Five of the Best Young Guitarists

This blog focuses on the music of established or deceased artists, but we occasionally take a look at the younger musicians who are constantly revitalizing jazz and keeping the music and the legacy alive. This post looks at five of the best young jazz guitarists on the scene today.

Los Angeles guitarist Graham Dechter comes from a musical family and is best known for his work with bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton, with whom he began playing at age nineteen. As Clayton wrote in the liner notes to Dechter's album, Right On Time, "Graham Dechter's playing is not only a joy to hear, it is a joy to be a part of. Personally, I love a warm guitar sound. Better: I love HIS warm guitar sound. Combine that with some serious swinging, clean arrangements, a high level of intensity and a dose of beautiful lines, and you've got a guitar player that is exciting to play with. The other good part of all of this is that he's still so young. There's just no telling to what wonderful places he will take us."

• Dechter's debut as a leader came with the 2009 album, Right on Time, which adds pianist Tamir Hendleman to a rhythm section that includes Clayton and Hamilton. The album includes delicate interpretations of standards like "In a Mellow Tone" and Jobim's "Waves," and as AllMusic critic Rick Anderson notes, "could hardly be more charming or enjoyable." (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
• Takin' It There features the same rhythm section as did Dechter's first album and shows a bluesier side of Dechter on "Come Rain or Come Shine." Songs by guitar greats like Wes Montgomery ("Road Song") and Barney Kessel ("Be Deedle Dee Do") are also featured, and All About Jazz reviewer Dan Bilawsky called Dechter's playing on the album "capable, confident and charismatic in every way." (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)

Julian Lage, who was voted the top guitarist in the 2013 JazzTimes Expanded Critics Poll, is a former child prodigy who began playing at the age of five. He first performed in public at the age of six, played with Carlos Santana at the age of eight, and performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards at the age of thirteen. A documentary film about his life, "Jules at Eight," was nominated for an Academy Award in 1997.  New York Times critic Nate Chinen recently referred to Lage as having "a disarming spirit of generosity in the musicianship of Julian Lage, and a keener sense of judicious withholding."

• Sounding Point was Lage's debut album and was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Lage performs two solo tracks as well as various pieces played by three different combos. Among the best tracks are "Tour One," his duo with pianist Taylor Eigsti, and the bluegrass-inspired "The Informant", which Lage plays with Chris Thile on mandolin and Béla Fleck on banjo. (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
• About his second album, Gladwell, Lage said that "We began playing with the idea of creating a story we could use as a guiding light in our writing process. ... The result was the development of an imaginary and forgotten town known as Gladwell. ... As a metaphor, Gladwell presented us with a clear architecture, to compose songs that evoke feelings of people and places we hold dear." On the album, Lage plays with an eclectic group that consists of cellist Aristides Rivas, percussionist Tupac Mantilla, bassist Jorge Roeder, and saxophonist Dan Blake. AllMusic reviewer Alex Henderson said that "Lage is very much a storyteller, and that storyteller perspective yields excellent results on Gladwell." (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)

Lage Lund is a Norwegian guitarist who came to New York City in 2002 to become the first electric guitarist to ever attend Juilliard's full-scholarship jazz program. Lund won the prestigious Thelonious Monk Guitar Competition in 2005, and one of the competition's judges called him "all music and all soul." New York Times critic Nate Chinen says that "Lund exudes a diffident and self-deprecating kind of cool ... His playing and presence can both be casually magnetic. Like Jim Hall, one of the guitarists in his heroes’ gallery, he channels reticence into a whisper-quiet mystique."

• Unlikely Stories features a guitar trio (Lund, drummer Bill Stewart, and bassist Ben Street) plus pianist Edward Simon and includes seven original compositions. The album shows off what AllMusic reviewer Michael G. Nastos calls Lund's "steely but warm and friendly electric guitar" sound in cuts like the eccentric "Worms" and the wily, swinging "Swagger." (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
• Lund's most recent album, Foolhardy, includes six Lund originals among its nine cuts. Lund sounds more modern and somewhat darker on this album, but his solos are still remarkable, particularly on the up-tempo "Tokyo," which opens the album. The same guitar trio from Unlikely Stories is augmented here by pianist Aaron Parks. (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)

Texan Mike Moreno has been called "one of the most compelling guitarists in jazz today" by Downbeat critic Angelika Beener. The versatile guitarist has toured and recorded with a wide range of jazz artists, including Joshua Redman's Elastic Band, Nicholas Payton's Quartet, The Robert Glasper Experiment, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Ravi Coltrane's Quartet. Moreno is currently an Artist in Residence of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito College of Music in Ecuador.

• In 2007, Moreno released his debut CD as a leader, Between The Lines, an album that New York Times critic Nate Chinen named as one of his top ten jazz albums of 2007. All About Jazz reviewer Budd Kopman called it "a remarkable release that makes an immediate impact while also having much depth," and the album features cuts like the excitingly beautiful duo with pianist Aaron Parks, "Still Here," and the more complex "Forward and Back." (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
• Moreno's most recent release, Another Way, was chosen as one of the twenty-five "Best of 2012" jazz recordings on iTunes and contains eight original compositions by the guitarist, including the lyrical and airy "Spinning Wheel" and the wonderfully rambling "Show Fall." (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)

Israeli guitarist Yotam Silberstein arrived in New York in 2005 and was a finalist in that year's Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition. He began playing guitar at age ten and, by the age of twenty-one, had won the coveted “Israeli Jazz Player of The Year” title. GuitarPlayer.com reviewer Barry Cleveland said recently that Silberstein's "tones are exquisitely old school but his playing is fresh, fiery, and bursting with joyful exuberance, and musically he’s one heavy cat."

• Silberstein's Resonance includes several jazz stars, including pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Christian McBride, and (on two tracks) trumpeter Roy Hargrove. The group's cover of Monty Alexander's reggae tune "Renewal" is one of the album's highlights. JazzTimes critic Dan Adler said of the album, "With this new album, Yotam continues to dig deeper and establish himself as a major force in the jazz guitar world. This is a musical journey you won’t want to miss. Get on board." (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)
• Brasil features a number of Brazilian compositions, including pieces by Chico Buarque, Dorival Caymm, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Edu Lobo, and Carlos Lyra. Silberstein's playing, which one critic described as "horn-like" is well-suited to these songs, which include a romantic version of Jobim's "Falando de Amor (Words of Love)." (Purchase the album from Amazon.com.)

Robert
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