To my surprise there are so many great guitarists now it’s almost impossible to name them all or interview them but every few months or so I choose the ones I like to give more exposure to.
For this article, I asked Jake Reichbart, Anders Nilsson,Steve Herberman and, Jaakko Salvolainen. Each guitarist is different and yet in my estimation great.i
Having composed four DVD/book packages for Hal Leonard, the largest instructional music publishing company in the world. He has offered clinics and master classes locally, from the University of Michigan‘s jazz department, Bowling Green and Oakland Universities all the way to Berklee affiliate schools in France and Israel, Jake has been featured on the cover of Just Jazz Guitar magazine alongside the great George Benson, as well as being a featured artist in Fingerstyle 360 magazine in the same issue Tommy Emmanuel was on the cover.
He has performed concerts in the Ann Arbor and Westland district libraries, public schools, town halls, festivals, and nearly any form of public venue imaginable. When a performance calls for more in-depth Jazz virtuosity, he will perform music by Chick Corea, John Coltrane, Allan Holdsworth, and virtually all the jazz greats.
To learn more about Jake, you can visit his website:
https://greatlakespaa.org/jake-reichbart/
br> DM: How long have you played guitar?
JR: Although at age 58 it seems it’s been a while, I actually started fairly late, right around age 16 or 17. My original inspiration were the blues/rock players of the 60s and 70s, Clapton, Santana, Jeff Beck, and many others
DM: Who are your major influences?
JR: Once I became serious about the guitar, and since I was involved in a variety of styles of playing, my influences are quite varied. As I “graduated“ from blues and rock into a more sophisticated fusion, I have become deeply enamored with Allan Holdsworth. I was also a big fan of the modern sound with a clean tone, so Pat Matheny also became a major influence. As I became aware of the possibilities of solo guitar, Joe Pass became my biggest influence and the one I have tried the most to emulate
DM: Why Jazz?
JR Being able to play jazz, for me, was actually a financial decision… Trying to find the quickest path to making a living, I realized in my mid-20s that by being able to play the standards and further, adapt to popular music to the jazz format, I would be able to find jobs in the “background music industry“ meaning playing cocktail events, restaurants, etc. At the same time I have become deeply in love with harmony and the feel of jazz and I have developed a great love and a fairly deep knowledge of the classic American songbook while continuing to adapt pop music to jazz. < br >
DM: How do you feel about the use of electronic effects with Guitar?
JR: I have no problem with the idea that anybody might use electronics to create new and interesting music that falls under the jazz category. Nevertheless, for myself, I don’t feel any need to use anything beyond the guitar and an amp with a little bit of reverb, since nearly 100% of my focus is on trying to pick great tunes, the choice of notes and ultimately attempting to deliver a satisfying performance through the use of my fingers and guitar only.
DM: Where do you think Jazz is headed?
JR: Obviously that’s really hard to say, although I would hope that, at least in part, jazz would return to where it was always welcome, to clubs, restaurants, bars, and cafés. While proper jazz concerts are obviously every jazz musician's goal, I believe people should also be able to experience great music in casual settings without having, necessarily, to pay a premium.
Anders Nilsson is a Swedish-born, now living in New York City, experimental guitarist. As an electric, acoustic, and 11-string alto guitarist, he has performed at festivals and concerts throughout Europe and North America. His solo guitar music is featured on the albums “Night Guitar” 2012 and “Äventyr” 2022. “Anders is comfortable with everything from free improvisation to avant-garde metal
His recent solo effort, Night Guitar, traverses ghostly mood-setting, bluesy twang, and overdriven riffage. He leads three bands playing his music; Anders Nilsson Group with Satoshi Takeishi drums, percussion, and David Ambrosio electric bass, bata, Outer Space Caravan with Stephanie Griffin viola, Michael Attias alto sax, Ken Filiano bass, Anders Nilsson’s AORTA, a jazz-rock band in Malmö, Sweden. He has played on over 40 albums and has performed and/or recorded with many artists such as Mohsen Namjoo, Gordon Beeferman, Jason Kao Hwang, Kalabalik, Paquito D’Rivera, Elliott Sharp, Fay Victor, and Angelblood.
