From fresh interpretations of jazz standards, to lyrically evocative originals, New York City based guitarist Rick Stone is an artist with a clear musical vision. His fluid, full-bodied sound pays homage to the great jazz guitar masters of the past while maintaining a personal style with a contemporary edge.
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Rick Stone Music/Jazzand 2009
Rick Stone Music/Jazzand 2009
January 24, 2012
More good news since my last post! My CD Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" made W. Royal Stokes' Best and Notable Releases of 2011, was picked for Andy Ellis' Guitar Show Player's Spotlight and got a nice review by Dan McClenaghan in All About Jazz !
All About Jazz also published Ted Dunbar's Bebop List. This is an iTunes playlist of essential bebop tunes for daily practice which I assembled based on the list given to me by Ted in 1990 when I was his student. I still use these tunes as the backbone of the Advanced Guitar Class at the Jazzmobile Workshop. Those of us who knew Ted remember him as one of the great unrecognized guitarists and teachers. Among his students were guitarists like Peter Bernstein, Freddie Bryant, Tom Dempsey, William Ash and many others. If you don't know Ted's work, check out his CD "Gentle Time Alone."
And while we're at it, THIS Saturday, January 28th is the LAST day to register for the Jazzmobile Saturday Workshop Program. This is the program that was founded by Dr. Billy Taylor and the list of faculty over the years reads like a "who's who" of jazz. Check out the website for registration information: www.jazzmobile.org
January 11, 2012
2012 is getting off to a great start. We kicked of the year with a trip to Louisville for the third annual conference of the Jazz Education Network. Saw lots of great musicians and good friends there. I've been posting some pictures on my facebook page at www.facebook.com/rickstone.guitar
We also just received the news that our CD; Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" made #76 on the Jazzweek Top 100 for 2011.
December 31, 2011
Say goodbye to 2011. It's been an eventful and busy year, starting in early January (in the midst of a huge blizzard!) when my working trio with bassist Marco Panascia and drummer Tom Pollard went into Michael Brorby's studio to record. The Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" was released on July 11th and peaked at number 5 on the JazzWeek Top Jazz Albums for September 19, 2011 and has gotten some great Reviews. If you haven't heard it yet, you can download a FREE mp3 track (guitarists take note; you'll also receive a free transcription).
I was honored to be featured twice in the November 2011 issue of Just Jazz Guitar; first in an interview with Joe Barth, and then a review of "Fractals" by Tim Fischer. Then on December 24th, a really nice review at JazzGuitarLife (best Christmas present ever, thanks Lyle!). Other reviews of fractals are at Blog Critics, Jazz Review, Celebrity Cafe, Rotcod Zzaj, The Peverett Phile, MWE3.com, Muzikreviews.com, AllAboutJazz, Inside Jazz, Rochester City Newspaper, The Borderland, Dave Walker Music, Jazmuzic.com, Jazz Society of Oregon, Midwest Record, Sea of Tranquility, RJ Johnson's Modern Music, Cool Cleveland, Homegrown Radio NJ, and the Cleveland Heights Patch.
2011 was a year of taking care of business. All of my recordings, including back catalog items like "Blues for Nobody" (my first album with Marc Bernstein, Hal Galper, Brian Hurley & Billy Hart, previously available only on LP), "Far East" (with Kenny Barron, Don Gladstone & Curtis Boyd), and "Samba de Novembro" (with Tardo Hammer, Yosuke Inoue and Matt Wilson) are now available as both CDs and digital downloads. We're also offering a limited pressing of my 1994 organ quartet date "Steppin' Back" (with Eric Alexander, Sam Yahel, and Joe Farnsworth, previously only available on cassette!). To hear samples (and/or purchase) any of these, visit my Recordings page.
