Joshua Breakstone

"Fire in velvet. A fitting description of Joshua Breakstone'sjazz guitar," wrote Paul Weidman in The Sante Fe NewMexican. "His flowing lines on up-tempo cookers areimpeccably clean and fiery, bearing the mark of a first-rateimproviser, while his chordal work on heartbreaker ballads isthe final word in finesse," has raved Guitar Player magazine.Japan's Jazz Hihyo (aka Jazz Critique) recognizes that "Thestyle in which Joshua develops his fluid single-note solosused to be thought of as the Grant Green school, but now thisman leads the school." Downbeat also has written that "Thereis no shortage of young, knock-out jazz guitarists about usthese days. And Joshua Breakstone is among the best ofthem."

Joshua Breakstone was born July 22, 1955 in Elizabeth, NJ.Through his music loving parents he was exposed toBroadway shows, Broadway show cast recordings, and theNew York Philharmonic Orchestra. Through his older sistershe was exposed to all kinds of other music- including jazz androck and roll. "My sister Jill worked for the light show at TheFillmore East where I could hear all the bands regularly,especially my then-favorites Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa."

"I picked up the guitar around the time I was 14 and beganplaying with an interesting high school group called Moon Unitwhich consisted of guitar, bass, drums, organ, and flute. Itwasn't your typical late sixties rock and roll instrumentation. Iwas exposed to jazz regularly as a kid, but it never caught myear until I heard Lee Morgan. Lee's sound was exciting andmade me want to hear more jazz. The first jazz people whoturned me on were trumpet players, then I heard CharlieParker."

"The fire of Lee Morgan played with grabbed me immediately,"he says, "and the way both he and Clifford Brown fullyarticulated each note has been an ideal toward which I workwith regard to the sound I try and get on the guitar. When Iheard Bird, I knew I wanted to play like him in the sense ofplaying things which are meaningful, emotional, and, morethan anything else, irresistibly beautiful. The guitar is a realchallenge because it tends to be a very visual instrument andlends itself to patterns. In a way, I try and get away from theguitar and into the world where music exists in and of itself,where ideas, articulation and sound exist apart and away fromthe instrument."

At that same time Joshua began studying in Manhattan withSal Salvador. "Sal was a great teacher, a great person, andeventually became a great friend. He exposed me to a broadrange of music and helped me accomplish a lot on theinstrument in a relatively short time."

In 1972, Breakstone entered New College of the University ofSouth Florida (Sarasota, Florida), where he graduated in threeyears - including two terms at Berklee College of Music(Boston, Massachusetts)- in 1975 with a degree in jazzstudies. After graduation Joshua spent several months inBrazil, then moved back to New York where he taught andperformed while taking graduate courses at NYU. In 1979 hemade his recording debut on Canadian reedman Glen Hall'sBook of the Heart (Sonora Records 101), with JoAnneBrackeen, Cecil McBee, and Billy Hart. During the periodleading up to his first recording as a leader in 1983,Wonderful! (Sonora Records 222 with Barry Harris, EarlSauls, and Leroy Williams), he was residing in New York,performing with people like Vinnie Burke, Warne Marsh, EmilyRemler, Dave Schnitter, and Aaron Bell, teaching bothprivately and at the Rhode Island Conservatory of Music(Providence, Rhode Island). The following year he recordedagain for Sonora Records, 4/4=1, with Kenny Barron.

In 1986 Breakstone began a four year contract for fourrecordings with Fantasy Records' Contemporary label. Firstwas Echoes, with Pepper Adams, Kenny Barron, DennisIrwin, and Keith Copeland, followed by Evening Star thefollowing year with Jimmy Knepper, Tommy Flanagan, DaveShapiro and Keith Copeland. Self Portrait in Swing followed inearly 1989, followed by 1990's Nine By Three, Breakstone'sfirst trio recording, with Dennis Irwin and Kenny Washington.Josh has written, "During the course of my four short yearswith Contemporary, I spanned two eras in the recordingindustry in that my first two recordings were released only onLP, my third was released as both LP and CD, and my last,Nine By Three, was released only on CD."

1986 was the year of Joshua's first Japanese tour. Since thattime he has toured throughout Japan usually twice a yearboth with his own groups as well as with the groups of suchnoted Japanese musicians as Terumasa Hino, "Monkey"Kobayashi, and Eiji Nakamura. In 1991 Joshua beganrecording for the Japanese King Record label, an associationthat led to four recordings. Walk Don't Run was followed by IWant To Hold Your Hand and Oh! Darling - two CDs ofBeatles compositions rearranged and adapted toBreakstone's musical point of view. On all three are heard theformidable rhythm section of pianist Kenny Barron, bassistDennis Irwin, and drummer Kenny Washington. Thesubsequent Remembering Grant Green features GrantGreen bandmates, organist Jack McDuff and drummer AlHarewood. Kenny Barron returns as well on two tracks, thistime with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer KeithCopeland.

Sittin' On The Thing With Ming, his 1993 debut recording forCapri Records, consists mostly (except for one selection) ofJoshua's original compositions. " In live settings I tend to playa mix of originals and standards, I'm always writing newthings. After four CDs of theme recordings for King, I hadamassed quite a lot of original material which ended up seeingthe light of day - in terms of being recorded for the first time -on Sittin' On The Thing With Ming." This was followed by his2001 recording, Tomorrow's Hours, a tribute to thecompositions of Wes Montgomery and 2003's A Jamais(Forever). "A Jamais was recorded in the south of Francewith French musicians, the first time I've recorded outside theUS. It also consists, as does Sittin' On The Thing With Ming,almost entirely of my own originals, some of which had beenpreviously recorded, others being recorded here for the firsttime."

1996's Let's Call This Monk, with bassist Dennis Irwin anddrummer Mickey Roker marks Breakstone's debut for theDouble-Time label. In 2000 he recorded a subsequent tributeto another of the great jazz pianists with his The Music of BudPowell. Sandwiched in between on Double-Time was his 1999This Just In.

There is one additional and very unique item of interest inJoshua's discography as a leader, Japanese Songs. "As itsays in the liner notes, it all began with the gift. When I wastouring Japan in the spring of 1999, I was given anextraordinary present by Junko Noda, an opera singer,pianist and teacher - a handmade book of Japanese songs.From this gift sprang the Japanese Songs CD, which is selfproduced- a limited edition of only 1000 copies, each onehand signed and numbered. I'm really proud of this veryspecial project."

What does the future hold for Joshua? "We may do anotherrecording in France, possibly a duo with the brilliant LouisPetrucciani who plays so fabulously on A Jamais. We're alsodiscussing doing a recording in Japan with Japanesemusicians. I'm leaving a few days free to visit studios on mynext trip there, in April." "I'm basically trying to do what I dobetter and better. I'm trying to keep writing, constantly learningnew tunes and being exposed to players who are new to me -I feel that my travel and performance schedule contributes alot to my growth, and hopefully the recordings will documentthat."

"In teaching, either in clinics or individually, I describe tostudents the progression we make as jazz musicians, startingwith learning to improvise, to negotiate any harmonic terrain,which could be a lifetime of work right there. But when we takea step back and consider, to become an improviser is notreally to have accomplished anything at all- the goal in jazz isone of self expression- to become a unique voice, to saysomething in our own way, with our own voice. It's only in thetaking of this leap- from someone who improvises to someonewho communicates- that we go from being musicians,craftsmen, to becoming artists. I don't worry about trying to bethis thing or that other thing, my idea has always been to tryand say something straight from my heart. It's always beenmy conviction that if you say something unique, in your ownway, and honestly, that there will always be an audience therefor you, you'll always be all right."