Jazz Articles about Stephen Guerra

About Stephen Guerra

Album Review

Stephen Guerra: Um Violão na Cidade Maravilhosa

Read "Um Violão na Cidade Maravilhosa" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
July 19, 2026

Buffalo-based guitarist-songwriter and professor Stephen Guerra's notation has developed a slight Brazilian accent. You notice it in small things like a major chord symbol with a capital “M." Who is reading these charts? Musicians in several choro communities around the globe, as it turns out. Take “Um Negocinho pro Tito," (track 9). Guerra first released it on his self-produced 2025 album No Balanço do Choro-Samba, which featured Rogério Souza on 7-string guitar, Eduardo Neves on flute and Thiago ...

Album Review

Stephen Guerra: No Balanço do Choro-Samba

Read "No Balanço do Choro-Samba" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
January 17, 2025

Guitarist Stephen Guerra was finishing up his undergraduate degree in engineering when he became enchanted with Brazilian music. It was the guitar and song magic of Baden Powell with its mysterious metric ambiguity. Upon graduating, he took a job in personal wealth management, teaching himself to play guitar and read music on the side. After a couple of years in finance, he went for a second undergraduate degree--this time in music--and kept going toward a PhD, never looking back. He ...