In July, I did my second successful tour of Italy with peformances in Rome, Perugia, Bologna, Milan, San Omobono, Turino, Asti and Trieste! While there, I laid down tracks for two separate guitar duo projects; one with Dario Chiazzolino and another with Giovanni Monteforte. I owe many thanks to the wonderful musicians and friends who made this possible; Giovanni Monteforte, Domingo Lobuono, Angelo Lombardo, Dario Chiazzolino, Rita Cervellati, Giorgia Hannoush, Mario Cogno, Ermes Ghirardini, Gianluca Alberti, Carol Sudhalter, Marco Panascia and Patrizia Scascitelli (and I apologize to anybody whose name I forgot to mention). Without you all, this wouldn't have happened. Grazie! Grazie!
The trio continues to play monthly at the Garage Resaurant, and we had several nice gigs at the Bar Next Door. Thanks to both of those venues for giving us a regular outlet for our creative energies.
This fall, I began recording a solo CD for my good friend Peter Mazza. Peter is an amazing guitarist with a very deep rhythmic and harmonic sensibility. His chordal solo arrangements are complex and extremely challenging, and are creating a bit of a buzz in the jazz guitar community. Look for his first solo CD to be out in 2012!
2011 was also a very busy year for teaching! I had a record number of students and it kept me on my toes. All of these other activities took time away from the development of jazzguitarlessons.com, but now am refocussing my energies in that direction. There are already close to a thousand pages of printed content, and I'm currently adding new sample lessons and blog entries. We've also solved some technical issues and are now offering Skype lessons! For info, send an email to lessons@rickstone.com.
Now we're just spending a quiet New Year's Eve at home and getting ready to go to the Jazz Education Network conference in Louisville next week (January 4th-8th). Lots of good things to come in 2012! Stay tuned . . . . .
October 9, 2011
Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" made it to number 5 on the JazzWeek Top Jazz Albums for September 19, 2011. "Fractals" has also received a lot of great press (see the Reviews page). If you don't know what the fuss is about, click the link on the left and check out the free MP3 download! We're also in the process of making some free transcriptions available for those on our mailing list.
June 9, 2011
Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" now available on CDBaby
The new CD is now available as a download on CDBaby, iTunes and other online sources. We've also released all of my previous recordings as downloads, and several that were only available on cassettes and LPs are now available on CD as well. Be sure to check out the Recordings page.
May 18, 2011
Update on the new project:
The Master has just gone off to the the pressing plant today and we are looking at an official radio release date of July 11, 2011.
Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" (Jazzand JCD005)
Rick Stone (guitar), Marco Panascia (bass) Tom Pollard (drums)
Recorded January 3rd & 4th at Acoustic Recording by Michael Brorby, mastered at Algorhythms by A.T. Michael MacDonald, cover photo and art by Chris Drukker. The songs; Stella by Starlight, Fractals, Key Lime Pie, Darn That Dream, Scoby, Nacho Mama's Blues, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Places Left Behind, Speed Bump, Ballad for Very Sad and Very Tired Lotus Eaters, and The Phrygerator. I feel very good about this recording. Seven of the eleven tunes recorded are my own and the trio with Marco and Tom is one of the best I've played with. There will be samples up soon so stay tuned.
February 21, 2011
This year started with a new trio recording. I went into Michael Brorby's Acoustic Recording Studio on January 3rd & 4th with bassist Marco Panascia and drummer Tom Pollard. We're now just about done with mixing and will be mastering and designing the covers soon. The project is a little behind schedule, but we still hope to have CDs in hand by Spring.
November 27, 2010
It's been a fantastic year. So much going on and suddenly I realized that I haven't posted an update here in quite a while. Had a great time at the JEN Conference, then Summer NAMM, a fantastic tour in Italy, and then a gig back home in Ohio at Nighttown (you can see some videos from the Italy and Ohio gigs on my Gallery page). Some great gigs in town too at the Bar Next Door (be there again on 12/11), the Garage, Jazz Forum Productions and Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.
I've also just been enjoying being in New York and getting to go out and listen to, and also getting together to jam with some wonderful and inspiring players. Some good friends who warrant being on your radar are; Peter Mazza, Dan Adler and Tomas Janzon.
Now I'm getting ready to record a new trio CD at Michael Brorby's studio in Brooklyn. Stay tuned!
