There's no description more apt for Sheryl Bailey than "A sizzling guitar goddess", coined by Elliot Simon of All About Jazz. He's not alone with his superlatives-Adam Levy of Guitar Player Magazine calls Sheryl "One of the most compelling tones of her generation", and Frank Forte of Just Jazz Guitar ranks her "among the best bop guitar players with a fresh approach and something new."
Sheryl's playing is unquestionably "sizzling". She has groomed incredible chops and impeccable taste with which she applies them. It's said (by Lee Metcalf, The Villager) that she can "go from zero to blazing in two beats", but she is continually praised for never sacrificing melody and lyricism for technique. "She balances superior technical skills with a strong lyrical sense and swinging touch..." continues Metcalf, and Joe Taylor of Soundstage says "Bailey combines an astonishing command of the fingerboard with a seemingly endless flow of melodic invention."
As for the guitar, she's hardly had it out of her hands since the age of 13. That was when her mother finally relented to Sheryl's begging for a Harmony Strat from the J.C. Penney catalogue. Though Sheryl was a rock-star wannabe, the influence of her pianist mother got her obsessed with learning harmony, and her first teacher in Pittsburgh, John Maione, introduced her to the guitar tradition-Wes, Jimmy Raney, George Van Eps, Joe Pass and others. She eventually attended Berklee College of Music. Her years of dedication and focus won her 3rd place in the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Guitar competition in 1995, and she was chosen as a Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department in 2000 for a South American tour. She is now said to be "One of the top players in an emerging generation of jazz guitarists" (John Heidt, Vintage Guitar).
Her own trio, The Sheryl Bailey 3, is a modernized version of the organ trio-"the ultimate organ trio" according to JazzInside Magazine. In addition to their 15-year plus residency at NYC's 55 Bar, they have toured China, Canada, Europe and the US. She also tours the world as a member of David Krakauer's "Ancestral Groove". A partial list of others with whom she has performed and recorded with includes Richard Bona, George Garzone, Lincoln Goines, Kim Plainfield, Bill O'Connell, Mike LeDonne, Irene Cara, Lea Delaria, Jack Wilkins, Howard Alden, Shingo Okudaira, Ingrid Jensen, Dwayne Burno, Tommy Campbell, Simon Woolf, Alex Garnett and Ken Peplowski.
To date, Sheryl has 9 CDs out under her name, and a live DVD, The Sheryl Bailey 3 Live in NYC (Mel Bay). Each successive release has drawn more accolades. Of Live at the Fat Cat, Joe Taylor says, "...this disc proves again that Sheryl Bailey is one of the most gifted and exciting jazz guitarists on the scene", and that she is a "jazz composer of the first order". In 2010 MCG Jazz released A New Promise, her tribute to Emily Remler, produced by Grammy-award winner, Marty Ashby, featuring Sheryl as the solo artist with Three Rivers Jazz Orchestra. In Downbeat Magazine Phillip Booth commented, "She is one of the new greats of her chosen instrument". Her 2014 release on the Cellar Live label, A Meeting Of Minds features The Sheryl Bailey 3. A feature on the disc in Guitar Player Magazine states: "They are so in sync they seem to finish each other's ideas". In 2015, she and bassist Harvie S debuted their acoustic duo, Plucky Strum on Whaling City Sound. JazzTimes Magazine remarked of Bailey’s approach: "her fluidity of style is impressive, her agility uncommon".
Sheryl is a Professor at Berklee College of Music, and at the Collective in New York. In keeping with Sheryl's philosophy of "giving back", her 2011 quartet release, "For All Those Living" donates 20% of sales to the Ronald McDonald House of NYC. She has been an Artist in Residence at countless other programs, including NYU, Bates College, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Towson University, the LA Music Academy and GIT. In 2009, Mel Bay published her book Moveable Shapes: Concepts for Re-Harmonizing II-V-I's. She has also developed a complete curriculum in jazz improvisation for interactive cyber study via Truefire's Guitar Sherpa program, The Bebop Dojo. In addition she has top selling courses available from Mike's Masterclasses, Jazz Guitar Society, JamPlay, and Truefire.
