Dom Minasi's Guitar Hang
Welcome to my blog for March 2023. This month will feature four wonderful guitarists: Ricardo Grilli, Dave Rosenthal, Ayman Famous, Perry Smith
Ricardo Grilli
Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, relocated to Boston in 2008 to attend Berklee College of Music. Had some great teachers, like, Bruce Bartlett, Mick Goodrick, and, Tim Miller. I practiced a lot and, went through school mostly unnoticed. I
Ricardo moved to New York to get his Masters at NYU and to see what the fuss was about.Ricardo studied with Chris Potter, John Scofield, Mark Turner and Wayne Krantz which was great. His first album got great reviews.
In 2015 Ricardo released his second album 1954 with Aaron Parks, Joe Martin and Eric Harland as a summation of his first 3 years in NY, great reviews from the NY Times, Downbeat Magazine and many. The follow up album, 1962, featuring Mark Turner, Kevin Hays and once again Joe Martin and Eric Harland was released in 2020 during the pandemic to critical acclaim.
Ricardo has played as a leader at The Blue Note NYC, The 55 Bar, Smalls Jazz Club, Mezzrow, Ornithology, The Iridium, The Rex, Scullers Jazz Club, and many more.
He currently lives in Brooklyn and is preparing for his 4th album. He is also working on his ears and trying to learn how to sing.
To learn more about Ricardo, visit his website:
DM: How long are you playing?
RG - I’ve been playing guitar seriously for about 17 years now. Even though I started at age 13 I had a complicated relationship with the instrument, a mix of low self-esteem, and thinking I didn’t have much talent for it. All my friends seemed to get good so fast and I was nowhere. I started taking it seriously around 20 years of age after really falling in love with music.
DM: Why Jazz?
RG: I'm originally from Brazil , and Jazz wasn't naturally around my home. I started getting into classic rock through friends: progressive rock, fusion, and eventually Jazz. I befriended a record store owner and I would hang out at the store talking and checking out music every day after school. He was really knowledgeable and it opened up my mind. I'm very grateful for that time. I think what really drew me to Jazz was the possibility of expressing myself. Play a song, but it doesn't have to be the same every time. That sounded fun, stimulating, and freeing. I think that's what made me start taking my instrument seriously. The fact that it was supposed to be this involved and difficult music that you had to put time into, really fascinated me. Tales of John Coltrane had already started flowing around.
DM: Who are your influences?
RG: Man, that's a tough one to narrow down. Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and then, in no particular order: Wes Montgomery, John Scofield, Bird, Bud Powell, Mark Turner, Elmo Hope, Peter Bernstein, Jesse Van Ruller, Chick Corea, Eric Harland, Brad Mehldau, Wayne Krantz, Rodrigo Amarante, Jobim, Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta. There are many more I'm leaving out and forgetting I'm sure.
DM: How do you feel about the use of electronics (FX) in jazz?
RG - I'm absolutely fine with it. Don't think it matters at all with or without them as long as you have something to say and care for the craft. I used to process my guitar sound a lot but have moved away from that. A little reverb and I’m mostly cool.
Dave Rosenthal
David Rosenthal is a guitarist/artist/producer/educator based in NYC. He's played on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Good Day New York and has worked and recorded with Anthony Hamilton, Ledisi, Sevyn Streeter, Tori Kelly, Chuck Harmony, Claude Kelly, Marvin Winans, Christian McBride, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Kenny Latimore, Ky-Mani Marley, Wes Morgan, Bilal, Goapele, Alicia Olatuja, Leona Lewis, ABIAH and Jon B. He is a multi-instrumentalist and plays a variety of styles including R&B, Jazz, Funk, and Blues. He released his latest album, Family, in 2015. He is also an Artitst Rep for D'Angelico Guitars
To learn more about David, visit his website: https://www.davidrosenthalsound.com/
DM: How long have you been playing?
DR: 23 years
DM: Why Jazz?
DR: This is an interesting question for me as most of my work professionally is outside of jazz. I’m very versatile, and I’ve found a niche in being the guy jazz musicians call when they are doing projects outside of jazz. However, jazz is how I fell in love with music and what I practice most.
When I was 14, I attended the National Guitar Workshop. My playing and interest at that time was steeped in rock and blues. At the orientation concert, I heard a guitarist by the name of Chris Parrello. He announced he'd play blues for his first piece. I was expecting a Stevie RayVaughn type blues, but he played “Turnaround” by Ornette Coleman. My mind was blown. I had never heard or felt anything like that. After that night, I wanted to learn all I could about Jazz. It was recommended to me that I check out John Coltrane’s Blue Trane, and then the Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery. After that, I was hooked.
Why Jazz today? Jazz provides a feeling and experience of freedom for me. When I’m playing and am in the moment, and my execution is on, I feel like I’m flying. The same feeling applies to me as a listener.
DM: Who are your influences?
DR: For Jazz guitar: Wes Montgomery, George Benson, and Rodney Jones. For guitar outside of jazz: Jimi Hendrix, John Mayer, James Taylor, Jairus Mozee, Erick Walls, and Isaiah Sharkey.
