Since I really began playing again in earnest back in September, I was surprised at how quickly my old skills came back. In mere days, the fingers were feeling good again, and I more or less could play like I used to, when I would hold forth at various venues in NW Ohio, from Easy Street Cafe to Manhattan's in Toledo. I could "make a gig," as they say.

However, the goal here is not to simply reattain my old style with all of its warts and problems. The goal is of course to improve upon these fu… Continue

Bobby Darin. He swaggered, snapped his fingers and shrugged his shoulders to jazz, blues, gospel, pop, folk, rhythm & blues and Country Western. He was the first great cross-over artist before the term was even phrased. He had a sleepy-eyed charisma that kept his audience spellbound. He possessed a natural sense of rhythm and vocal timing that was unmatched among male vocalists. He did incredible impersonations, could dance with the best of them, and played any instrument he picked up like i… Continue

Let's jump right back into talking about some albums that have been important to me as both a jazz performer and listener.

4. Michael Brecker (Pat Metheny on guitar): Time is of the Essence

The organ/guitar combination has always been one of my favorites (possibly because I haven't had the pleasure of actually participating in one of these yet), and here we find a sort of modern take on it that really works. The originals here really do capture at once the spirit of contemporary jazz and old s… Continue

I've noticed that while the jazz guitar life network has plenty of members that there doesn't seem to be tons of activity, and I find myself spamming the news stream with lots of stuff. Oh well. I don't mind being in small little cubbie holes on the internet. Sometimes a small group of good folks is better than countless millions anyway.

So I thought I would blog about some of my favorite jazz guitar albums and how they've influenced me and why. I won't have time to do this in one post so this… Continue

Last weekend was my first chance to get out and about in downtown Raleigh since I moved here (being married with a little girl means that I have to have good reasons to go out without them!).

As is usually the case in places that are not NYC, LA or even Chicago, San Francisco or Austin, the scene is kind of hard to find. Day one of the weekend saw me and my friend (fabulous NW Ohio double bassist Jason Gahler) going to Amra's, a "jazz venue" cigar bar. Well, the band was very good (and the ciga… Continue