High Action

Welcome to "High Action" - a podcast about our favorite instrument, the guitar, and the extraordinary people who play it! We are Perry Smith, Will Brahm, and John Storie - the New West Guitar Group. Season 2 features the members of NWGG performing and discussing for the listeners the many exciting topics of contemporary guitar playing.

This week we are discussing Jazz Standards. How do Perry, Will and John approach this form? Check it out in this week’s episode of High Action!

Welcome to "High Action" - a podcast about our favorite instrument, the guitar, and the extraordinary people who play it! We are Perry Smith, Will Brahm, and John Storie - the New West Guitar Group. Season 2 features the members of NWGG performing and discussing for the listeners the many exciting topics of contemporary guitar playing.

The Great American Songbook is an essential song form as a modern guitarist, how do Perry, Will and John approach this form? Check it out in this week’s episode of High Action!

Welcome to "High Action" - a podcast about our favorite instrument, the guitar, and the extraordinary people who play it! We're Perry Smith, Will Brahm, and John Storie - the New West Guitar Group. Our upcoming season features the members of NWGG performing and discussing for the listeners the many exciting topics of contemporary guitar playing.

The 12-bar Blues is an essential song form as a modern guitarist, how do Perry, Will and John approach this form? Check it out in this week’s episode of High Action!

Technical virtuosity and imaginative improvisation made Joe Diorio (born: Joseph Louis Diorio) one of the busiest jazz session guitarists of the '60s and '70s. Reviewing a mid-'60s performance, influential jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote that Diorio was "one of the most mature and uncompromising (new) plectrists to work the room since Joe Pass." 

Waterbury, Connecticut-born Diorio spent much of the early '60s in Chicago, playing with such stellar jazz musicians as saxophonist Sonny Stitt and trombone player Bennie Green. He made his recording debut on tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris' 1961 album, Exodus to Jazz. 

Together with trumpet and saxophone player Ira Sullivan, Diorio relocated to Miami, Florida, where he quickly found a place in the city's thriving jazz scene. In addition to playing with top-notch musicians including Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, and Stanley Turrentine, he led his own trio, featuring Bob Magnusson and Jim Plank. 

Since releasing his debut solo album, Solo Guitar, in 1975, Diorio has gone on to record more than a dozen impressive platters, including tribute albums to Wes Montgomery and Antonio Carlos Jobim. 

Starting with a jazz improvisation class that he taught at the University of Miami, Diorio increasingly turned his focus to teaching. Since relocating to Los Angeles in the late '70s, he has taught in the studio/jazz guitar department of the University of Southern California and the GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology). 

He has written several instructional books including Fusion and Intervallic Designs.

Technical virtuosity and imaginative improvisation made Joe Diorio (born: Joseph Louis Diorio) one of the busiest jazz session guitarists of the '60s and '70s. Reviewing a mid-'60s performance, influential jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote that Diorio was "one of the most mature and uncompromising (new) plectrists to work the room since Joe Pass." 

Waterbury, Connecticut-born Diorio spent much of the early '60s in Chicago, playing with such stellar jazz musicians as saxophonist Sonny Stitt and trombone player Bennie Green. He made his recording debut on tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris' 1961 album, Exodus to Jazz. 

Together with trumpet and saxophone player Ira Sullivan, Diorio relocated to Miami, Florida, where he quickly found a place in the city's thriving jazz scene. In addition to playing with top-notch musicians including Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, and Stanley Turrentine, he led his own trio, featuring Bob Magnusson and Jim Plank. 

Since releasing his debut solo album, Solo Guitar, in 1975, Diorio has gone on to record more than a dozen impressive platters, including tribute albums to Wes Montgomery and Antonio Carlos Jobim. 

Starting with a jazz improvisation class that he taught at the University of Miami, Diorio increasingly turned his focus to teaching. Since relocating to Los Angeles in the late '70s, he has taught in the studio/jazz guitar department of the University of Southern California and the GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology). 

He has written several instructional books including Fusion and Intervallic Designs.

Along with his 11 studio albums as a solo artist, Midón – dubbed “an eclectic adventurist” by People magazine – has collaborated with such heroes as Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder and Bill Withers, along with contributing to records by Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg and the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s She Hate Me. A native of New Mexico who now lives in Maryland after years in New York, Midón has earned acclaim the world over, with a fanbase that stretches from San Francisco to India, Amsterdam to Tokyo. Marveling over his live performances, The New York Times has called Midón “a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus.” He recently performed in a special Homecoming Week music series at his alma mater, the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. He was surprised onstage with the school’s most prestigious honor, the Distinguished Alumni Award. Frost’s dean said of the 1990 graduate: “Raul Midón truly personifies what a student at our school can achieve. It’s a thrill to be able to honor Raul’s extraordinary talent and exemplary accomplishments.”