July 7,, 2010
Things have been really busy around here, hence no new posts for the last few months. In May I went to the First Annual Jazz Education Network Conference in Saint Louis. It was great, but if you missed it, don't dispair. They're having the next one in New Orleans in January and it should be even better. Check out their site: www.jazzednet.org.
Then in June Bill Comins and I went to the Summer NAMM Show in Nashville with D'Angelico Guitars.
Now I'm headed off to Italy for a series of gigs with Carol Sudhalter, Dario Chiazzolino, Giovanni Monteforte, Piero Borri and many others (plus a recording session with Carol and Carmelo Leotta). It's going to be another busy month!
I did manage to put up a couple new videos on Youtube though. Check out my trio's versions of Jerome Kern's "Nobody Else But Me" and our 5/4 version of Coltrane's "Giant Steps."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SH5-KGXx0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdVAq0rXHYM
Stay tuned! More to come!
April 16, 2010
Last summer I had a very nice video interview with Emon for his guitar blog Guitarkadia.com. Part 1 is finally edit and posted. You can watch it here http://guitarkadia.com/emon/jazz/interview-with-jazz-guitarist-rick-stone-part-one/
March 18, 2010
As you know, I'm now an artist endorser for D'Angelico Guitars. They're making some nice and affordable laminate archtops (I'm currently using their EXS-1DH as my "gigging" guitar, and about to pickup my new EX-SS which was re-designed for them by Bill Comins). I had a fun photo shoot with my good friend Chris Drukker (a great photographer and graphic artist) at the D'Angelico store in Redbank a couple weeks ago. We shot about 750 pictures and you can see a small sampling of them of my facebook.
February 22, 2010
Some of you might be interested in a couple blogs I'm maintaining.
For the more "guitaristically" inclined, I regularly post some jazz guitar licks and tricks (in standard notation, tab and Guitar-Pro formats at JazzGuitarLessons.com/Ricks-Licks .
RickStoneMusic.Wordpress.com is a more general interest jazz guitar blog where I'll write about just about anything that's on my mind (which is mostly music) and I sometimes post some guitar lessons there as well.
I was also called on by Lyle Robinson to write some concert reviews for JazzGuitarLife.com last year. Being the reviewer (as opposed to the one being reviewed) was an interesting perspective, and how could I pass up free tickets to see Greg Skaff and then Pat Martino at the Iridium? You can read them here: Greg Skaff 7-22-2009
Pat Martino 7-26-2009. I've been asked to do a few more, but they fell on nights that I was gigging or teaching. So far these are the only ones I've done but it was an interesting (and challenging) experience.
February 11, 2010
I'm very happy to announce that I was just featured on All About Jazz in a short interview called "Take Five with Rick Stone" and was also interviewed by jazz critic Scott Yanow for his upcoming book "The Great Jazz Guitarists" scheduled to come out in 2011 on Hal Leonard Publications.
Also, I just become an endorser for D'Angelico Guitars. Don't worry, I'm still using the Comins too (Bill Comins is currently working with the D'Angelico people to redesign some of their line). I got two of their Excel guitars a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying them. You can see a picture of them on my Facebook.
Meanwhile I'm busy with an archiving project and am digitizing all of my old gig and jam session recordings (many hundreds of hours, mostly from cassettes). Writing lots of chord solo arrangements and exercises for the new website. Check out the current sample lesson, Bill Evans "Very Early."
November 21, 2009
As the holiday shopping season begins, I'd like to remind you that music makes a great gift, so if you love jazz guitar, why not share some with your friends? My CDs are available at cdbaby.
I'm continuing to write instructional material and record lessons and videos for my new website jazzguitarlessons.com. It's not quite ready for "official" launch, but as you can see, progress is being made. Meanwhile, if you're in the NYC area and would like to arrange a private lesson, please email me at lessons@rickstone.com
The Jazzmobile Saturday Workshop Program begins its 2009-2010 season of classes on Demember 12th at the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts, 215 West 114th Street.
My trio continues to play monthly at the Garage Restaurant, and we've had several successful engagements at the Bar Next Door. Check my calendar regularly for upcoming gigs.
