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Guest Artist Biographies
John Abercrombie 67
While a Berklee student, guitarist John
Abercrombie met organist Johnny “Hammond”
Smith, and took a gig with him, working seven
nights a week at a club called the Big M. Around
that time, he had occasion to hear both Jack
McDuff’s band, and Tony Williams’ Lifetime
band. George Benson H’90 had the guitar spot in
McDuff’s band, and Pat Martino replaced him.
Both guitarists were about the same age as
Abercrombie at the time—17 or 18. The jazz/rock
Lifetime outfit, with John McLaughlin and Larry
Young, shook Abercrombie first for its loudness,
later for its innovations. The young guitarists in
McDuff’s band inspired him for their accom-
plished playing. And the gig with Johnny Smith
threw him “right into the fire,” for which the
organ now figures as “the great common denomi-
nator” in his life. Since Berklee, Abercrombie has
pushed musical boundaries, while keeping con-
nected to the traditional formats which triggered
his interest in jazz. He performed in the early
jazz-rock group Dreams, played pop with Friends,
fusion with Billy Cobham, free-jazz with Jack
DeJohnette, and classical and world rooted jazz
with Ralph Towner. He has worked with Chico
Hamilton, John Scofield *73, Bill Evans ’86, Gato
Barbieri, George Mraz ’70, McCoy Tyner, Paul
Bley, and Dave Holland. Timeless, his first record-
ing as a leader in 1973, and its follow-up 10 years
later, Night, featured organist Jan Hammer 69,
along with Jack DeJohnette H’90 and Michael
Brecker (on the latter record). He reformed his
band Gateway with DeJohnette and Dave Holland,
which completed a recent tour and record, slated
release this year. The John Abercrombie trio,
h Peter Erskine H’92 on drums and bassist
wre Johnson, has recorded Current Events,
There, and November for ECM. His
tation on guitar synthesizer, which he
d into the trio recordings, included an
ano duet for Richie Beirach’s [67]
rald City. Abercrombie has since aban-
ned the synthesizer and returned his attention
the instruments and format which inspire him—
itar, organ, and drums. Abercrombie’s organ
rio, with Hammond B-3 specialist Dan Wall and
drummer Adam Nussbaum, debuted in 1993 with
While We’re Young, and Speak of the Devil was
released last year.
Toshiko Akiyoshi °59
The year after she and her family fled Manchuria
for Japan, at the end of World War II and the
start of the Chinese Communist Revolution,
pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi auditioned for a dance
hall band. She played Beethoven’s
no. 3, for the leader, an ex-Navy B
and violinist. He asked her to start
play whatever she could; he would chord
symbols, which she had never seen
Though Akiyoshi didn’t care for t
band paid well, and she practiced
club’s piano—her parents had bee
abandon their instrument. Akiyos
recalls the Japanese man who cam
night and told her that, with a littl
could become the best jazz pianist
Island. But, when the record colle
Teddy Wilson’s “Sweet
“that was it.” She tr
Willie Smith, lead a
James band, and **
Akiyoshi was leading quartet, featuring
Sadao Watanabe "65. She ranked among Japan’s
most accomplished performers, band leaders, stu-
dio musicians, and arrangers. Oscar Peterson
H’84 introduced Akiyoshi to producer Norman
Granz, who began writing about her for
Metronome and Downbeat and in 1953 released
Norman Granz Presents Toshiko. Encouraged by
Boston musician Tony Teixiera '60, who heard her
band, Akiyoshi wrote to Berklee founder and
Chancellor Lawrence Berk. On the recommenda-
tions of Peterson and Granz, Berk offered her full
scholarship to Berklee and a ticket to America.
Akiyoshi took advantage of the long awaited
opportunity to play with American jazz musicians,
performing regularly at Storyville and sitting in
with the likes of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and
Duke Ellington H’71. Storyville owner, George
Wein H’76, also presented Akiyoshi at the
Newport Jazz Festival, which he first produced in
1954. The Akiyoshi-Tabackin Big Band, cofound-
ed in Los Angeles with her husband, saxophonist
Lew Tabackin, in 1973, established Akiyoshi as a
bandleader and foremost jazz composer. The
ensemble has recorded Kogun, Top of the Gate,
and the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra Carnegie
Hall Concert. Akiyoshi has released more than 50
albums, earned 11 Grammy nominations, and con-
sistently topped the jazz music polls. She is the
subject of Renée Cho’s film documentary Jazz Is
My Native Language.
John Abercrombie 67
While a Berklee student, guitarist John
Abercrombie met organist Johnny “Hammond”
Smith, and took a gig with him, working seven
nights a week at a club called the Big M. Around
that time, he had occasion to hear both Jack
McDuff’s band, and Tony Williams’ Lifetime
band. George Benson H’90 had the guitar spot in
McDuff’s band, and Pat Martino replaced him.
Both guitarists were about the same age as
Abercrombie at the time—17 or 18. The jazz/rock
Lifetime outfit, with John McLaughlin and Larry
Young, shook Abercrombie first for its loudness,
later for its innovations. The young guitarists in
McDuff’s band inspired him for their accom-
plished playing. And the gig with Johnny Smith
threw him “right into the fire,” for which the
organ now figures as “the great common denomi-
nator” in his life. Since Berklee, Abercrombie has
pushed musical boundaries, while keeping con-
nected to the traditional formats which triggered
his interest in jazz. He performed in the early
jazz-rock group Dreams, played pop with Friends,
fusion with Billy Cobham, free-jazz with Jack
DeJohnette, and classical and world rooted jazz
with Ralph Towner. He has worked with Chico
Hamilton, John Scofield *73, Bill Evans ’86, Gato
Barbieri, George Mraz ’70, McCoy Tyner, Paul
Bley, and Dave Holland. Timeless, his first record-
ing as a leader in 1973, and its follow-up 10 years
later, Night, featured organist Jan Hammer 69,
along with Jack DeJohnette H’90 and Michael
Brecker (on the latter record). He reformed his
band Gateway with DeJohnette and Dave Holland,
which completed a recent tour and record, slated
release this year. The John Abercrombie trio,
h Peter Erskine H’92 on drums and bassist
wre Johnson, has recorded Current Events,
There, and November for ECM. His
tation on guitar synthesizer, which he
d into the trio recordings, included an
ano duet for Richie Beirach’s [67]
rald City. Abercrombie has since aban-
ned the synthesizer and returned his attention
the instruments and format which inspire him—
itar, organ, and drums. Abercrombie’s organ
rio, with Hammond B-3 specialist Dan Wall and
drummer Adam Nussbaum, debuted in 1993 with
While We’re Young, and Speak of the Devil was
released last year.
Toshiko Akiyoshi °59
The year after she and her family fled Manchuria
for Japan, at the end of World War II and the
start of the Chinese Communist Revolution,
pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi auditioned for a dance
hall band. She played Beethoven’s
no. 3, for the leader, an ex-Navy B
and violinist. He asked her to start
play whatever she could; he would chord
symbols, which she had never seen
Though Akiyoshi didn’t care for t
band paid well, and she practiced
club’s piano—her parents had bee
abandon their instrument. Akiyos
recalls the Japanese man who cam
night and told her that, with a littl
could become the best jazz pianist
Island. But, when the record colle
Teddy Wilson’s “Sweet
“that was it.” She tr
Willie Smith, lead a
James band, and **
Akiyoshi was leading quartet, featuring
Sadao Watanabe "65. She ranked among Japan’s
most accomplished performers, band leaders, stu-
dio musicians, and arrangers. Oscar Peterson
H’84 introduced Akiyoshi to producer Norman
Granz, who began writing about her for
Metronome and Downbeat and in 1953 released
Norman Granz Presents Toshiko. Encouraged by
Boston musician Tony Teixiera '60, who heard her
band, Akiyoshi wrote to Berklee founder and
Chancellor Lawrence Berk. On the recommenda-
tions of Peterson and Granz, Berk offered her full
scholarship to Berklee and a ticket to America.
Akiyoshi took advantage of the long awaited
opportunity to play with American jazz musicians,
performing regularly at Storyville and sitting in
with the likes of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and
Duke Ellington H’71. Storyville owner, George
Wein H’76, also presented Akiyoshi at the
Newport Jazz Festival, which he first produced in
1954. The Akiyoshi-Tabackin Big Band, cofound-
ed in Los Angeles with her husband, saxophonist
Lew Tabackin, in 1973, established Akiyoshi as a
bandleader and foremost jazz composer. The
ensemble has recorded Kogun, Top of the Gate,
and the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra Carnegie
Hall Concert. Akiyoshi has released more than 50
albums, earned 11 Grammy nominations, and con-
sistently topped the jazz music polls. She is the
subject of Renée Cho’s film documentary Jazz Is
My Native Language.
