Garrison Fewell

Guitarist Garrison Fewell has established himself as a distinctive voice throughout his 30-year career. Critics have called him "one of today’s most personal guitar players" (Boston Phoenix), "an assured stylist with a strong sense of tradition" (The New Yorker), "a player of virtuosity and swinging intensity" (UPI), and "refined, passionate, and inspiring" (Guitar Player). His diverse discography as a leader for labels such as Soul Note, Koch, Accurate, Splasc(H) and Boxholder counts multiple titles ranked on best of the year lists in publications like Coda, Guitar Player, Musica Jazz, the Boston Music Award for Best Jazz Album, and his hometown Philadelphia Inquirer. Prominent sidemen on his recordings include saxophonist John Tchicai, pianists Fred Hersch, Jim McNeely and George Cables, bassists Cecil McBee and Steve LaSpina, and drummers Billy Hart and Matt Wilson. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Garrison has performed throughout the world in many unusual places. A mideast tour in 1973 took him through Israel, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He learned Dari, lived in Herat and worked as a disc jockey in Kabul. Performing with Afghan musicians added a unique sound to Garrison's music once he became a jazz musician.Garrison has appeared with his own ensembles at NYC's Blue Note and Birdland Jazz Clubs, toured in the US, South America, Africa, Caribbean, Canada and Europe, playing at festivals such as Montreux, North Sea, Umbria, Clusone, Veneto Jazz, Copenhagen, Krakow, Budapest, Quebec, Cape Verde, Africa, and Asuncion, Paraguay. He has performed with John Tchicai, Billy Harper, Khan Jamal, Roy Campbell, Cecil Bridgewater, Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, Jay Clayton, Zbigniew Namyslowski, Herbie Hancock, Fred Hersch, Cameron Brown, Billy Hart, Tal Farlow, Larry Coryell, Benny Golson, Hal Galper, George Cables, Cecil McBee, Buster Williams, Miroslav Vitous, Steve LaSpina, Harvie Swartz, Michael Formanek, Tim Hagans, Jimmy Owens, Dusko Goykovich, Peter King, Steve Grossman, and Slide Hampton. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ An international jazz educator, Garrison has been a Professor of Guitar and Ear Training at Boston’s Berklee College of Music since 1977 and has given clinics at most major music schools and conservatories throughout Europe, the IAJE workshops for the Montreux Jazz Festival, and NYC’s New School Workshop at the Veneto Jazz Festival, Italy. For many years he taught harmony and guitar for the Polish Jazz Society and since 2004 teaches at the Sant Anna Arresi Jazz Festival in Sardegna with William Parker, Anthony Braxton, Umberto Petrin, Muhal Richard Abrahms, Rob Brown, Anthony Cyrille and Roscoe Mitchell. Garrison has authored three textbooks, his latest for Berklee Press titled “Jazz Improvisation for Guitar – A Melodic Approach”, and is a lesson contributor to Guitar Player, Guitar Club, Axe and Chitarre magazines. Garrison is the recipient of music grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, Pew Charitable Trust, USIA, and Arts Link and Meet the Composer. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯Together with with saxophonists John Tchicai and Charlie Kohlhase, Garrison co-led a quintet for a week at NYC’s Birdland Jazz Club featuring bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Billy Hart, where they recorded a live CD to be released on the Boxholder label.