The network I started jazzguitarny.ning.com has grown to several hundred members, mostly working musicians and is intended to promote live jazz guitar events. I try to keep a current listing of regular jazz guitar gigs
I continue to be active on a number of social networks as well. Please join me at: myspace.com/rickstonemusic, facebook.com/rickstonemusic, twitter.com/rickstonemusic, linkedin.com/rickstonemusic (are you beginning to sense a pattern?) as well as reverbnation.com/rickstone, allaboutjazz.com/rickstoneand youtube.com/jazzand.
February 12, 2009
The past year has been a busy one. The band is playing regularly at the Garage Restaurant, the Bar Next Door and did a successful concert at the Donnell Library Center. I've got a great group of students at Hofstra University, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Jazzmobile, and my home studio. We've done more renovations on the studio (we created a drum room for better separation). I've also gotten pretty heavy into video recording and editing and you can see some of the results at www.youtube.com/jazzand (check out the clips from the Donnell concert!) I also started posting some of my archival concert footage there (like the 1993 concert with Barry Harris, Ralph Lalama, Dennis Irwin, and Leroy Williams). I'm writing a lot of new teaching materials also started recording some instructional video material for a new website I'll be unveiling later this year. If that wasn't enough, I've gotten very heavy into just about all the social networks (MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Plaxo, and just about everyplace else) so if you want to connect, just search on my name.
February 11, 2008
Official Rick Stone Music merchandise is now available! Guitar students will enjoy our very functional and decorative Circle of Fifths clock. Hang one in your practice room where it will help you memorize keys and chord progressions, and get to the gig on-time! They make great gifts. More products coming soon. Visit our store at www.CafePress.com/RickStoneMusic
February 1, 2008
Good things happening this month For the many people outside of New York City who've expressed interest in online study (or those who just can't make the trek out to Brooklyn) I'll be doing my first online guitar clinic for www.mikesmasterclasses.com Mike Gellar started this site a couple years ago and has had classes with Roni Ben-Hur, Lorne Lofsky, Jay Umble, Steve Herberman, Jack Wilkins, Frank DiBussolo, Sheryl Bailey, Randy Johnston, John Stowell, Paul Bollenbeck, and a host of others (I could go on, but you get the idea!). Needless to say, I'm honored to be in such company. My first class will cover my Chord Construction Workshop system that I wrote about for Just Jazz Guitar magazine a few years back (you can download copies of those articles from my "Lessons" page). Here's the description:
Online Chord Construction Workshop,
Thursday, February 7th, 2008, 9:00am
A practical, hands-on approach to chord construction for the guitar. Beginning with only a few chord forms you will learn how to build virtually any nameable chord through a system of chromatic alterations. Most importantly, we will discuss practical applications and proper voice-leading. You should expect to come away from this workshop with the knowledge necessary to move beyond the rote playing of chord "shapes" and bring your comping to a professional level.
Tuition: $39.95 Click Here to Sign Up
Videos Now Available On YouTube!
I've decided to start posting my videos to YouTube rather than keeping them here on this site (just a lot easier for me to maintain and they get more views). To see what I've posted, click this link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/jazzand
Jazzand Studio Renovations
The studio is now up and running smoothly. My current group with pianist Ted Kooshian, bassist David Kingsnorth and drummer Tom Pollard has been rehearsing here over the past year. We're working on lots of new material and tightening things up. I'm trying to keep away from too many outside projects since that keeps me away from playing.
New Articles for Just Jazz Guitar
I'm currently working on a new series of articles for Just Jazz Guitar Magazine. This series will address some of my ideas about composition and the guitar and will include lead sheets and transcriptions of my recent recorded work. The first was a guitar arrangement of my song "Rain Forest" which appeared in the August 2005 issue.