So, Sheryl lives up to Elliot Simon's description, in all facets of her work. Earning "Rising Star" status on Downbeat's Critic's Poll 2013, 2014, and 2015. At a recent duo performance in New York-Sheryl and Jack Wilkins-I sat next to Jimmy Wyble. After a couple of tunes, Jimmy leaned over and whispered, "She's one of the top five" ...as in, one of the top five guitarists in the country. And Vintage Guitar terms her "one of jazz guitars current front runners."
— Evelyn Palmer
Guitar master George Benson, a long-time supporter, has described Bollenback’s work as ". . .bona-fide playing, unambiguous, up-front and powerful," calling him “a versatile dynamo on guitar. His approach to jazz and blues has a uniqueness unto itself . . ..”. That comment has special resonance in that Bollenback counts Benson high among his wide range of influences; these also include Carlos Santana, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, John McLaughlin, Johnny Winter, and Jimi Hendrix (among guitarists), as well as such giants of improvisation and composition as pianists Herbie Hancock and Bill Evans, and saxophonists Wayne Shorter and John Coltrane.
Born just outside Chicago, Illinois in 1959, Paul Bollenback was raised in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, just outside NYC. Bollenback got his earliest musical nudge from his father, a classically trained trumpeter who first provided the 7-year-old son with a nylon-string guitar – and then provided a new world of inspiration. The elder Bollenback, a scientist, relocated the family from New York to New Delhi, India when Paul was 11, and it was there that he cultivated a life-long interest in exotic musical sounds and timbres that remains evident in even his most jazz-based work. When the family returned to New York, Paul's father bought him an electric guitar and, like just about every other young guitarist in the 60s and 70s, Paul started gigging in local rock-and-roll bands – until he heard Miles Davis for the first time, which refocused his energies into jazz fusion.
Relocating again in 1975 from New York to Washington DC, Bollenback began to study and perform both straight-ahead jazz and fusion. He majored in music at the University of Miami, then studied for eight years with Baltimore-based professor of Theory/Composition Asher Zlotnick. In 1987 he made his recording debut on saxophonist Gary Thomas’s Seventh Quadrant (Enja), and in 1990 established a working relationship with the young organ legend Joey DeFrancesco, an association that has lasted to this day, and producing 18 recordings.
In 1991 Bollenback’s compositions "Wookies' Revenge" and "Romancin' the Moon" (featured on DeFrancesco's Columbia Records release Reboppin') were honored by SESAC with that organization’s award for original composition. In 1993, a grant from the Virginia Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts resulted in the composition "New Music for Three Jazz Guitars." In 1997, Bollenback was named Musician of the Year at the Washington Area Music Awards. That year he returned to New York City, where he now lives.
Bollenback debuted as a leader with Original Visions (Challenge), and his sophomore effort, Double Gemini, was named “CD of The Month” by both 20th-Century Guitar Magazine and WBGO Jazz Radio. His 3rd release on Challenge, Soul Grooves, was named “Best Contemporary Jazz Album of 1999” by ‘Ndigo Magazine. He has appeared on the Tonight Show, Good Morning America, the Today Show, and Entertainment Tonight, and has played with an impressive spectrum of musicians, including Joey DeFrancesco, Steve Gadd, Gary Bartz, Paul Bley, Charlie Byrd, Terri-Lyne Carrington, Herb Ellis, Geoffrey Keezer, Mike LeDonne, Joe Locke, Jack McDuff, James Moody, David “Fathead” Newman, Jim Snidero, Carol Sloane, Gary Thomas, Grady Tate, Stanley Turrentine, and Jeff “Tain” Watts, vocalist-composer Chris McNulty and in the group East Meets Jazz with the renowned tabla virtuoso Sandip Burman, to name a few.
