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Ryan Blotnick
I love music
About Me
Ryan Blotnick (b. April 30, 1983) is an American guitarist and composer. He has
performed with many leading voices in jazz and recorded five albums of his own
music. He teaches jazz and improvisation at the College of the Atlantic, leads his
own quartet and performs with the Soulbenders, FISHBLOT, Danny Fisher-
Lochhead’s World of Difference, Caroline Cotter and Katherine Perkins. His musical
compositions have formed the backdrop for films that merited prestigious awards
at some of the largest film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Full Frame and
DOC NYC.
At sixteen, Ryan attended William Paterson University’s renowned jazz program in
a class alongside classmates Ned Ferm, Mark Guiliana, Tyshawn Sorey and Sam
Barsh. He later transferred to the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen
where he studied with Jakob Bro and won the Danish Young Jazz Competition with
his group Ugly Customer. In New York City, he studied with Steve Cardenas and
counterpoint guru Paul Caputo, and tracked down living legends like Barry
Altschul, John Abercrombie, Lee Konitz and Andrew Cyrille. He toured and
recorded with Pete Robbins & Centric, Michael Blake, Akoya Afrobeat and others.
Upon the release of his debut album Music Needs You, Jazz Times heralded him as
“one of the bright lights on the burgeoning Brooklyn-based modern jazz scene,”
with guitar icons Ben Monder and John Abercrombie recommending the album.
Blotnick’s second album Everything Forgets (Songlines, 2010) featured European
improvisers Joachim Badenhorst and Simon Jermyn, and drummers Joe Smith and
Jeff Williams. It interspersed free improvisation with driving post-rock and “somber
late-night listening (Bruce Lee Gallanter).” His third album Solo, Volume I (2012)
explored the sparseness of the acoustic guitar. Nate Chinen of the New York Times
wrote a glowing review, calling Blotnick “a natural” and noting that it “gives the
sense of an intensely thoughtful design ... the atmosphere is such that every liberty
registers as both audacious and reasonable.” Lucid Culture called it “a goldmine of
inspiration for guitarists in a wide range of styles.”
In 2015, Blotnick returned to his home state of Maine, where he started a weekly
residency at Local 188 in Portland with drummer RJ Miller and bassist Tyler
Heydolph. This led to a new book of tunes that explored African and Middle-
Eastern rhythms and modal harmony, which he then recorded with Michael Blake,
RJ Miller and Scott Colberg (Kush, Songlines 2016). Something Else reviews wrote
“The mastery of space and tone within an improvisational setting is an art few have
truly mastered; with Kush, Ryan Blotnick has shown himself to be among such rare
masters.”
Living outside the city gave Blotnick a chance to return to his roots in nature. More
time and space allowed him to become a diligent sideman - an active performer on
bass as well as guitar - and to forge a successful career scoring documentary films.
His relationship with saxophonist Danny Fisher-Lochhead and songwriter
Katherine Perkins have sparked an abundance of projects including his improvised
duo project FISHBLOT, which released its album small talk during the pandemic
(Ears & Eyes, 2022). Blotnick recently contributed lead guitar to Katherine’s album
Being Younger (Twelve | Eight Records, 2024) and Danny Fisher-Lochhead’s World
of Difference, a large ensemble record featuring some of Maine’s most forward-
thinking improvisers. As of early 2025 he was finishing a new album of originals
recorded in April 2024 with Tyler Wood, Adam Chilenski and Otto Hauser.
