Tag: Berklee College of Music

From Improvised Communications:

On Friday, March 20th, New Haven’s Firehouse 12 will launch its 2009 Spring Jazz Series with a two-set performance by the Julian Lage Group. Led by Boston-based guitarist/composer Julian Lage, this ambitious young quintet will be on tour celebrating the March release of his debut recording, Sounding Point, on the storied jazz label, EmArcy Records. The group also features Ben Roseth (alto and soprano saxophones), Aristides Rivas (cello), Jorge Roeder (bass) and Tupac Mantilla (drums and percussion).

Lage’s long-awaited first release as a leader, Sounding Point features music ranging from through-composed original compositions to impromptu solo, duo and trio improvisations to covers of Miles Davis’ “All Blues”, Neil Hefti’s “Lil’ Darlin’” and Elliott Smith’s “Alameda”. “I’ve been in a position where I could have recorded an album when I was younger,” he explains, “but was never in a rush because I wanted to allow these compositions to grow and evolve in their own time. I really wanted to approach recording my first album from a holistic point of view and everything came together. It was a great group effort.”

Only 21 years old, Lage’s career already stretches back an astonishing 13 years, when he first earned attention as the titular eight year-old guitar prodigy in the Oscar® nominated documentary film, Jules at Eight. Since then, he has studied Dawg music with David Grisman, Indian music at Ali Akbar College of Music and classical music at San Francisco Conservatory. His discography includes recordings with noted jazz artists Gary Burton, Taylor Eigesti, Nnenna Freelon and Marian McPartland. His own band, the Julian Lage Group, features four like-minded contemporaries he met as a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, and is joined on Sounding Point by special guests, Eigesti, Nickel Creek mandolin player Chris Thiele and banjo icon Béla Fleck.