Bollenback's range and impressive discography as both sideman and leader speak for themselves. His two releases on Elephant Dreams Records "Brightness of Being" (ED4548) & "Invocation" (ED4550) remained on the USA Jazz Week charts for several months in 2007 and 2008 consecutively. "Invocation" was voted onto Downbeat's Top 100 releases of 2008 and received wide critical acclaim in the international press garnering 4 and 5 star reviews in Jazz Times Magazine among others.
In 2011 Bollenback garnered a Grammy nomination for co-production on Joey DeFrancesco’s Never Can Say Goodbye (Hi Note), and also shares executive and co-producing credits with vocalist-composer Chris McNulty on her albums Dance Delicioso and her Whispers the Heart (Elefant Dreams). His international and national touring schedule currently include appearances with Joey DeFrancesco, Mike LeDonne, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Gary Bartz, and Shunzo Ohno, as well as many appearances with his own trio.
Bollenback also leads a dual life as an educator, with a long career teaching jazz at Columbia University, Peabody Conservatory, and Queens College, as well as the Litchfield, Skidmore, Prague and Bobby Durham summer jazz workshops. He recently began duties at Prince Claus Conservatory in the Netherlands.
His latest recording on Mayimba Jazz Music "Portraits in Space and Time", featuring all original music in a trio setting, was released to critical acclaim in 2014.
Ben Sher is a unique jazz guitarist. Fluent in the classic jazz tradition of Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, and George Benson, Ben also draws from the rich Brazilian guitar tradition of Baden Powell, Raphael Rabello, and Joao Gilberto. Ben combines standard jazz plectrum technique, with classical fingerstyle, to create a wide range of sounds and textures.
Ben has four recordings as a leader on BGI Records: Handprints is contemporary mainstream jazz featuring the great drummer from the Hernbie Hancock and the Headhunter’s group Mike Clark, pianist Bruce Barth , and Dennis Irwin. TudoBem’ and “Please Take me to Brasil’ are Brazilian jazz featuring Ben’s group TudoBem and special guest Fred Hersch (on TudoBem) and Kenny Barron.
Ben did a two-month world tour with the renowned Kurt Weil stylist Ute Lemper. Performances included the Montreux and Istanbul Jazz Festivals, the Berlin and Stockholm Philharmonias , and a TV recording for the Canadian Bravo channel. Ben has also appeared as a sideman on recordings by Todd Levin, for Polygram Records, and Daryl Katz, on Cadence Records.
Kenny Wessel is a versatile, sensitive and soulful guitarist and composer. A vital and personal voice on the jazz guitar, Wessel has been involved in projects playing jazz, ranging from straight-ahead to free music. He has performed in 27 countries at major jazz festivals, concert halls and in radio and television appearances.
Kenny worked with revolutionary jazz artist Ornette Coleman for over 12 years (1988-2000), touring the world as a member of Prime Time, Ornette’s groundbreaking ensemble. Ken can be heard on Ornette Coleman’s critically acclaimed Polygram/Verve CD, Tone Dialing. Performing “Skies of America,” Ornette Coleman’s seminal work for symphony orchestra and jazz ensemble, Ken has appeared with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. Ken can also be heard on Steely Dan frontman, Donald Fagen’s album, Morph the Cat as a featured guitar soloist. He has worked with artists from different shades of the jazz spectrum, including John Abercrombie, David Liebman, Gloria Lynne, Arthur and Red Prysock, Karl Berger, Steve Gorn, Adam Rudolph, Hamid Drake, Steve Turre and Johnny Hartmann.
Rale Micic is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to emerge from Serbia. Audiences throughout the world have been captivated by Micic’s mesmerizing music, exploring interaction between his Serbian musical roots and his extensive knowledge of jazz.
With three albums‘released on CTA Records, Rale Micic created cult-like following among music fans with his mix of jazz and haunting melodies from the Balkans. On his second release entitled Serbia, Micic establishes himself as one of the most inventive voices on the music scene today, featuring renowned Grammy-nominated trumpet player Tom Harrell, and was called “mellow, tight and tasteful” by Downbeat. His trio album, symbolically titled “3”, is an entrancing trio record described as “ a groove heavy record… pure listening pleasure”.
