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Paul JB Lee
About Me
Paul JB Lee is a guitarist, composer, an
educator based in New York City. Born in
South Korea in 1993, Paul moved to
Houston, TX in 2004. Though he has
received general music education and
started playing the guitar in the
elementary school prior to coming to the
US, he began his serious musical
endeavor on the guitar at the age of 12.
At age 14, he began to perform around
Houston and other parts of Texas with
the Blue Lion Jazz Band and Sound Of
The South Dance Orchestra. He was
selected to perform at the TMEA All-
Region and All-State Jazz Band at age 18
prior to graduating high school.
In 2011, Paul moved to New York City to
attend the prestigious The New School
for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New
York, where he completed his BFA in Jazz
Performance as the class of 2011- 2015.
While in school he was given the
opportunities to study with some of the
most renowned musicians in the world
including such as the likes of Adam
Rogers, Peter Bernstein, Jonathan
Kreisberg, Doug Weiss, Will Vinson, and
Mike Moreno to name a few. Then he
attended New York University Steinhardt
as the class of of 2016-2018 for the the
Master of Music degree where he was
under a strict discipleship under Adam
Rogers through out his time ther. Along
with academic pursuit, Paul was given an
opportunity to be an adjunct professor
teaching classes to in-proficient non
major students for three semester
(Summer of Spring of 2017 till Fall of
2018).
Additionally, he has recorded and shared
the stage with some of the most world
renowned musicians such as Dave
Holland, Alan Ferber, Mark Ferber, Alex
Sipiagin, Randy Brecker, Danny Mixon,
Diane Moser, Dave Glasser, and more.
In 2017, Paul was selected as a semi
finalist for Montreux Jazz Guitar
Competition. After his return to NYC, he
actively performed at numerous venues
all around NYC such as Blue Note, 55 Bar,
Bar Next Door, Minton's Playhouse,
Cornelia Street Cafe, Nublu, The
Knickerbocker Hotel, and etc. Besides
performing, Paul was also given many
opportunities to partake in recording
some fine musicians’s project as sidemen
guitarist. The most notable one would be
SuKyung Kim’s “Lilac Hill” released in
2020 which was nominated for Best
Album for Jazz & Jazz Crossover by the
national Korean Music Awards in 2021
Starting in 2020, Paul’s music career has
came to a halt as he was ordered by the
nations calling to mandatorily returned to
South Korea for his martial duty to serve
in the Republic of Korea Army where he
played trumpet and guitar at 51st Infantry
Division Military band for 18 months.
Sergeant Paul Ju Bong Lee was granted
an honorable discharge on September of
2021 and currently has made his
comeback to performing and working
especially with his soon to be released
debut album which was recorded 6 years
ago in May of 2018) featuring stellar line
up of musicians of NYC comprised of Lex
Korten, Nathan Bellott, Daniel Durst, and
Mark Ferber. In the midst of planning his
return to NYC Jazz Scene, Paul is actively
performing and recording around every
clubs and festivals in Seoul and all over
South Korea exploring his home country’s
music scene.
프로필
The New School for Jazz and
Contemporary Music (2015 학사), New
York University (2018 석사), New England
Conservatory (준박사, 휴학중)
New York University 출강 (2017-2018)
Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition 몽트뤠
국제 재즈 기타 콩쿨 참여 (세미파이널리스트,
2017)
뉴욕 프리랜스 재즈기타리스트 활동 (2011-
2020)
Adam Rogers, Mike Moreno, Peter
Bernstein, Jonathan Kreisberg, Ben Street,
Doug Weiss 등 사사
Dave Holland, Randy Brecker, Alex
Sipiagin, Alan Ferber, Mark Ferber 등 협연
Minton’s Playhouse, 55 Bar, Blue Note,
Cornelia Street Cafe, Bar Next Door 등 뉴
욕 재즈클럽에서 연주
뉴욕 타임 스퀘어 The Knickerbocker Hotel
에서 Residency 로 매주 연주 연주
Sukyung Kim “Lilac Hill” 앨범 참여 (2019)