Visit Me on MySpace.com
If you haven't already visited my page on MySpace, I encourage you to check it out. I've been uploading a lot of photos and such from my archive, including some pretty funny ones (like the picture from 1957 with my "Mickey Mouse" guitar, or my bands when I was in school and much hairier!) Also a lot of things from gigs over the years, with Ralph Lalama, Barry Harris, Kenny Barron. Go check it out at:
http://www.myspace.com/rickstonemusic
More good news since my last post! My CD Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" made W. Royal Stokes' Best and Notable Releases of 2011, was picked for Andy Ellis' Guitar Show Player's Spotlight and got a nice review by Dan McClenaghan in All About Jazz !
All About Jazz also published Ted Dunbar's Bebop List. This is an iTunes playlist of essential bebop tunes for daily practice which I assembled based on the list given to me by Ted in 1990 when I was his student. I still use these tunes as the backbone of the Advanced Guitar Class at the Jazzmobile Workshop. Those of us who knew Ted remember him as one of the great unrecognized guitarists and teachers. Among his students were guitarists like Peter Bernstein, Freddie Bryant, Tom Dempsey, William Ash and many others. If you don't know Ted's work, check out his CD "Gentle Time Alone."
And while we're at it, THIS Saturday, January 28th is the LAST day to register for the Jazzmobile Saturday Workshop Program. This is the program that was founded by Dr. Billy Taylor and the list of faculty over the years reads like a "who's who" of jazz. Check out the website for registration information: www.jazzmobile.org
January 11, 2012
2012 is getting off to a great start. We kicked of the year with a trip to Louisville for the third annual conference of the Jazz Education Network. Saw lots of great musicians and good friends there. I've been posting some pictures on my facebook page at www.facebook.com/rickstone.guitar
We also just received the news that our CD; Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" made #76 on the Jazzweek Top 100 for 2011.
December 31, 2011
Say goodbye to 2011. It's been an eventful and busy year, starting in early January (in the midst of a huge blizzard!) when my working trio with bassist Marco Panascia and drummer Tom Pollard went into Michael Brorby's studio to record. The Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" was released on July 11th and peaked at number 5 on the JazzWeek Top Jazz Albums for September 19, 2011 and has gotten some great Reviews. If you haven't heard it yet, you can download a FREE mp3 track (guitarists take note; you'll also receive a free transcription).
I was honored to be featured twice in the November 2011 issue of Just Jazz Guitar; first in an interview with Joe Barth, and then a review of "Fractals" by Tim Fischer. Then on December 24th, a really nice review at JazzGuitarLife (best Christmas present ever, thanks Lyle!). Other reviews of fractals are at Blog Critics, Jazz Review, Celebrity Cafe, Rotcod Zzaj, The Peverett Phile, MWE3.com, Muzikreviews.com, AllAboutJazz, Inside Jazz, Rochester City Newspaper, The Borderland, Dave Walker Music, Jazmuzic.com, Jazz Society of Oregon, Midwest Record, Sea of Tranquility, RJ Johnson's Modern Music, Cool Cleveland, Homegrown Radio NJ, and the Cleveland Heights Patch.
2011 was a year of taking care of business. All of my recordings, including back catalog items like "Blues for Nobody" (my first album with Marc Bernstein, Hal Galper, Brian Hurley & Billy Hart, previously available only on LP), "Far East" (with Kenny Barron, Don Gladstone & Curtis Boyd), and "Samba de Novembro" (with Tardo Hammer, Yosuke Inoue and Matt Wilson) are now available as both CDs and digital downloads. We're also offering a limited pressing of my 1994 organ quartet date "Steppin' Back" (with Eric Alexander, Sam Yahel, and Joe Farnsworth, previously only available on cassette!). To hear samples (and/or purchase) any of these, visit my Recordings page.
In July, I did my second successful tour of Italy with peformances in Rome, Perugia, Bologna, Milan, San Omobono, Turino, Asti and Trieste! While there, I laid down tracks for two separate guitar duo projects; one with Dario Chiazzolino and another with Giovanni Monteforte. I owe many thanks to the wonderful musicians and friends who made this possible; Giovanni Monteforte, Domingo Lobuono, Angelo Lombardo, Dario Chiazzolino, Rita Cervellati, Giorgia Hannoush, Mario Cogno, Ermes Ghirardini, Gianluca Alberti, Carol Sudhalter, Marco Panascia and Patrizia Scascitelli (and I apologize to anybody whose name I forgot to mention). Without you all, this wouldn't have happened. Grazie! Grazie!
