Below are links to a three-part article I have written on the state of jazz guitar and its future, now published on Jazz.com. In Part One I had mentioned how educational resources for learning the complex art of jazz have changed from the time of my childhood. I had chosen the word “tedious” to describe the rote learning method of Mel Bay publications at that time. Responses from Mel Bay publishing were hot and heavy and, needless to say, a bit defensive. I am reminded of just how much power even a single word can hold- glad I didn’t use the term “insufferably boring!” But that wasn’t the point of the article, nor do I have anything against Mel Bay books, which have filled a valuable niche in jazz guitar education. I simply wanted to call attention to the way things have changed. No good deed, etc…
Part Three of the article should be up on Jazz.com in about a week.
I’m very excited about the new sound! We have been rehearsing in Manchester, New Hampshire and should be playing New England venues soon. In addition to some of my originals, classic jazz standards, tunes from the Great American Songbook and some modal favorites from titans like Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea, we will be working on new material for my upcoming album, Guitar Noir.