DM: How do you feel about the use of electronics (FX) in jazz?
DR: This is another interesting question for me because outside of jazz, I like effects, and I regularly use them in my professional work. However, my personal preference and aesthetics for jazz guitar are tonally very traditional; guitar, cable, amp. I do feel that effects such as overdrive, delay, and compression, which offer more sustain, gives jazz guitarists (in general) a crutch, where they’re able to develop a technique that’s legato based and left hand driven as opposed to developing great right-hand technique and articulation.
DM: Where do you think Jazz is headed?
DR: I’ll start with where jazz has come from, and where I see it currently. To me, one of the reasons why jazz has fallen out of mass popularity is due to the beat of popular music changing. Once upon a time, jazz and big band music were the popular genre. As electric instruments were invented (most importantly the electric guitar), music got louder, and drummers shifted to grooves that were kick and snare driven as opposed to cymbal driven. Rock, Funk and R&B evolved so the beat of popular music shifted away from swing. I believe young music listeners today don’t have as much context to feel jazz rhythmically.
That being said, I’d like to see jazz become more geared to the listener/enthusiast in addition to the music student. I feel jazz musicians and jazz lovers could make some adjustments to be more welcoming to new listeners, which I’ll discuss in a moment.
One of my hobbies outside of music is horology (watches). Mechanical watches were basically rendered useless in the 1970s with the invention of quartz (battery) watches. However, Horology has found an audience with young folks who are interested in the craft, design, engineering, and history of mechanical watches. Many YouTube channels and podcasts are intended for people who are just developing an interest in watches. I think jazz would benefit from expanding its podcast and YouTube culture to engage a new audience, and be more welcoming to people and musicians who have an interest in Jazz.
I also think NYC’s Jazz Scene would benefit tremendously from a great jam session where older players could pass on the heritage, knowledge, and feeling of jazz to the younger generation of musicians. Since I’ve been in NYC since 2006, most of the jam sessions I’ve seen in Jazz are led by younger players as opposed to more seasoned players who could really pass on the feel of jazz. I used to go to a jam session in High School in Hartford, CT, at a place called Kenny’s, where Steve Davis led a jam session that changed my life. I haven’t seen any jam sessions in NYC that compare. The Zinc Bar jam sessions were the closest, but those were mainly led by younger players as opposed to more seasoned ones.
As far as jazz’s musical direction, I think jazz will continue to have young artists who are influenced by popular genres, and will incorporate elements from it into their music, like RH factor or the Robert Glasper Experiment did/do, etc. I also think sub- genres of jazz, like Trad and Video Game Jazz, will continue to grow. I think younger jazz musicians are also starting to embrace other genres more and are interested in learning how to play those genres more authentically. I believe that will feedback into more traditional jazz, as the values in other genres are sometimes different but valuable to Jazz.
I am enthusiastic about the future of Jazz. I hear a lot of great young musicians who are super talented, and have a great love for the music. To me, as long as people love Jazz, there will always be an audience and a future for it.
Ayman Fanous
Ayman Fanous has been described as a “master musician/composer pursuing the most imaginative alternatives to the status quo… who has honed distinctive and unconventional methods on both guitar and bouzouki, managing to synergize classical, flamenco, and free jazz techniques” (Karl Ackerman, allaboutjazz.com). His signature sound has been described as a “stylistic amalgam of Derek Bailey and Paco de Lucia” (Jay Collins, Signal to Noise). In addition to the guitar, Fanous also reaches back into his Egyptian ancestry in improvisations on the bouzouki. This is informed by many years of absorbing influences from the musical traditions of the Arab world, Turkey, India, North Africa, Persia, and the Balkans. More recently, he has developed extended electric guitar techniques using a slide.
Fanous has led duos, trios, and quartets with numerous world-renowned jazz and improvisational musicians, including Frances-Marie Uitti, Bern Nix, Tomas Ulrich, Jason Hwang, William Parker, Ned Rothenberg, Mark Feldman, Elliott Sharp, Mat Maneri, Joe Morris, and many others.
Ayman's duo CD with Tomas Ulrich, Labyrinths (Konnex Records, 2007), was described as "the benchmark for all cello-guitar duo recordings" (Signal to Noise). His duo CD with violinist Jason Hwang, Zilzal (Innova Recordings, 2013), was described by Robert Iannopollo (in Cadence Magazine) as "one of the finest duet recordings I've heard in recent memory." In 2019, he released a duo CD, Negoum, with cellist Frances-Marie Uitti on Mode Records. It was the first in the Fanous Edition of Mode, which will feature Fanous's collaborations with numerous artists from a wide variety of genres. Negoum was described as "beyond magic" by Tyran Grillo in the New York Jazz Record.
To learn and list to more of Ayman visit his Soundcloud Page:
https://soundcloud.com/ayman-fanous
DM: How Long are you playing?
AF: I've been playing since I was 11, so 42 years.
DM: Why Jazz?
AF: In a word, freedom. Also, surprise. It is extremely gratifying to experience or make music you never expected to hear, yet it is fully formed, engaging, tells a story, and moves you. It's that experience of playing with great musicians, where you trade energies, feed off each other, and take each other to wondrous places you didn't even know existed.