The trio continues to play monthly at the Garage Resaurant, and we had several nice gigs at the Bar Next Door. Thanks to both of those venues for giving us a regular outlet for our creative energies.
This fall, I began recording a solo CD for my good friend Peter Mazza. Peter is an amazing guitarist with a very deep rhythmic and harmonic sensibility. His chordal solo arrangements are complex and extremely challenging, and are creating a bit of a buzz in the jazz guitar community. Look for his first solo CD to be out in 2012!
2011 was also a very busy year for teaching! I had a record number of students and it kept me on my toes. All of these other activities took time away from the development of jazzguitarlessons.com, but now am refocussing my energies in that direction. There are already close to a thousand pages of printed content, and I'm currently adding new sample lessons and blog entries. We've also solved some technical issues and are now offering Skype lessons! For info, send an email to lessons@rickstone.com.
Now we're just spending a quiet New Year's Eve at home and getting ready to go to the Jazz Education Network conference in Louisville next week (January 4th-8th). Lots of good things to come in 2012! Stay tuned . . . . .
October 9, 2011
Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" made it to number 5 on the JazzWeek Top Jazz Albums for September 19, 2011. "Fractals" has also received a lot of great press (see the Reviews page). If you don't know what the fuss is about, click the link on the left and check out the free MP3 download! We're also in the process of making some free transcriptions available for those on our mailing list.
June 9, 2011
Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" now available on CDBaby
The new CD is now available as a download on CDBaby, iTunes and other online sources. We've also released all of my previous recordings as downloads, and several that were only available on cassettes and LPs are now available on CD as well. Be sure to check out the Recordings page.
May 18, 2011
Update on the new project:
The Master has just gone off to the the pressing plant today and we are looking at an official radio release date of July 11, 2011.
Rick Stone Trio "Fractals" (Jazzand JCD005)
Rick Stone (guitar), Marco Panascia (bass) Tom Pollard (drums)
Recorded January 3rd & 4th at Acoustic Recording by Michael Brorby, mastered at Algorhythms by A.T. Michael MacDonald, cover photo and art by Chris Drukker. The songs; Stella by Starlight, Fractals, Key Lime Pie, Darn That Dream, Scoby, Nacho Mama's Blues, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Places Left Behind, Speed Bump, Ballad for Very Sad and Very Tired Lotus Eaters, and The Phrygerator. I feel very good about this recording. Seven of the eleven tunes recorded are my own and the trio with Marco and Tom is one of the best I've played with. There will be samples up soon so stay tuned.
February 21, 2011
This year started with a new trio recording. I went into Michael Brorby's Acoustic Recording Studio on January 3rd & 4th with bassist Marco Panascia and drummer Tom Pollard. We're now just about done with mixing and will be mastering and designing the covers soon. The project is a little behind schedule, but we still hope to have CDs in hand by Spring.
November 27, 2010
It's been a fantastic year. So much going on and suddenly I realized that I haven't posted an update here in quite a while. Had a great time at the JEN Conference, then Summer NAMM, a fantastic tour in Italy, and then a gig back home in Ohio at Nighttown (you can see some videos from the Italy and Ohio gigs on my Gallery page). Some great gigs in town too at the Bar Next Door (be there again on 12/11), the Garage, Jazz Forum Productions and Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.
I've also just been enjoying being in New York and getting to go out and listen to, and also getting together to jam with some wonderful and inspiring players. Some good friends who warrant being on your radar are; Peter Mazza, Dan Adler and Tomas Janzon.
Now I'm getting ready to record a new trio CD at Michael Brorby's studio in Brooklyn. Stay tuned!
July 7,, 2010
Things have been really busy around here, hence no new posts for the last few months. In May I went to the First Annual Jazz Education Network Conference in Saint Louis. It was great, but if you missed it, don't dispair. They're having the next one in New Orleans in January and it should be even better. Check out their site: www.jazzednet.org.
