Steve Booke
| |
|
 |
Professional Guitarist Plans Progressive Instrumental CD
|
Guitarist Steve Booke from Lynbrook, New York is planning to release his first CD in 1998, consisting of dark, heavy, progressive instrumental guitar pieces. To that end, his advance cassette contained three songs from that upcoming CD. The first tune, "Last Breath," features many different aspects of Booke's playing, including airy, vaguely haunted slide, acoustic passages, and crisp, blazingly fast electric soloing. The other two cuts, "Dysfunction" and "Ground Zero" showcase the metal/shred side of Booke's style and feature brutal rhythm playing with bone-cutting tones and snarling guitar lines. Booke anticipates completing the recording of his CD within the next few months.
Steve was born in 1969 in Long Island, New York. Beginning on the guitar at age 16, Steve quickly increased his practice regimen to 6-8 hours a day. At that point, he had decided that music was what he wanted to do with his life. Later, Steve earned a Bachelors Degree in Professional Music with an emphasis on performance from the Berklee College of Music. He currently makes his living as a guitar instructor and session guitarist in the New York area, as well as serving as music director for Myriad Entertainment. Steve also plays in three different bands--a progressive/industrial band called Gateway, a blues/classic rock cover band and an acoustic blues duo. He currently endorses Samick/Valley Arts guitars, Dunlop, Mesa/Boogie amplification and Seymour Duncan pickups.
In addition to his upcoming CD, Booke's main goal remains to try to make a living at music for as long as he can and create music that is from his heart.
Contact Information
Steve Booke
29 Olive Place
Lynbrook, NY 11563
United States
| |
|
Common Ground
| |
|
 |
Bringing A New Edge To Contemporary Jazz
|
The young jazz fusion duo Common Ground consists of guitarist/composer Eric Sayles and saxophonist/composer Chris Farr, two players destined to establish their own niche in a market that still reveres legends such as John Scofield and Chick Corea. Their second release for LoLo/TMP Records, Not Enough Space, is an eight-track instrumental offering featuring extended improvisation, guitar/saxophone doubled melody lines, and for the Scofield and Scott Henderson fans, plenty of exhilarating, overdriven guitar work by Sayles. Both Sayles and Farr are talented composers and producers as well, clearly demonstrating a command of the contemporary jazz genre on Not Enough Space, as they balance the groove with emotionally charged improvisational passages. Also contributing to Not Enough Space were Dennis Chambers (drums), James Genus (bass), Dan Zank (keys) and Brian Farr (percussion).
Guitarist Erik Sayles grew up in Branford, Connecticut, but has lived all over the United States. He became interested in the guitar at age fifteen, and pursued this interest at the Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood. Later, Erik studied jazz in Philadelphia at the University of Arts under Alex Domshot and Tom Giacabetti. There he met saxophonist Farr, and their playing sessions soon sparked the ideas for the music they are now composing and playing. In April of 1995, the duo signed with TMP Records of Berlin, New Jersey, under which they recorded their self-titled debut release, "Common Ground."
Sayles counts Mike Stern, John Abercrombie and Pat Metheny as some of his guitar influences, but he has worked diligently to combine all their influences, stretch the combination and create his own style. His work with Chris Farr in Common Ground is the embodiment of that effort.
Contact Information
Erik Sayles
3543 Sunnyside Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19129
United States
|
