Guitar Trio/Quartet

The repertoire of this band is a mixture of my favorite lessor-known compositions of Thelonious Monk, along with modern jazz compositions that are particularly suited to the sound of the guitar.

In addition to the trio instrumentation of guitar/bass/drums, I like to combine two guitarists in the front line, turning the trio into a quartet. This is not a novelty; as each can create chordal accompaniments while the other improvises mainly single-note lines, the group sound fills out harmonically, with the combination of guitars almost sounding at times like a single instrument. It’s also a lot of fun to hear two great guitarists who love and respect each other reacting to and interacting with each other, and working to complement each other’s style.

Personnel

Paul Bollenback, Khabu Doug Young, Nate Radley, guitar

Matt Clohsey, Evan Gregor, bass

Chuck Braman, drums

Alternate Personnel

Pete McCann, Tom Guarna, guitar

Noriko Ueda, Thomson Kneeland, bass

Videos

Repertoire

Thelonious Monk:

A Merrier Christmas

Ask Me Now

Ba-lue Boliver Ba-lues-are

Bemsha Swing

Blue Hawk

Boo Boo’s Birthday

Brake’s Sake

Coming On The Hudson

Criss Cross

Friday The 13th

Gallop’s Gallop

Introspection

Let’s Call This

Light Blue

Misterioso

Monk’s Dream

Monk’s Mood

Played Twice

Reflections

Ruby, My Dear

San Francisco Holiday

Skippy

Thelonious

Think Of One

Ugly Beauty

Who Knows?

Work

John Abercrombie:

Foolish Door

John’s Waltz

Paramour

Ralph’s Piano Waltz

Pat Metheny:

Bright Size Life

Change of Heart

H&H

James

Never Too Far Away

Sirabhorn

Unity Village

Richie Beirach:

Broken Wing

Nightlake

Stray

Veils

Zol

Leni Stern:

Fortunate Fall

Monica

Promise

Various Composers

Agua Vihno (Egberto Gismonti)

Chance (Kenny Kirkland)

Four Winds (Dave Holland)

Lonely Woman (Horace Silver)

Summer Band Camp (Mick Goodrick)

Toy Tune (Wayne Shorter)

My Other Bands

Trumpet-Tenor Saxophone Quintet A quintet drawing inspiration primarily from the brilliantly inventive compositions of trumpeter Kenny Dorham, saxophonist Joe Henderson and others featured on classic Blue Note recordings of the 1960s.

Saxophone Quartet With a front-line consisting of saxophone and guitar, this group explores some of the most challenging jazz compositions from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.

Vibraphone Trio/Quartet With a front-line consisting of vibraphone, either alone (trio) or supported by guitar or piano (quartet), this group explores a mixture of standards, Brazilian, and jazz compositions that lend themselves to the sound of the vibraphone.

Piano Trio This group explores rarely-performed compositions of Bill Evans and Antonio Carlos Jobim, among other great jazz composers.