I started out studying classical violin, and it never stuck. I first felt the power of music when I discovered the guitar. I remember it like it was yesterday. John Lennon had died, and the Beatles were on TV 24/7. I'd never seen or heard anything like it. I was mesmerized. I then embarked on a journey of discovery that took me to Hendrix, jazz fusion, flamenco, jazz, and finally to free jazz. All these music's relate to each other. It was a long, and exciting journey of connecting the dots.
DM: Who are your influences?
AF: There are so many. In the nylon string world, I have to say I overlooked Segovia until about five years ago, but since then have been learning from the master about how to cram as much music into one note as you possibly can. Also, Paco de Lucia, Pepe Habichuela, Tomatito, Julian Bream, Stepan Rak, John Williams, and many others. In earlier days, it was all about Hendrix, then moved on to the great fusion players like McLaughlin and Metheny, which led me to discover the pantheon of jazz guitar - Wes Montgomery, Charlie Byrd, and others. Being a fan of Metheny, I heard Song X, and that was a turning point, being my first exposure to Ornette Coleman. It was all downhill from there. I fell in love with Dolphy and Coltrane. I became close friends with Bern Nix, and he of course influenced me greatly, as we played in a duo for years. I find Joe Morris and Elliott Sharp very interesting and original, in totally different ways, and have been fortunate to play with both.
I also have been influenced by a lot of non-western music. Ravi Shankar, Anouar Brahem, Naseer Shamma, Simon Shaheen. The list goes on and on.
DM: How do you feel about the use of electronics (FX) in jazz?
AF: I tend to avoid being dogmatic, and you have to take everyone and every approach to music on its own terms and try to find its own intrinsic value. Effects can be used with great taste to explore different aspects of the guitar's sound. As long as it stays musical, and makes me feel something, it will have value to me. Bill Frisell is the epitome of this. Whether playing acoustic or highly processed electronics, he will never fail to make music .
DM: Where do you think Jazz is headed?
AF: That's a great and tough question, and I can only speculate This will be influenced by where I would like it to go. I think the barriers between written/improvised, Eastern/Western, and other false dichotomies will be increasingly irrelevant. It's all music, and if it's done respectfully and with reverence to the sources, it can be beautiful and also bring people together. It's been going on for a long time, and will continue to.
Perry Smith
Guitarist Perry Smith combines the tradition of Jazz with broad influences from contemporary music to create his signature style.
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Smith is now based in Brooklyn where he performs as a bandleader and as a sideman for local and touring artists.
Smith’s extensive performance resume includes notable stages such as, Birdland (NYC), Blue Note Jazz Club (NYC & Tokyo), Smalls (NYC), Dizzy's Club Coca Cola (NYC), Montreal Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, Java Jazz Festival (Indonesia), Jazz a la Calle (Uruguay), Rochester Jazz Festival, Yoshi's Jazz Club (Bay Area), The Blue Whale (LA), Philippine International Jazz Festival, Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival, The Healdsburg Guitar Festival and San Francisco Jazz.
As a father and a working NYC musician, Smith's career is structured through performing and recording alongside teaching jazz and popular music. Smith is an in-demand guitarist and performs with his own groups, New West Guitars, and as a sideman for artists such Jane Monheit, Chiara Izzi, Paul Jones, and Jason Prover. He also leads a monthly livestream series with his quartet in Brooklyn called "Live at Perry's Place."
In 2005, Smith received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Flora L. Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, where he studied jazz guitar legend, Joe Diorio. In 2011 he completed his Master's in Music at New York University studying with the great modern jazz guitarist John Scofield and was named the “Outstanding Graduate” of the NYU Jazz Department. Smith is currently on faculty at the Kaufman Music Center in Manhattan where he teaches Jazz Guitar Ensembles and Jazz Guitar Technique. In addition, he leads the Advanced Combos for the Brooklyn Music Factory.
Live dates often bring out the best not only in leaders, but inside players as well. That's the case with this fine date by guitarist Perry Smith.”
Jim Motavalli NYC Jazz Record review for "Live in Brooklyn
To learn more about Perry, visit his website: https://perrysmithmusic.com
DM: How long are you playing?
PS: I've been playing since I was about 10 years ago, so around 30 years!
DM: Why Jazz?
PS: I love the expressiveness and freedom from improvisation. Combining that with the technical and conceptual skills you can develop over the years, makes for an incredible journey.
DM: Who are your influences?
PS: Too many to list, but here's the short run on guitar: Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Grant Green, George Benson, Bucky Pizzarelli, Joe Diorio, Bruce Forman, Larry Koonse, Peter Bernstein, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, and Pat Metheny.
DM: How do you feel about the use of electronics (FX) in jazz?
PS: I feel great about it, as long as it serves the music, not the ego!
DM: Where do you think Jazz is headed?
PS: Jazz always develops as an expressive outlet for each new generation. The music "swings" from the tradition to a fusion of styles depending on each player, their environment, technology, education, and social trends. I believe that as long as humanity is headed in a good direction, Jazz will be as well.
I want to thank these amazing players for their contribution to this Blog
Dom Minasi
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