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Robert Tye
Detroit-based modern jazz guitarist/composer leads heavyweight band
About Me
Robert Tye studied with legendary classical and studio
guitarist Joe Fava in Detroit, where he was encouraged
to follow his natural affinity toward improvisational music.
Tye's first release, Virtues of the Well (Corridor Records),
was highly anticipated and well received. Tye, an obviously
skilled musician with many loves and influences, shines brightly
on this overdue project, wrote the All Music Guide. The
Jazz Review said, Without a doubt one of the more
promising jazz guitarists to come about on the scene.
This is music on a highly intellectual level but
with a deep groove, said Jazz Guitar Online. The
National Public Radio Music Source has named
Virtues Of The Well a Must Have.
In live performances Robert Tye has shared the stage
with some of the biggest names in jazz: Steps Ahead,
Earl Klugh, Maynard Ferguson, Stanley Clarke, Randy
Brecker, Bela Fleck, Sir Roland Hanna, John Blake, Eddie
Daniels, David Leibman, Branford Marsalis, Michael
Brecker, and Mike Stern, to name just a few. He has
also performed with such smooth jazz artists as Bob James,
Warren Hill, Peter White, Alexander Zonjic, Angela Bofill,
Kirk Whalum, Marion Meadows, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour,
Jeff Golub, and Chieli Minucci, Motown superstars Martha
Reeves and The Funk Brothers, and R&B/roots artists
Bonnie Raitt, Katie Webster, Earl King, and Terrance Simien,
gospel producer Fred Hammond, and actor Jeff Daniels. Tye
was also a longstanding member of organist Lyman Woodard's
trio, appearing on the legendary soul/jazz organist's recording
Live At The 1996 Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival.
The principal guitarist for the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra, Tye has worked with Erich Kunzel, Neeme
Jarvi, Jan-Pascal Tortelier, Angel Romero, Leonard Slatkin, Bill
Conti, and composer John Adams. He
has also worked with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the
Detroit Symphony Jazz Quintet, the Michigan Opera Theater,
the Monte Carlo Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre. He is a
founding member of avant classicists New Music Detroit, featuring
members of the DSO.
Tye has received over thirty nominations at the Detroit Music
Awards (in Jazz, Classical, and Rock categories). He has taken top
honors for Outstanding Jazz Composer, Outstanding Jazz
Recording, and Outstanding Classical Instrumentalist, adding to his six previous awards. He has been a contributing writer for Guitar World magazine, and he was a semi-finalist in the Independent Music World Series in 2004, competing against mostly pop artists.