Then in June Bill Comins and I went to the Summer NAMM Show in Nashville with D'Angelico Guitars.
Now I'm headed off to Italy for a series of gigs with Carol Sudhalter, Dario Chiazzolino, Giovanni Monteforte, Piero Borri and many others (plus a recording session with Carol and Carmelo Leotta). It's going to be another busy month!
I did manage to put up a couple new videos on Youtube though. Check out my trio's versions of Jerome Kern's "Nobody Else But Me" and our 5/4 version of Coltrane's "Giant Steps."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SH5-KGXx0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdVAq0rXHYM
Stay tuned! More to come!
April 16, 2010
Last summer I had a very nice video interview with Emon for his guitar blog Guitarkadia.com. Part 1 is finally edit and posted. You can watch it here http://guitarkadia.com/emon/jazz/interview-with-jazz-guitarist-rick-stone-part-one/
March 18, 2010
As you know, I'm now an artist endorser for D'Angelico Guitars. They're making some nice and affordable laminate archtops (I'm currently using their EXS-1DH as my "gigging" guitar, and about to pickup my new EX-SS which was re-designed for them by Bill Comins). I had a fun photo shoot with my good friend Chris Drukker (a great photographer and graphic artist) at the D'Angelico store in Redbank a couple weeks ago. We shot about 750 pictures and you can see a small sampling of them of my facebook.
February 22, 2010
Some of you might be interested in a couple blogs I'm maintaining.
For the more "guitaristically" inclined, I regularly post some jazz guitar licks and tricks (in standard notation, tab and Guitar-Pro formats at JazzGuitarLessons.com/Ricks-Licks .
RickStoneMusic.Wordpress.com is a more general interest jazz guitar blog where I'll write about just about anything that's on my mind (which is mostly music) and I sometimes post some guitar lessons there as well.
I was also called on by Lyle Robinson to write some concert reviews for JazzGuitarLife.com last year. Being the reviewer (as opposed to the one being reviewed) was an interesting perspective, and how could I pass up free tickets to see Greg Skaff and then Pat Martino at the Iridium? You can read them here: Greg Skaff 7-22-2009
Pat Martino 7-26-2009. I've been asked to do a few more, but they fell on nights that I was gigging or teaching. So far these are the only ones I've done but it was an interesting (and challenging) experience.
February 11, 2010
I'm very happy to announce that I was just featured on All About Jazz in a short interview called "Take Five with Rick Stone" and was also interviewed by jazz critic Scott Yanow for his upcoming book "The Great Jazz Guitarists" scheduled to come out in 2011 on Hal Leonard Publications.
Also, I just become an endorser for D'Angelico Guitars. Don't worry, I'm still using the Comins too (Bill Comins is currently working with the D'Angelico people to redesign some of their line). I got two of their Excel guitars a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying them. You can see a picture of them on my Facebook.
Meanwhile I'm busy with an archiving project and am digitizing all of my old gig and jam session recordings (many hundreds of hours, mostly from cassettes). Writing lots of chord solo arrangements and exercises for the new website. Check out the current sample lesson, Bill Evans "Very Early."
November 21, 2009
As the holiday shopping season begins, I'd like to remind you that music makes a great gift, so if you love jazz guitar, why not share some with your friends? My CDs are available at cdbaby.
I'm continuing to write instructional material and record lessons and videos for my new website jazzguitarlessons.com. It's not quite ready for "official" launch, but as you can see, progress is being made. Meanwhile, if you're in the NYC area and would like to arrange a private lesson, please email me at lessons@rickstone.com
The Jazzmobile Saturday Workshop Program begins its 2009-2010 season of classes on Demember 12th at the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts, 215 West 114th Street.
My trio continues to play monthly at the Garage Restaurant, and we've had several successful engagements at the Bar Next Door. Check my calendar regularly for upcoming gigs.
