About the Artists
Called "Britain's answer to Ry Cooder," Justin Adams is one the UK's most original and inspirational guitarists, lending his talents to such artists as Jah Wobble, Sinead O’Connor, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno. A restless musical traveler, Adams’ acclaimed solo debut Desert Road (World Village) creates a dub-wise atmospheric soundscape filled with swaying grooves and parched tones that invoke desert landscapes, Arizona or Sahara -- an ancient / contemporary Moorish blues with echoes of the call to prayer and African trance. Adams takes a break from his worldwide tour as a member of Robert Plant’s band The Strange Sensations, to make his US debut playing his own material, joined by master percussionist Salah Dawson Miller. 'One of the two or three best guitarists in the country, he's made an album which combines the best qualities of J.J.Cale and Ali Farka Toure.' -- Charlie Gillett, BBC London Live. More about Justin Adams
While Andy Summers is best known as the guitarist of the Police, he has since forged a successful and acclaimed solo career with new age-influenced contemporary instrumental music that, like his work with Sting and company, draws on his love for jazz and his fascination with creating instrumental textures. Summers met Sting and Stewart Copeland in 1977 while playing with a band called Strontium 90. The two asked Summers to join their full-time project, the Police; together, the trio gradually developed a style centered around jazz- and reggae-influenced pop/rock, and Sting's strong bass lines allowed Summers to supply subtle sonic textures and colors on his guitar, and to experiment with various effects. Summers first stepped out on his own in 1982, teaming with King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp on the jazz- and Eastern-tinged I Advance Masked. It was followed in 1984 with Bewitched, another Summers/Fripp collaboration, around the same time the Police officially disbanded. His first solo effort, 1987's harmonically intricate yet pop-oriented XYZ, met with poor critical response. Its follow-up, 1988's Mysterious Barricades, was more successful, emphasizing Summers' textural sensibilities on its jazzy, new age-influenced compositions. A string of albums in this style followed through the '90s, notably The Golden Wire (1989), Charming Snakes (1991), World Gone Strange (1991), Invisible Thread (1993), and The Last Dance of Mr. X (1997). For 1998's Strings of Desire, he teamed with South American guitar virtuoso Victor Biglione; 1999's Green Chimneys: Music of Thelonious Monk found Summers working with a larger ensemble than usual for him, as well as his first collaboration with Sting since the Police (on a version of "'Round Midnight"). Following the success of his Monk-themed album, the guitarist put together an album of interpretations of compositions by Charles Mingus called Peggy's Blue Skylight, released in late 2000. More about Andy Summers
The fusion rock guitarist/composer Victor Biglione has recorded with Andy Summers (Strings of Desire) and Marcos Ariel (Duo, Vol. 1). As sideman, he has worked with Sérgio Mendes, Wagner Tiso, Gal Costa, Ivan Lins, Emílio Santiago, Marcos Valle, Marina, and Fátima Guedes. He was involved in A Cor do Som in the early '80s and recorded his first solo album in 1986. In 1996, he wrote the soundtrack for the film Como Nascem os Anjos.
Benjamin Verdery has been described by Guitar Review Magazine as "An
American original; an American master." Since his 1980 New York debut with
his wife, flutist Rie Schmidt, he has led an exciting and varied musical life.
His recordings include: Bach: Transcriptions for Guitar (GRI); The Mask (New
World Records) performing Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Romancero Gitano, Op. 152 for
chorus and guitar; Reverie: French Music for Flute and Guitar (Schmidt/Verdery
Duo, Sony Classical); John Williams Plays Vivaldi (Sony Classical) performing
Vivaldi’s Concerto in G Major for Two Mandolins; Some Towns and Cities
(Sony Classical), Ride the Wind Horse: American Guitar Music (Sony Classical)
and The Enchanted Dawn ( Schmidt/Verdery Duo, GRI). Benjamin has also been a
featured artist on two recent releases for the Windham Hill label. In 2001,
Benjamin Verdery released Ben Verdery Ufonia (with his ensemble of the same
name), and Soepa: American Guitar Music (a follow up to Ride the Wind Horse).
As a performer, Verdery has performed in many countries, including the International
Guitar Festival in Havana, Cuba; Festival International de Agosto, Caracas,
Venezuela; Theatre Carré in Amsterdam; Chichester Cathedral, England;
Bad Urach Schubert Festival in Germany; the 92nd Street Y, the Chamber Music
Society of Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the Ambassador
Theater in Los Angeles. He has recorded and performed with such diverse artists
as Frederic Hand, Leo Kottke, Anthony Newman, Jessye Norman, Paco Peña,
Hermann Prey and John Williams. He regularly gives flute and guitar concerts
with the Schmidt/Verdery Duo and with his ensemble Ufonia (guitar, flute, oboe,
bass, percussion) and Bill & Ben (William Coulter, Benjamin Verdery, guitars).
As a composer, Benjamin Verdery does do not see such a clear division between
popular music and classical music, between chamber and ethnic music or jazz,
further developing the American music tradition. Many of his compositions have
been performed and published in recent years. Since 1985, Mr. Verdery has been
the chair of the guitar department at the Yale University School of Music. Mr.
