For nearly 35 years, Steve Howe has been at the forefront of guitarists in popular music. Actually, simply referring to Howe as a just a guitarist is limiting. In addition to being a songwriter, he plays more instruments than just the guitar. If it has strings and a fretboard, Howe has mastered it and recorded with it at some point on one of countless albums he's been a part of as a group member, solo artist and special guest ...
In a career that spans 25 years, Michael Card has recorded over 20 albums, authored or co-authored over 14 books, hosted two radio programs, and written for a wide range of magazines. While he has penned such favorites as "El Shaddai," "Love Crucified Arose," and "Emmanuel," he never imagined selling more than 4 million albums or writing over 19 #1 hits. The popularity of his work seemed a stark contrast to his goal in life, to simply, and quietly teach the Bible.
Although music provided him the opportunity to share insights gained through extensive research, writing songs alone limited what he felt called to share. Card would frequently agonize over having to condense the vast depth and richness of scripture into a three-minute song. And so he fell, quite naturally, into the field of book writing where he has garnered numerous awards.
As Card continued on his quest to teach the Bible, he was encouraged to follow his dream of hosting a radio program entitled Joy in the Journey. Today it continues as In the Studio with Michael Card and is broadcast on the Moody Radio Network. The structure of each show is based on Card's three passions: community, creativity and commentary. Card believes that it is out of community the gospel really comes to life.
Never one to compartmentalize his spiritual life, Card's quest for community slowly seeped into his professional life as he began to write articles and books on topics that captured his imagination through conversations with Bible teachers, friends and contemporaries in both Christian music and the academic community.
Brennan Manning, Dr. Calvin Seerveld, Dr. Larry Crabb, Kirk Whalum, Dr. George Guthrie, Don Wyrtzen, J.I. Packard and the late Dr. William Lane – from people known for their academic biblical contributions to Grammy-award winning musicians, Card is the first to note what an amazing community of friends and contemporaries he has had the opportunity to learn from and grow with both personally and professionally throughout his career ...
James Colin: guitarplayer: Hi my name is Colin James
At the risk of talking about myself, I have opted to create a bio that is a little more personal, off the cuff and will not contain the words, "incendiary", "triple threat", or "burst on to."
Oops! ... there they are. Now on with it.
I was born at home in Regina, Saskatchewan and much to my parents chagrin, (if they didn't want it this way, they shouldn't have planted those electrodes in my head), I started to show a serious interest in music at the age of eight or nine. I got my first electric guitar at around ten and have played it since, except for a small sojourn into mandolin territory from the age of thirteen to fifteen. Blessed with a lot of wonderful people around me who took the time to show me how to play, I soon realized I was probably going to make a go of it.
Trying out new raincoat
My first band, The Hoodoo Men, played their first show in a coffeehouse in Winnipeg when I was about sixteen. I was seriously hooked to the blues and I wouldn't listen to anything else. Things started rolling that same year when I opened up for George Thorogood and John Lee Hooker and got a couple of okay reviews. It wasn't long after, (unless you call a bunch of cockroach infested apartments across Canada not long) that I got a break opening up for Stevie Ray Vaughan for two shows in a row. I got some great press and moreover got to meet my biggest hero, Stevie Ray and his band Double Trouble. On those shows he got me up on stage for his encores which pretty much blew me away, especially considering it was my hometown. They were super nice to me and a year later when they came through Canada for a second time I got the gig to open again in two different cities. At that point I had a different band at every show, no manager, one guitar and the hope I could turn this into a real career ...
Jazz guitarist Gene Shimosato's website features biography, sound bites, itinerary, cds, photo gallery, etc ...
Award winning guitarist, Gene Ess, draws upon a diverse background to form his unique style. Studying classical piano, Ess's early years were filled with sounds of Beethoven and Chopin. Growing up on a US Air Force Base, Ess was simultaneously receiving a mix of influences: he was exposed to the indigenous music of Okinawa and - to the pop and jazz music coming out of the clubs for the American soldiers. All this amounted for an early obsession with music.
Considered a child prodigy by fellow musicians and instructors, Ess performed in clubs and festivals all around Okinawa at the early age of 14. After graduating high school, not satisfied, Ess left for George Mason University. There, Ess pursued classical music studies with Larry Snitzler, a prominent concert guitarist who was once Andres Segovia's disciple and orchestral composition under Dr. Glenn Smith.
Downbeat magazine presented Ess's performance of Lennox Berkeley's 'Theme and Variations' with the 'Outstanding Performance Award' in 1983. Consequently, Ess received a scholarship to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. There he continued his musical quest and was heavily influenced by the music of John Coltrane. During those years, Ess started leading his own groups, which included among others, pianist Danilo Perez. After studies with Jerry Bergonzi and Charlie Banacos, Ess graduated from Berklee with honors in 1989 and moved to New York in 1991 ...
An acoustic guitarist with a very pretty tone, Earl Klugh does not consider himself a jazz player and thinks of Chet Atkins as being his most important influence. Klugh played on a Yusef Lateef album when he was 15 and gained recognition in 1971 for his contributions to George Benson's White Rabbit record. He played regularly with Benson in 1973, was a member of Return to Forever briefly in 1974, and then in the mid-'70s, began recording as a leader. After a couple well-received solo albums on different Capitol imprints including Blue Note, Klugh hit pay dirt with 1979's One on One, a Grammy-winning collaboration with pianist Bob James. More solo albums followed before the sequel to One on One, Two of a Kind, appeared in 1982. In 1984 he changed labels and released one of his most popular albums, Soda Fountain Shuffle, on Warner Brothers. Klugh made his biggest artistic impression yet in 1989 with the self-explanatory Solo Guitar. Two years later he would return to the "serious jazz" repertoire of Solo Guitar, but this time with bassist Ralphe Armstrong and drummer Gene Dunlap on the acoustic bebop outing The Earl Klugh Trio, Vol. 1. Cool from 1992 found him working with Bob James again and was followed by three more smooth releases for the Warner Brothers family before the jump was made to Windham Hill with 1999's Peculiar Situation. Compilations, live albums, appearances with others, and reissues filled the years leading up to 2005's Naked Guitar, a stripped down, standards-heavy album for the Koch label. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide.