are based on designs of vintage instruments. As with the ...

Will Bernard: Freelance Subversives

by Doug Collette
May 13, 2020

A native Californian currently headquartered in Brooklyn, Will Bernard's geographical touchpoints mirror the expanse of solo and collaborative projects to which he's contributed over the course of his career. Just a few of the names appearing in his discography are also indicative of the guitarist's broadly eclectic approach: eccentric singer/composer Tom Waits, drummer extraordinaire Stanton Moore and guitar wunderkind Charlie Hunter. And dating back to Will's membership with the latter in T.J. Kirk (with drummer Scott Amendola), there's been a ...

Idle Hands: Solid Moments

by Dan Bilawsky
March 6, 2020

Producer and Posi-Tone co-head Marc Free wears a lot of hats, including those of curator and cooperative chemist. Since 2018, Free has been piecing together various outfits and concepts, tipping his hat to touchstones, adding new slants to his label's rich catalog and engaging in outreach and audience development in the process. Not content to simply settle for the stautus quo, Free has found a way to present a stable of important artists, both established and emerging, that draws on ...