Nilsson’s work as a composer has produced 100+ compositions ranging from brief to epic solo works to large experimental ensemble works, many of which have been released on several acclaimed albums. He has also written music for string quartet, short films, butoh dance performances and theatre. To learn more about Anders you can visit his website: http://www.andersnilssonguitar.com
DM: How long have you played guitar?
AN:I started when I was 10, my dad had an acoustic and I began taking lessons. At age 14 I started really practicing and was driven by whatever music seemed real at the time. I grew up in Sweden and just approaching jazz I went to a music high school in Malmö where my teacher Thomas Hallberg offered a healthy outlook and focus for practice. I proceeded to learn on my own, and through the university system, listening, playing, and transcribing, influential teachers were Bo Sylven who was an active jazz guitarist influenced by Bill and Gil Evans, and Helge Albin, an alto saxophonist/composer/big band leader with good, far-reaching ideas. All of this school training would have meant nothing unless I was internally driven.
DM: Who are your major influences?
AN: The older I get this list keeps growing; blues musicians such as Freddie King, Blind Blake, Mississippi John Hurt, Brazilian guitarists Baden Powell, Luiz Bonfá, João Gilberto, jazz musicians Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Ornette Coleman, and composers such as Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartók, Arnold Schönberg, distinctive guitarists such as D'Gary, Shiyani Ngcobo, Allan Holdsworth, and in new music my old teacher Stefan Östersjö, all incredibly great at what they do.
DM: Why Jazz?
AN: All of the above influences have their own unique mark, that's why. In the history of jazz, there is an idea that you can show up and be yourself, with whatever chops, and that's good. It's not the full truth however as professional typecasting can be encapsulating even at this moderate level of public acceptance and exposure. Learning how to navigate between the norms and the individualistic has been telling. Unity within a band can be hard to find, though I've been fortunate to find bandmates who are willing to use their musicality to be flexible whilst expressive many times over.
DM: How do you feel about the use of electronic effects with Guitar?
AN: The guitar is not a very important instrument in the history of jazz. Aside from early players like Eddie Lang, and later Charlie Christian there wasn't really a place created for it until Hammond Organ trios, when it appeared to be a voice for this music, although we follow in the fray of horn and piano players. I love George Van Eps, Tal Farlow, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, George Benson, and John Scofield.
Using effects on an already electric instrument was pretty much designed to happen and I'm glad to use effects as they change the sonic environment in a musically meaningful way, such as a piece of composed music changing its instrumentation from strings to brass for example.
DM: Where do you think Jazz is headed?
AN: The elements of music we care about will continue to be part of it no matter what happens. I just hope there is continued room and space for people, and individuals in bands, to express themselves and pursue the originality of it.
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Steve Herberman is a 7-string guitarist and a graduate of Berklee College Of Music. He’s featured in the book “The Great Jazz Guitarists” by Scott Yanow. Steve’s composition “What We Do” won first place in the jazz category of the 2018 American (International) Songwriting Competition.
Steve has performed and given music workshops across the US and Europe. He has played with renowned musicians such as John Pisano, Jimmy Bruno, Keter Betts, Gary Bartz, Buck Hill, Drew Gress, Chuck Berghofer, Harvie S, Mark Ferber, Jim Snidero, Ali Ryerson, Bob Wilbur, Steve Williams, Steve LaSpina, Jeff Hirshfield, and many more.
Steve has four CDs as a leader; Thoughtlines (2001) Action:Reaction (2006) Ideals (2008) and Counterbalance (2019.) His recordings have received wide critical acclaim in JazzTimes, Downbeat, Jazz Improv and many others. Action:Reaction, a CD of Steve's original music, was chosen as one of the top 50 CD's of 2007 by Jazz Improv magazine.