For a glimpse of how magnetic Midón can be live, seek out on YouTube the clip of his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2006. Performing “State of Mind,” the title track from his major-label debut, Midón unveils what would become his signature combination of silky voice and percussive guitar. His playing is a syncopated wonder in which bass, harmony and melodic lines fly from the fretboard in a way that belies the fact that all the music is being produced by just two hands. If that weren’t enough, Midón busts out his improvisational mouth-horn technique, in which he creates a bebop “trumpet” solo with his lips, earning himself a burst of mid-song applause from the audience. 

The title of Midón’s Bad Ass & Blind album came from an apt description of its maker that soul icon Bill Withers endorsed; the 2017 release saw Midón collaborating with such top jazz players as trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianist Gerald Clayton and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. NPR noted that the disc continues Midón’s “streak of records that cross boundaries with ease and head-turning musicality.” Midón’s 2018 follow-up, If You Really Want, found Midón’s voice and guitar riding the waves of the Metropole Orkest, the GRAMMY Award-winning Dutch ensemble that has collaborated with artists from Al Jarreau and Elvis Costello to Laura Mvula and Snarky Puppy. Midón worked hand in glove on If You Really Want with another renowned GRAMMY winner: arranger and conductor Vince Mendoza. Relix magazine said about the album: “Throughout, there’s that voice – passionate and confident – with Midón giving each word his full attention so that you know he means it.” 

Midón’s earlier studio discography includes Don’t Hesitate .(2014), Synthesis (2010), A World Within a World (2007) and State of Mind (2005) He also released the CD/DVD Invisible Chains – Live from NYC, which documents an intimate concert in Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater from 2012. Midón’s live 2016 rendition of John Coltrane’s classic “Giant Steps” – which sees him fly through all 12 keys on the guitar – earned more than a million views via Facebook. Ever since being told by some when he was a child that his blindness meant that “you can’t do this, you can’t do that,” Midón has lived a life devoted to beating the odds and shattering stereotypes. “As someone who has never seen, I’ve always felt at a disadvantage in that lyric writing is usually very visual,” he says. “People really relate to images and I’ve never seen images. But what I realized early on is that you have to write from what you know, and I hear, touch and feel intensely – and those are sensations and experiences that everyone can relate to.”

his varied collaborations. Initially emerging as a sideman on Terence Blanchard's Bounce in 2003, Loueke quickly found himself in demand, appearing on a bevy of albums including bassist Charlie Haden's 2004 effort Land of the Sun as well as a pair of noteworthy 2007 releases, Kendrick Scott's The Source and Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning River: The Joni Letters. His own albums, like 2006's Virgin Forest, 2010's Mwaliko, and 2015's Gaia, have showcased his expansive, globally minded aesthetic, marked by his emotive jazz solos and a deep understanding of African folk customs. 

Born in the French-speaking West African country of Benin in 1973, Loueke initially started out singing and playing percussion as a child. At age 17, he picked up the guitar after receiving lessons from his older brother. Along with West African musical traditions, he developed a love of jazz after discovering the music of George Benson. Upon graduating high school, he studied at both the Ivory Coast's National Institute of Arts and Paris' American School of More Than Music before immigrating to the United States, where he attended Boston's Berklee College of Music on scholarship. 

In 2001, he successfully auditioned for the prestigious 

Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of California Los Angeles, and in the process caught the attention of judges Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, and Wayne Shorter. In 2002, he joined Blanchard's band, recording with the trumpeter on 2003's Bounce and 2005's Flow. A series of similarly high-profile recordings followed, including appearances on Haden's Land of the Sun, Hancock's Possibilities, and drummer Scott's The Source. In 2007, he gained even further recognition after contributing to Hancock's River: The Joni Letters, which took home both Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Album prizes at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. 

As a solo artist, 

Loueke debuted with 2005's In a Trance, followed a year later by Virgin Forest. Also during this period, he formed the trio Gilfema with fellow Berklee alumni bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth. Together, they issued 2005's Gilfema and 2008's Gilfema + 2, the latter of which also featured clarinet players Anat Cohen and John Ellis. He also continued his fruitful studio work, contributing to albums by Angélique Kidjo, Norah Jones, Gretchen Parlato, Esperanza Spalding, and others. 

In 2008, Louekesigned with Blue Note for a series of well-received albums, including 2008's Karibu, 2010's Mwaliko, and 2012's Robert Glasper-produced Heritage. For his fourth Blue Note album, 2015's Gaïa, Loueke exclusively showcased his electric guitar skills, exploring an expansive blend of African rock and jazz alongside Gilfema bandmates Biolcati and Nemeth. The following year, he joined bassist Dave Holland, saxophonist Chris Potter, and dr...

