Interviews

I choose to play my own tunes because I want to be original. I would never get close to the greats of this music so playing the same tunes that Wes or Grant Green played […]

I had heard Jimmy Cobb live before and was shocked to hear the drums sound like that live, and getting to play with him felt surreal. I played the way I play, but my stuff […]

I started busking in downtown Greenville when I was 9. It was just something fun to try. I don’t busk much anymore–most of my playing is for gigs and shows. The positives were that the […]

Large ensembles are great. I love the challenge of finding your role in a band, and not straying too far from it. It becomes about the music as a whole as opposed to your individual […]

I first heard of Tomas Janzon many years ago when he submitted an album for review. Suffice it to say I really dug his playing and wanted to feature him in a Jazz Guitar Life […]

If you want to change your playing you have to change how you hear. Take note of the qualities in people’s playing that you enjoy. If their music resonates with you, it is telling you […]

Something else I might suggest, although it’s not really a component, is to keep an open mind and listen to everything that you can, because there are so many ways of playing guitar. And don’t […]

With a large majority of our Jazz Guitar Legacy players passed on, it is a rare moment indeed when one gets an opportunity to talk with such a player, especially one who has been around […]

What I would say is that nothing moves me more than people improvising with genuine emotional directness and range. All the greats have it, and not just in the jazz world. It’s nothing to do […]

During my formative years,  I guess my biggest jazz guitar influences were Joe Pass and Wes Montgomery. Both produced the sound that I wanted, but both were different in their approach to the instrument and […]