Steve Herberman taught jazz guitar on the faculty of Towson University near Baltimore MD for 14 years and is presently teaching music for the Jazz Band Masterclass and JazzWire in addition to home studio and online teaching. Steve has written instructional material for Downbeat magazine, Mel Bay’s Guitar Sessions, Just Jazz Guitar, and Fingerstyle Guitar Journal. He is an online instructor for www.mikesmasterclasses.com where he has taught over 60 instructional jazz video lessons. Steve Herberman has been featured on the covers of Just Jazz Guitar Magazine (Feb. 2009) and Fingerstyle Guitar Journal (2016) with his Comins guitar that he has endorsed for many years. To learn more about Steve you can visit his website: https://www.steveherberman.com/
DM: How long have you played guitar?
SH: I’ve played for 45 years starting at age 11. I took lessons with a local DC player named Keith Grimes who was a great help in getting me prepared for Berklee. I studied with William G. Leavitt at Berklee and some other great teachers there including Al Defino. Larry Baione and Jon Damian.
DM: Who are your major influences?
SH: My big guitar influences are Lenny Breau, George Van Eps, Ted Greene, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, and Ed Bickert, in no particular order. I love so many piano players such as Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan and Hank Jones. Horn players get a lot of listening time with me as well: Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, John Coltrane, and Cannonball Adderly to name just a few.
DM: Why Jazz?
SH Because I love to improvise and jazz uses all of the colors of the musical rainbow. I love the fact that jazz crosses boundaries into other styles and I like to add classical, Brazilian and other styles into the music I play.
DM: How do you feel about the use of electronic effects with Guitar?
SH I love hearing effects being used by other guitarists. For me personally I choose to incorporate an organic, unaffected tone with no effects.
DM: Where do you think Jazz is headed?
SH: There are so many great younger players of this music and it will go on forever as far as I can tell. Jazz will continue to draw from all music and art for its influences and will continue to grab the attention of the folks that really pay attention to beauty in the world.
Jaakko Salvolainen was born 11.08.1970. Helsinki, Finland. As a child, he got to know the music of Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Miles Davis, and all the other greats of that time with his father and dreamed of becoming a saxophone player.
He got his first guitar from an uncle at age of 4 or 5 who taught him a few chords and some simple things which he loved to play. He would try new things every now and then. That’s when his love for the guitar began. He started practicing the guitar at the age of 10 and found the music of Jimi Hendrix. At that time his dad gave him a Joe Pass album, Virtuoso # 4, which is still to this day an important album in his collection He started studying Classical music at age of 13 but spent time with several rock bands playing Blues with friends. He quit rock bands and began studying the music of J.S. Bach and other baroque musicians. On his own, he studied lute composers. He got bored with music and stopped playing for some years, but the music stayed inside his head. In 2006 he started creating art with the name of Alvari Lume and had an art exhibition with letter paintings where he played and improvised music with a friend and got back to music and it felt natural to continue with the name Alvari Lume. He started recording and playing music again and performed a night of improvised music in a local Bar. Whether he performs, either solo or with musicians he loves creating new music in the real-time
For more info about Jaakko visit his website: http://alvarilume.weebly.com/
DM: How long are you playing Guitar?
JS:I got my first guitar at age of 4 or 5. I started practicing around the age of 10 and started studying Classical guitar at age of 13.
DM: Who are your major influences JS: No one precisely. Every music I hear / everything in life. I think that these things happen in the time and we are only tools for showing it out. It doesn’t come from us but through us.
JS: My dad was a jazz lover so it is the very first music I have heard and the music I have lived with all my life. Jazz gives the freedom to breathe
DM: How do you feel about the use of effects with Guitar?
JS: I have used electronics a lot but nowadays I prefer not to. I even play acoustically as much as possible. I like to rely on my Fingers.
DM: Where do you think Jazz is headed?
JS: jazz will combine with new things in time and with the new generation
I want to thank all four of these wonderful guitarist for their cooperation.
Dom Minasi
