Results for "guitar"

John Pisano

Born: February 6, 1931

John Pisano began his musical career on the East Coast playing the piano. At age 14 he took up the guitar. Later, in the 1950’s, he entered the service where he played guitar with the Air Force Band. Upon leaving the Air Force, he followed Howard Roberts and Jim Hall into the guitar chair in the Chico Hamilton quintet and his first significant recordings were made with Hamilton. The recordings, Chico Hamilton Quintet (1957) and South Pacific (1958) were especially noteworthy examples of Pisano’s already advanced comping, rhythm and single string solo techniques.

Throughout the later 1950’s, Pisano recorded with members of the Hamilton band, mainly Paul Horn and Fred Katz. Pisano’s work with Fred Katz was a natural extension of the Hamilton organization in style and format. The Katz recordings always included some intricate solos, supporting comping and rhythm by Pisano. Especially notable were Fred Katz and His Jammers and 4,5,6 Trio.

Roy Patterson

For guitarist Roy Patterson, growing up in rural Nova Scotia provided a strong sense of individuality rooted in the history of the land that would play a large part in his music. But early musical influences of rock, blues, and R&B are what fostered Roy's interest and passion for the guitar. He performed with local groups touring Atlantic Canada, meanwhile exploring the mysteries of jazz, listening intensely to the music of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, and other masters from the jazz tradition.

In 1978, the 24 year old made the move to Toronto, and brought along an intense practice routine and a burning desire to play jazz. Since then Roy has performed with many of Canada's jazz elite, including Don Thompson, The Doug Riley/Phil Dwyer Quartet, The Barry Elmes Quintet, The Bob Mover Quartet, Mike Murley, Bernie Senensky and many other highly accomplished artists. His style has drawn comparisons with some of the most respected guitarists in North America, and his playing has taken him to Finland, Istanbul, Italy and the U.S.A. In the spring of 2002 Roy was invited to take part in a series of concerts and a workshop for the Commission Project in Rochester, New York where he performed there with a number of U.S. musicians such as John Faddis, Keeter Betts, Jay Leonhart, Akira Tana and Fred Wesley.

Charley Patton

Born: 1891

Charley Patton - Blues Singer, guitarist ( 1892 - 1934) Scraped and raw as a freshly plowed field, Charley Patton’s voice decries his harsh life amid the plantation system of the Reconstruction-era South. Patton rises defiantly from scratched 78 rpm shellac records, his voice in sync with the relentless clang of the Stella guitar he tuned a whole-step sharp to cut like a scythe in raucous juke joints; his prickly presence makes his protégé Howlin’ Wolf sound like a crooner. His is a brutally uncompromising sound that modern ears may find daunting. Listeners used to standard 12-bar progressions and regular four-beat measures may also find disconcerting the idiosyncrasies of early blues accompaniment, which follows the vocal line, rather than vice-versa

Rosa Passos

Born: April 13, 1952

In her native Brazil, Rosa Passos is known and loved as "a feminine João Gilberto." For a singer/songwriter who carries the soulful cool of bossa nova into a new age, there can be no higher compliment. Mingling the classics of Gilberto, Jobim, Barroso and other masters of Brazilian song with her own enchanting works, Passos sings in a sweet, warm, totally-in-tune voice that the Los Angeles Times has hailed as "sounding a bit like the legendary Elis Regina but with the rhythmic articulation of Ella Fitzgerald." That voice and that style, which Brazilian fans have known for years, are pleasures international audiences are now getting to know a little better

Joe Pass

Born: January 13, 1929

Joe Pass almost didn't make it as a musician due to his early battle with drug addiction. But following a successful rehab at Synanon and a recording session with fellow recovered musicians entitled Sounds of Synanon, the guitarist was signed by Dick Bock to the Pacific Jazz label. Pass made several albums as a leader and sideman for Bock, though work started drying up in the late 1960s as rock dominated the music marketplace.

But it was when Joe Pass met impressario Norman Granz that the guitarist's career took off. Granz signed him to his new Pablo label in the early 1970s and recorded him extensively, as a soloist (especially the oustanding Virtuoso series), in duos, trios and as a part of many studio and concert jam sessions

Mary Osborne

Born: July 17, 1921

Mary Osborne was an American jazz electric guitarist. Osborne was born in Minot, North Dakota, the tenth of eleven children. Her family was very musically inclined; her mother played guitar and her father, in addition to constructing violins, allowed his barbershop to be the meeting place for the town’s musicians. As early as 3 years of age, she showed an interest in and a knack for playing music. Osborne’s earliest instruments included piano, ukelele, violin, and banjo. At age nine, she first played the guitar. At ten, she started playing banjo in her father’s ragtime band. She also came to be featured on her own radio program, which she would continue to perform on twice weekly until she was fifteen

Ray Obiedo

Born: January 27, 1952

Even as a child growing up in the East Bay, Obiedo recognized his own profoundly soulful musical connection to the Northern California region and its eclectic blend of exotic multi-ethnic rhythms. Small wonder indeed, many years and successful albums later. Ray has steadily emerged as one the most originally expressive and exciting contemporary jazz talents of the last three decades with a delightfully distinct Bay Area flavor thoroughly marinating his personal jazz signature and nationwide festival performances. “Among my favorite childhood memories,” Obiedo recalls while relaxing at his self-owned Werewolf Recording Studios in the Oakland Hills, were those numerous trips across the bay to places like the Fillmore Auditorium & Winterland Auditorium to hear some of the greatest rock bands in the world

Bern Nix

Born: 1950

Bern Nix has played the guitar since the age of 11. Bern studied music and graduated with a degree in music education from the Berklee College of Music. Since 1985, he has led The Bern Nix Trio. Before leading his Trio, Bern performed and recorded with {{m: Ornette Coleman = 5818}} from 1975 to 1987 as an original member of the Prime Time Band. The Prime Time Band recorded six albums including Dancing in Your Head, Of Human Feelings and Body Meta and performed hundreds of concerts around the world. The Bern Nix Trios first recording, Alarms and Excursions (New World Records) was released in 1993, making many top ten critics lists

Oscar Castro-Neves

Born: May 15, 1940

Few musicians in the world today can boast a career that reflects a lifetime of accomplishments as diverse, rich and acclaimed as those Oscar Castro-Neves has achieved. Renowned as a composer and arranger for his sophisticated harmonic concepts and the exquisite texture and color of his orchestrations, he is equally well known for his distinctive guitar style and as an accomplished record producer who has worked with dozens of major artists in a wide range of jazz, popular, Brazilian and classical idioms. Famed jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote of Oscar, "The crystalline beauty of his arrangements is matched by the rare delicacy with which they are interpreted

Ken Navarro

Born: June 9, 1953

Top charting & award winning contemporary jazz guitarist and composer Ken Navarro is recognized as one of today's leading musicians. His impressive discography of 19 top charting albums showcase his appeal to a wide range of listeners with inspiring compositions and superb guitar performances.

Navarro's brand new CD Dreaming of Trains will be released on January 16, 2010 exclusively at kennavarro.com with a national retail release date of March 16, 2010. Ken's nine new compositions and his signature acoustic and electric guitar work are supported by world class musicians including drummer Joel Rosenblatt (Spyro Gyra, Manhatten Transfer), acoustic and electric bassist Tom Kennedy (Dave Weckl, Al DiMeola), and keyboardist Jay Rowe (Special EFX, Marion Meadows).