Camila Meza was born in Santiago, Chile in 1985. She got her start playing music around age 15 in her hometown in Chile. She released her first album Skylark in 2007, and moved to New York in 2009 to attend the New School for Jazz. She soon established herself on the New York scene, as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Camila’s style fuses many different influences. She has a strong command of South American musical styles, including Samba and Bossa. With her small floating voice on top of her more jazz laden guitar playing, she is a force unto herself.  Her second album,Traces, features Kendrick Scott, Matt Penman, and Shai Maestro, and received wide acclaim. In addition to releasing a good load of music, she maintains and directs her own octet, the Nectar Ensemble. Some other Musicians that she has played with are Lucas Pino, Fabian Almazan, and Steve Cardenas. 

Steve Masakowski has long been regarded as one of the top Jazz artists from New Orleans. Born and raised in New Orleans, Steve Masakowski has played guitar with most of the city’s greatest musicians including Alvin “Red” Tyler, Ellis Marsalis, Danny Barker, Earl Turbinton, and James Black. He has also performed with Grammy Award-winning artists Bobby McFerrin, Nicholas Payton, Allen Toussaint, Dianne Reeves and others at major festivals around the world.

As a recording artist, he has released numerous CDs including two on the prestigious Blue Note Records label. He has been an active member of, and composer for the award winning New Orleans jazz group, Astral Project.

He has twice been voted “Best Guitarist,” and won “Best Contemporary Jazz Group” three times by Gambit and Offbeat magazines in their annual reader’s polls. He has published lessons in Guitar Player magazine and authored the book, "Jazz Ear Training – Learning to Hear Your Way Through Music" for Mel Bay Publications. He is frequently recognized by Down Beat magazine as Talent Deserving Wider Recognition. Steve has participated in numerous Jazz concerts and workshops at major universities including Princeton, the University of Chicago, and the University on Indiana. 

Steve is currently on the faculty at the University of New Orleans where he holds the position of Coca-Cola Endowed Chair of Jazz Studies.

Fareed Haque is a modern guitar virtuoso. Steeped in classical and jazz traditions, his unique command of the guitar and different musical styles inspire his musical ventures with tradition and fearless innovation.

Since 2011, Haque has returned to his first loves, jazz guitar and classical guitar. He has been busy performing and recording with his trio featuring legendary B3 virtuoso Tony Monaco, his own trio and jazz quartet, as well as his larger world music group the Flat Earth Ensemble.

Recent releases include the critically acclaimed Out of Nowhere featuring drummer Billy Hart and bassist George Mraz, The Flat Earth Ensemble's latest release Trance Hypothesis, and The Tony Monaco/Fareed Haque release Furry Slippers that reached the top 10 in Jazz Radio Airplay.IN addition, Fareed has performed at the Chicago, Detroit, and Java Jazz festivals and was featured as part of the Made in Chicago Series performing with his numerous groups at Millenium Park's Pritzker Pavillion in Chicago. He also performed and arranged numerous classical programs as 2013 artist-in-residence for The Chicago Latin Music Festival, was featured on WBEZ, as well as WFMT's

 Fiesta! radio programs, and has recorded his arrangement of Piazzolla's 5 Tango Sensations, El Alevin by Eduardo Angulo Leo Brouwer's Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet with the critically acclaimed Kaia String Quartet. Haque continues to tour and record extensively along with documenting his unique teaching methods in a series of best selling interactive video courses through TrueFire.

IN 2016, Haque was invited to perform at the Indianapolis Jazz Festival Tribute to Wes Montgomery along with Peter Bernstein, Bobby Broom, Henry Johnson, Will Mathews, Russell Malone, Pat Martino, and Dave Stryker. He was also a visiting scholar at Western Michigan University. Recent projects include artistic directorship of numerous jazz festivals, performances with Tony Monaco, Paquito D'Rivera, Vijay Iyer, pundit Vikku Vinacrayam, long-anticipated reunion concerts with Garaj Mahal, concerts in India, a return to Java Jazz, and concerts and teaching in China. In 2017, Mr. Haque released The Bridge with virtuoso Chilean bassist Christian Galvez and renowned Indian percussionist Selva Ganesh. Haque has also rekindled his duo with Goran Ivanovic. Performances include Canadian Guitar Festival, Winters Jazz Fest NYC, Lotus Music Fest, and many others. Upcoming tours in China and Europe are slated for 2018. Haque has joined drum legend Billy Cobham as a member of his Crosswinds Ensemble featuring Haque on guitars, Randy Brecker on Trumpet, and Paul Hansen on sax and bassoon. Extensive touring and recording are slated for 2019. Haque's most recent release NEW LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC FOR GUITAR AND STRING QUARTET was picked by Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune as one of the top releases of 2018. In addition, the release was chosen as Downbeat Magazine Editor's Pick in 2018. 2019 portends to be a busy year, as Haque has retired from 30 years at Northern Illinois University to accommodate extended tours with Cobham, Goran Ivanovic, and his own groups. Highlights to include The Montreux Jazz Festival with Cobham, and appearances with his own groups at The Bluenote Beijing, Louisville, and Minneapolis Guitar Festivals among others. New recordings with his own group and with Goran Ivanovic are scheduled for 2019, under the legendary Delmark Label.