The network I started jazzguitarny.ning.com has grown to several hundred members, mostly working musicians and is intended to promote live jazz guitar events. I try to keep a current listing of regular jazz guitar gigs
I continue to be active on a number of social networks as well. Please join me at: myspace.com/rickstonemusic, facebook.com/rickstonemusic, twitter.com/rickstonemusic, linkedin.com/rickstonemusic (are you beginning to sense a pattern?) as well as reverbnation.com/rickstone, allaboutjazz.com/rickstoneand youtube.com/jazzand.
February 12, 2009
The past year has been a busy one. The band is playing regularly at the Garage Restaurant, the Bar Next Door and did a successful concert at the Donnell Library Center. I've got a great group of students at Hofstra University, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Jazzmobile, and my home studio. We've done more renovations on the studio (we created a drum room for better separation). I've also gotten pretty heavy into video recording and editing and you can see some of the results at www.youtube.com/jazzand (check out the clips from the Donnell concert!) I also started posting some of my archival concert footage there (like the 1993 concert with Barry Harris, Ralph Lalama, Dennis Irwin, and Leroy Williams). I'm writing a lot of new teaching materials also started recording some instructional video material for a new website I'll be unveiling later this year. If that wasn't enough, I've gotten very heavy into just about all the social networks (MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Plaxo, and just about everyplace else) so if you want to connect, just search on my name.
February 11, 2008
Official Rick Stone Music merchandise is now available! Guitar students will enjoy our very functional and decorative Circle of Fifths clock. Hang one in your practice room where it will help you memorize keys and chord progressions, and get to the gig on-time! They make great gifts. More products coming soon. Visit our store at www.CafePress.com/RickStoneMusic
February 1, 2008
Good things happening this month For the many people outside of New York City who've expressed interest in online study (or those who just can't make the trek out to Brooklyn) I'll be doing my first online guitar clinic for www.mikesmasterclasses.com Mike Gellar started this site a couple years ago and has had classes with Roni Ben-Hur, Lorne Lofsky, Jay Umble, Steve Herberman, Jack Wilkins, Frank DiBussolo, Sheryl Bailey, Randy Johnston, John Stowell, Paul Bollenbeck, and a host of others (I could go on, but you get the idea!). Needless to say, I'm honored to be in such company. My first class will cover my Chord Construction Workshop system that I wrote about for Just Jazz Guitar magazine a few years back (you can download copies of those articles from my "Lessons" page). Here's the description:
Online Chord Construction Workshop,
Thursday, February 7th, 2008, 9:00am
A practical, hands-on approach to chord construction for the guitar. Beginning with only a few chord forms you will learn how to build virtually any nameable chord through a system of chromatic alterations. Most importantly, we will discuss practical applications and proper voice-leading. You should expect to come away from this workshop with the knowledge necessary to move beyond the rote playing of chord "shapes" and bring your comping to a professional level.
Tuition: $39.95 Click Here to Sign Up
Videos Now Available On YouTube!
I've decided to start posting my videos to YouTube rather than keeping them here on this site (just a lot easier for me to maintain and they get more views). To see what I've posted, click this link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/jazzand
Jazzand Studio Renovations
The studio is now up and running smoothly. My current group with pianist Ted Kooshian, bassist David Kingsnorth and drummer Tom Pollard has been rehearsing here over the past year. We're working on lots of new material and tightening things up. I'm trying to keep away from too many outside projects since that keeps me away from playing.
New Articles for Just Jazz Guitar
I'm currently working on a new series of articles for Just Jazz Guitar Magazine. This series will address some of my ideas about composition and the guitar and will include lead sheets and transcriptions of my recent recorded work. The first was a guitar arrangement of my song "Rain Forest" which appeared in the August 2005 issue.
Visit Me on MySpace.com
If you haven't already visited my page on MySpace, I encourage you to check it out. I've been uploading a lot of photos and such from my archive, including some pretty funny ones (like the picture from 1957 with my "Mickey Mouse" guitar, or my bands when I was in school and much hairier!) Also a lot of things from gigs over the years, with Ralph Lalama, Barry Harris, Kenny Barron. Go check it out at:
http://www.myspace.com/rickstonemusic
