Guitarist Julian Lage excels by taking the road
less traveled, synthesizing the vocabulary of swing jazz guitar pioneer Django Reinhardt, classical guitar godfather Andres Segovia, and bluegrass guitar picking legend Tony Rice into a sound uniquely his own. Tonight Julian and his eclectic group play material from the freshly released Gladwell. As with his 2009 Grammy-nominated debut Sounding Point, Gladwell reflects Julian's diverse musical interests and talents, ranging from chamber music, American folk, and bluegrass to Latin, world, string-band traditions, and modern jazz.

The Santa Rosa-born guitarist, the child prodigy subject of the documentary film Jules at Eight and a former student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Ali Akbar College of Music, and Boston's Berklee College of Music, demonstrates what San Francisco Chronicle's David Wiegand calls, "jaw-dropping stylistic range and thrilling technique." As a sideman, Lage has performed with such diverse notables as Taylor Eigsti, Carlos Santana (when he was only eight years old), Pat Metheny, David Grisman, and Gary Burton.

Tonight Julian and his talented band, featuring Brooklyn saxophonist Dan Blake, Venezuelan-born Boston Philharmonic cellist Aristides Rivas, Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder, and Colombian percussionist Tupac Mantilla, elaborate on their singular pan-American chamber jazz approach.

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Listen to a track from Julian Lage: