Joshua Breakstone

Joshua Breakstone (* 22. July 1955 in Elizabeth (New Jersey) ) is an American guitarist of modern jazz .

Joshua Breakstone came into contact with the music business at an early age through his parents and siblings. Through his sister, who was responsible for the lighting system in New York's Fillmore East, he saw the bands that performed there; Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa became early role models. Later he became interested in jazz; Influences were Charlie Parker and Lee Morgan . At that time he was studying in Manhattan with Sal Salvador . In 1972 he moved to the New College of the University of South Florida (Sarasota, Florida), where he graduated three years later. 1975 followed further studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston . He then spent a few months in Brazil, then returned to New York City, where he performed and taught; In 1979 the first recordings were made with his college friend, the Canadian saxophonist Glen Hall ( Book of the Heart ), on which Joanne Brackeen , Cecil McBee and Billy Hart also participated. Until 1983 when he recorded his debut album, he worked a. a. with Vinnie Burke , Warne Marsh , Emily Remler, and Aaron Bell ; he also gave private lessons and taught at the Rhode Island Conservatory of Music in Providence (Rhode Island) .
Starting in 1986, Breakstone recorded four albums for Contemporary Records , where he played with Pepper Adams , Kenny Barron , Dennis Irwin , Jimmy Knepper , Tommy Flanagan , Keith Copeland and Kenny Washington . In 1986 he went on his first tour of Japan. Breakstone has since made guest appearances in Japan twice a year; he worked with musicians such as Terumasa Hino , Monkey Kobayashi and Eiji Nakamura . In 1991 Breakstone signed a record deal with the Japanese label King Record , for which four albums were created: Walk Don't Run (with interpretation of Shadows and Ventures numbers like "Telstar" or "Apache") as well as I Want To Hold Your Hand and Oh ! Darling , two albums with Beatles compositions. On the following Remembering Grant Green he worked with former players of the legendary guitarist, such as the organist Jack McDuff and the drummer Al Harewood .

His 1993 album for the Capri label , Sittin 'On The Thing With Ming , mostly contained compositions by Breakstone; This was followed in 1996 by an album with Monk adaptations ( Let's Call This Monk! ), an album with pianist Sid Simmons ( This Just in ... ), a Bud Powell album. In 2001, Tomorrow's Hours followed as a tribute to Wes Montgomery's compositions such as “Bumpin '” and in 2003 a session with French musicians Louis Petrucciani and Joël Allouche ( A Jamais (Forever) ) with a solo version of Bud Powell's “Hallucinations”. The same line-up produced the ballad-dominated album Memoirs - The French Sessions, Vol. 2 in France in 2004 .

Joshua Breakstone developed a single-note game influenced by Grant Green.

Discographic notes

• Echoes (Contemporary, 1986)
• Evening Star (Contemporary, 1987) with David Shapiro
• Self Portrait in Swing (Contemporary, 1989)
• Nine By Three (Contemporary, 1990)
• Let's call this Monk! (Double Time, 1996)
• The Music of Bud Powell (Double Time, 2000), et al. a. with Andy Watson

swell

• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .

Web links

• Web presence