It is a rare artist that can explore more than one kind of music with true fluency, virtuosity and sincerity. Guitarist John Scofield can, and he's proven it once again with Piety Street - a powerful collection of Gospel renditions. Born in Ohio, 26 December 1951, and raised in Connecticut, Scofield took up the guitar at age 11, inspired by both rock and blues players. An early introduction to jazz guitar records sparked a lifelong love of jazz. Scofield atte …

The probability that you've heard Bob Berg's distinctive, soulful, intelligent soloing is very high if you've heard the more contemporary work of Miles, Mike Stern, Chick Corea, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Gary Burton, Randy Brecker, Jaco, and now a new version of the super group, Steps Ahead, with Mike Maineri, Marc Johnson, Peter Erskine, Elaine Elias. A new release is due later this spring. The chances that you might also see Berg with a surfcasting rod on the far eastern shores of Long …

What if you were to look beyond the obvious of what you normally do each day, and learned to see beyond? What if your mind and ears were always open, yet you stayed deeply focused and unwavering from your concentration on the moment? Lyle Mays pulled that which was not obvious and created the improvised compositions of his long awaited new album, "Solo - Improvisations for Expanded Piano." At the same time, Mays has accomplished what he has always done with the Pat Metheny Group: surprised u …

JazzReview: Do you feel that most of that can be satisfied within the PMG: your ability to express yourself? Lyle Mays: Well, certainly a lot of can be satisfied within the PMG because there’s so much variety. Also I've had something to do with the structure and the notes that we're playing, so I feel like there's a part of me whenever we perform. Yeah, it satisfies quite a lot. There's the potential for reaching far more people playing with the PMG than if I would tour on my o …

Peter Martin wears a lot of hats these days. The 30-year old solo artist, composer, leader, and New Orleans-based pianist for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, has just released, "Something Unexpected," his debut CD for the MaxJazz label. Martin has worked with are Wynton Marsalis (in the Lincoln Center group), Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman and Nicholas Payton. He is currently on tour with Dianne Reeves’ group. "Something Unexpected" was recorded live at Jazz at the Bis …