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Award-winning guitarist
Julian Lage has been widely acclaimed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation. The New York-based musician boasts a long résumé as a desired sideman with artists as diverse as
Gary Burton,
Taylor Eigsti,
John Zorn,
Nels Cline,
Chris Eldridge,
Eric Harland, and
Fred Hersch, to name just a few. Equally important is his reputation as a soloist and bandleader. He is equally versed in jazz, classical, pop, and show tunes, and has spent more than a decade searching through the myriad strains of American musical history via an impeccable technique and a gift for freely associating between styles, tempos, keys, and textures that adds to his limitless improvisational spirit.
Sounding Point, his 2009 debut album for Emarcy, featuring
Bela Fleck and
Chris Thile among his sidemen, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. For
Room, his Mack Avenue debut in 2014, he recorded as a duo with
Cline, revealing the depth of their respect and camaraderie. It proved so successful that
Lage joined
Cline's group for the landmark
Lovers in 2016, the same year his own
Arclight was released. On the latter,
Lage played a Telecaster -- a guitar not normally associated with jazz -- in a program of modern originals and pre-bop covers with bassist
Scott Colley and drummer
Kenny Wollesen. He brought the lineup back together for 2018's acclaimed
Modern Lore, the same year he worked with
Cline's quartet for the Grammy-nominated
Currents, Constellations. Introducing a trio with
Jorge Roeder and Dave King,
Lage released 2019's
Love Hurts and 2021's
Squint.
Jazz guitarist
Julian Lage was a child prodigy -- playing his instrument at the age of five and performing in public a year later. Shortly thereafter,
Lage began playing with such renowned artists as
Carlos Santana (when he was only eight years old!),
Pat Metheny,
Kenny Werner,
Toots Thielemans,
Martin Taylor, and
David Grisman, among others, resulting in
Lage being the subject of the Academy Award-nominated 1996 documentary film Jules at Eight. In addition to performing,
Lage recorded as a duo with
Grisman (the 1999 release
Dawg Duos), and contributed a fine cover of "In a Sentimental Mood" with
Martin Taylor and
David Grisman to the 2000 compilation Acoustic Disc: 100% Handmade Music, Vol. 5.
Lage also appeared at numerous jazz concerts/festivals and performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards.
In 2009,
Lage released his debut solo album,
Sounding Point, on Emarcy. The album was widely celebrated as the arrival of a new and authoritative voice on the instrument. This was followed by the concept album
Gladwell in 2011. He fronted a quintet that featured bassist
Jorge Roeder, tenor saxophonist
Dan Blake, cellist
Aristides Rivas, and drummer/percussionist
Tupac Mantilla. The guitarist switched labels for 2013's
Free Flying. Issued on Palmetto Records, it was recorded in duet with pianist
Fred Hersch.
The duo format apparently agreed with
Lage, though its focus shifted a bit. In 2014, he issued two such albums. The first was
Avalon with guitarist
Chris Eldridge. Produced by
the Milk Carton Kids'
Kenneth Pattengale, it contained bluegrass, folk, jazz, and classic pop standards; the pair called it a "love letter to the acoustic guitar."
Lage's second 2014 album,
Room, with fellow jazz guitarist
Nels Cline, appeared on Mack Avenue. It focused on a range of material, from intricately composed and complex works to free and spontaneous improvisations.
In 2016,
Lage released the trio album
Arclight with bassist
Scott Colley and drummer
Kenny Wollesen. Produced by Grammy-winning guitarist/songwriter
Jesse Harris (
Norah Jones,
Madeleine Peyroux), the album featured the single "Nocturne." A five-song EP, Live in Los Angeles, followed later that year, documenting concert versions of songs from
Arclight. In early 2017,
Lage reunited with
Chris Eldridge for
Mount Royal, a second volume of acoustic guitar duets. Later that year, he paired with
Gyan Riley for Midsummer Moons, a duet album of ten
John Zorn compositions. The following year
Lage reassembled his trio with
Colley and
Wollesen for
Modern Lore. Produced by Harris, this set flipped the script on
Arclight. Where the previous set -- his first electric guitar trio date -- found the artist inspired by freewheeling, pre-bop jazz, the latter recording incorporated the rhythmic sensibility and persona of early rock & roll in improvisational settings.
After tours with his own and
Cline's groups,
Lage formed a new trio with bassist
Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King (
Bad Plus) to cut his third Mack Avenue offering, 2019's
Love Hurts. Whereas
Arclight explored the pre-bop and country swing eras and
Modern Lore surveyed first wave rock & roll,
Love Hurts found the guitarist searching through the music of the late 1960s and early to mid-'70s in various genres for a series of covers -- including songs by
Roy Orbison,
Ornette Coleman,
Jimmy Giuffre, and
Peter Ivers -- in a jazz fusion of his own design.
Lage, backed by King and
Roeder returned with the
Margaret Glaspy- and
Armand Hirsch-produced
Squint, his Blue Note debut, in June 2021. ~ Greg Prato