On his new album entitled Night Music (Whaling City Sound) , Rale looks closer to home for his inspiration. It features all new music, a modern day re-imaging of Bela Bartok’s idea of night music and what it would sound like in the city today.
Rale Micic has been featured in numerous publications including Downbeat, JazzTimes, LA Times, San Diego Tribune, Boston Globe, etc. He has performed at prominent jazz clubs and music festivals in US and Europe including Village Vanguard, Catalina Jazz Club, Blues Alley,, Scullers Jazz Club, Dizzy’s, Smalls, San Jose Jazz Festival, Hartford International Jazz Festival, etc.
As a sideman, Micic has worked with the jazz artists such as Tom Harrell, Don Friedman, Eric Alexander, Jason and Delfayo Marsalis, etc. He is a member of Tom Harrell Chamber Ensemble and is featured on critically acclaimed release First Impression (2015 High Note). Rale Micic plays Sadowsky guitars and D’Addario strings..
Bob’s current CD Shadow Box on American Showplace Records catapulted to the Top Ten Airplay Charts and is enjoying critical acclaim. Tenor saxophonist Ralph Bowen, a frequent collaborator, joins Bob and his trio.
Since 2005, Mr. DeVos has headed his own modern, powerhouse Bob DeVos Organ Trio with Dan Kostelnik on Hammond B3 organ and Steve Johns on drums. He also works frequently with Eric Alexander, Mike LeDonne and Akiko Tsuruga. In 2005, Bob was the musical director/guitarist for the smashing concert, “An Organ Summit Supreme,” reuniting with organ greats Dr. Lonnie Smith and Trudy Pitts and tenor sax legends David “Fathead” Newman and Houston Person. He is a member of Bill Warfield’s New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra.
Bob studied jazz as a teenager with Harry Leahy and the legendary Dennis Sandole. When Sandole sent his students to replace Pat Martino in the Trudy Pitts and Mr. C Trio, Bob got the gig. He went on to play and record extensively with the legendary Hammond B3 organ groups: Richard "Groove" Holmes-Sonny Stitt, Jimmy McGriff-Hank Crawford, and especially Charles "The Mighty Burner" Earland’s last group with Eric Alexander and Jim Rotondi, then later with the modern B3 players including Dr. Lonnie Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, and Mike LeDonne among others.
Bob deepened his compositional and harmonic skills playing with Gerry Niewood’s “Timepiece” with Dave Samuels (1980s) and as part of the forward-thinking Ron McClure Quartet (2000s). He also studied classical composition with Edgar Grana (1990s), and was the 1996 NJ Council of the Arts Grant recipient for composition.
An in-demand player, Bob has a far-reaching discography as a sideman, including over 100 studio recordings. He has a strong following for his innovative work with a who’s who of jazz greats both in and outside of the Hammond B3 organ genre: A short list includes Pepper Adams, Don Friedman, Billy Hart, Hendrik Meurkens, Etta Jones, Jack MacDuff, Pat Martino, Irene Reid, Stanley Turrentine, and many, many more. As a young musician he played with “Screamin’ Jay Hawkins & recorded for Frank Sinatra.
In recent years, Bob has performed at the Kennedy Center, The Kimmel Center, The NJ State Theater, The Blue Note, Iridium, The Jazz Bakery, The Kitano, SMOKE, Chris’ Jazz Cafe, the Smithsonian, San Diego Art Museum, Birdland, Jazz Mobile, Smalls and numerous festivals in the US and worldwide, including JVC Jazz Festivals and The San Francisco Jazz Festival
Mr. DeVos is currently on the music faculty at Lehigh University and teaches privately. An innovative and sensitive teacher, he has done extensive work in jazz clinics worldwide, and has also taught at William Paterson University and is a past artist-in-residence at Newark, NJ’s prestigious Arts High.
