jazz guitar

Rez Abbasi has found freedom in changing his perspective on playing. It’s no longer about what he can bring to the music, but what the music can bring to him, he explains.

Photo by Scott Friedlander

As duo Naya Baaz, veteran guitarist Rez Abbasi and sitarist Josh Feinberg bridge the voices of Indian classical music and jazz on Charm.

For Manhattan-based jazz guitarist and composer Rez Abbasi, much of his output, starting with his first release as a bandleader in 1993, lives at the intersection of Indian classical music and post-bop (a synthesis of bebop, modal jazz, free jazz, and fusion). And while that eclectic mix of sound naturally lends itself to a transcendence of genre, Abbasi has remained connected to the various musical traditions he’s explored over the years. But his having that connection doesn’t necessarily mean he has “respect” for tradition.

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Rig Rundown - Gilad Hekselman

The jazz-trio chameleon uses handcrafted guitars and a self-restricted pedal playground to cover bass, keys, and a disintegrating computer.

After releasing Trio Grande with saxophonist Will Vinson and drummer Antonio Sánchez(via Whirlwind Recordings), Gilad Hekselman virtually invited PG's Chris Kies into his NYC-based jam space.

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Julian Lage's new Collings signature model has DynaSonic pickups and is fully hollow, with a trestle block, a solid Honduran mahogany body, a maple laminate top, and a Bigsby B3 vibrato tailpiece.

Photo by Alysse Gafkjen

The jazz virtuoso used a new Collings signature model and his stunning command of technique, tone, and composition to craft his new album, Squint, but reflection and intention helped him find its soul.

Getting signed to Blue Note Records—the onetime home of John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Miles Davis, Kenny Burrell, and many, many other greats—is a high honor in the jazz world. "It's just incredible," says Julian Lage, whose new album, Squint, is his debut for the famed label. "It's thrilling and inspiring and absolutely makes me want to be a better musician." But sometimes, simply being a better musician in a technical sense isn't enough. In the period between when the COVID lockdown began and the start of Squint's sessions with his trio in August, Lage had an epiphany during the "months of playing these songs, hours on end by myself. I wanted to write songs that would be restorative to play.

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