Verdery also heads the Guitar Department at the Purchase College Conservatory
of Music. For three years, Benjamin has been the Artistic Director of the Yale
Guitar Extravaganza, a one-day guitar conference featuring guitarists and artists
in concert and lectures.
The Campbell Brothers--Chuck, Phil, and Darick Campbell--are an anointed group of accomplished guitarists with instruments tuned to the key of the holy spirit. Raised in the "sacred steel" style, a rare tradition rooted in the House of God Keith Dominion church that also gave rise to Robert Randolph, The Campbell Brothers have dazzled secular audiences playing incendiary and soul-stirring material from the African-American Holiness-Pentecostal repertoire with a new twist: the growling, wailing, shouting, singing and swinging voice of the steel guitar. "Truly magnificent and moving. …[Pedal steel guitarist Chuck] is the Jimi Hendrix and the Django Reinhardt of the steel guitar...” raves Real Blues. More about the Campbell Brothers
The role of the Arabic, lute-like, stringed instrument, the oud, has been revolutionalized through the playing of Anouar Brahem. While used in the past to accompany vocalists, the oud is used by Brahem as an imaginative solo instrument. In 1988, Tunisian newspaper, "Tunis-Hebdo", wrote, "If we had to elect the musician of the 80s, we would have, without the least hesitation, chosen Anouar Brahem". Encouraged by his music-loving father, Brahem began studying the oud, at the age of ten, when he enrolled at the National Conservatory of Music. For nearly a decade, he studied with influential oud player Ali Sitri. By the age of fifteen, he was playing well enough to perform regularly with local orchestras. Although he initially focused on Arabic music, Brahem increasingly incorporated elements of jazz. This was enhanced during the six years that he spent in Paris (1981--1987), performing at festivals and collaborating with choreographer Maurice Bejart on a production, "A Return To Carthage" that received the prestigous "National Award Of Excellence In Music". Returning to Tunis in 1987, Brahem performed at the Carthage Festival in the multi-artist production, "Ligua 85". Shortly afterwards, Braham agreed to become director of the Ensemble Musical De In Ville De Tunis. During the two years that he oversaw the ensemble, Brahem divided the group into smaller of various sizes. Among the productions that he directed were "Leilatou Tayu" and "El Hizam El Dhahbi". In 1990, Brahem resigned to focus on his own career. After touring in the United States and Canada, he met and was signed by Manfred Eicher, producer and founder of German record label, ECM. His debut album, "Barzakh", released in 1991, was recorded with Turkish musicians, Bechir Selmi and Lassad Hosni. In a review of the album, German music magazine, "Stereo", wrote, "(Brahem) is an exceptional musician and improviser". With his fifth effort for the label, "Thimar", released in 1998, Brahem collaborated with soprano saxophone and bass clarinet player Jon Surman and double bass player Dave Holland. Brahem has composed numerous pieces for such films and musical theater productions as "Sabots En Or", "Bezness", "Halfaouine", "Les Silences Du Palais", "Lachou Shakespeare", "Wannas El Kloub", El Amel", "Borj El Hammam" and "Bosten Jamalek".
Cited by Downbeat magazine as one of the "25 rising jazz stars for the
future" and "Best Bassist" and "Jazz Artist" in the
Talent Deserving Wider Recognition category of the 2002 Downbeat Critics' Poll,
bassist-composer Ben Allison has solidified his reputation as "one
of the most original voices in modern jazz" (CDNow), a strong organizational
force on the New York City music scene, and an advocate for artist empowerment.
At the age of twenty-five, he formed the Jazz Composers Collective — a
musician-run, non-profit organization based in New York City that is dedicated
to constructing an environment where artists can exercise their ideals of creating
and risking through the development and exploration of new music. As the Artistic
Director and a Composer-in-Residence of the Jazz Composers Collective, Ben has
produced or co-produced over 100 concerts and special events, including the
Collective's annual concert series (now in its tenth season), national and international
tours by Collective artists, an on-going Collective residency at the Museum
of Modern Art (MoMA, NYC), and an annual "Jazz Composers Collective Festival"
at the Jazz Standard — which has drawn international attention as a mainstay
of New York City's musical life. A prolific composer, Ben has received commissioning,
performing, and recording grants from Chamber Music America, the Mary Flagler
Cary Charitable Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland
Foundation, Meet the Composer, and the American Composers Forum. His five recordings
as a leader — Peace
Pipe(September 2002 release), Riding the Nuclear Tiger (2001), Third Eye (1999),
and Medicine Wheel (1998) on Palmetto Records, and his 1996 debut Seven Arrowson
the Koch Jazz label — showcase Ben's forward-thinking vision as a producer,
composer, arranger, and bassist, and his hands-on approach to his craft. Along
with pianist Frank Kimbrough, Ben co-leads the Herbie Nichols Project, a performing
and researching entity premiered by the Jazz Composers Collective in 1994, dedicated
to the music of the brilliant pianist-composer. Born in 1966 in New Haven, Connecticut,
Ben has performed the world over with musicians ranging from oudist Ara Dinkjian
to saxophonist Lee Konitz to ledgendary performance artist Joey Arias. He has
appeared on over 25 albums by various artists and has written music for film,
national television and radio, including the theme for the National Public Radio
(NPR) show "On the Media".