Born in 1963 to a Pakistani father and Chilean mother, Fareed’s extensive travels and especially long stays in Spain, France, Iran, Pakistan, and Chile exposed Haque to different kinds of music from a very early age. While this natural eclecticism has become a hallmark of Haque’s music, it was repeated visits to Von Freeman’s Chicago jam sessions that gave Haque a grounding in the Chicago blues and jazz traditions. The 1981 recipient of North Texas State University’s Jazz Guitar Scholarship, Haque spent a year studying with renowned jazz guitarist and pedagogue Jack Peterson. Fareed’s growing interest in the classical guitar led him to transfer to Northwestern University, where he completed his studies in classical guitar under David Buch, John Holmquist, and Anne Waller.

Soon after his transfer to NU, Haque came to the attention of multi-instrumentalist Howard Levy and joined his latin-fusion group Chevere. Thru Levy, Haque was introduced to Paquito D’Rivera and began a long and fruitful relationship with the Cuban NEA Jazz Master. Numerous world tours and recordings including Manhattan Burn, Celebration, Havana Cafe, Tico Tico, Live at the MCG were to follow. Especially notable is the classic and award winning Reunion featuring Haque along with Arturo Sandoval, Danilo Perez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Mark Walker, and David Fink.

Thru D’Rivera, Haque was brought to the attention of Sting, who had just begun his record label Pangaea. Sting invited Haque to join the label and he released 2 critically acclaimed recordings, Voices Rising and Manresa. Haque toured briefly with Sting, including notable appearances at The Montreux Jazz Festival, as well as NBC’s Michelob Presents Sunday Night with David Sanborn, but his own career demands led Haque in other directions.

Haque has been featured on WTTW’s ArtBeat and Chicago Tonight, Ben Sidran’s New Visions, Michelob Presents Sunday Night with David Sanborn on NBC, his own Lonesome Pines special for PBS, and on BET cable jazz channel. Fareed has twice been selected as Talent Deserving Wider Recognition in Downbeat Magazine. In 1989, Haque also joined the faculty at Northern Illinois University as professor of jazz and classical guitar. He continues to teach at NIU to this day.

After a short stint at Warner Bros. recording Majestad (unreleased and featuring John Patitucci, Michael Landau, Russel Ferrante, Grazinha, Lenny Castro, and Carlos Vega!), Bruce Lundvall signed Haque to the legendary Bluenote Records. While at Bluenote, Haque recorded three albums as a leader: Sacred Addiction, Opaque, and Déjà vu. Haque toured and recorded extensively with other artists, including tours and 3 CDs with Javon Jackson: A Look within, For One Who Knows, and Good People. In addition, sideman credits include tours and recordings with Joe Henderson, Herbie Mann, Bob James, Richie Cole, Joey Calderazzo, Kahil El Zabar and the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, and numerous Bluenote recordings for producer/arranger Bob Belden alongside Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Joe Lovano, Paul Motian, and many others. Numerous classical recitals, as well as appearances with the Vermeer Quartet and many symphonies across the US and abroad, added to an incredible diversity of performances during this period.

Thru Belden, Haque was invited to join forces with Joe Zawinul as part of his Zawinul Syndicate. The group proved to be one of Joe’s best and most eclectic. Included were percussionist and vocalist Arto Tuncboyacian, drummer Paco Sery, bassist Mathew Garrison, along with Haque on Guitar and Electric Guitar. A year of extensive touring brought Haque closer to his Jazz/Rock roots.

In 2001, Haque’s interest in jam bands and the jam scene led him to co-found the jam super-group Garaj Mahal featuring Kai Eckhardt, Eric Levy, and Alan Hertz. This began 10 years of extensive touring across the US, performing in excess of 200 shows per year. Haque also joined George Brooks’ group Summit, featuring Zakir Hussain and Steve Smith. Haque was voted ‘Most Valuable Player’ at the 2002 High Sierra Music Festival. Haque and Garaj Mahal released 3 Live CDs as well as 5 studi...