JasonShadrick

Alex is one of my favorite guitarists.  We met right after I moved to the east coast at a Labor Day BBQ of a mutual friend.  It was a bit surreal to see a guy you had listened to for quite a while ask you to pass the bread.  Anyways, Alex is not only an incredible metal guitarist, over the last decade he has established himself as a jazz guitarist.  This past summer we were lucky enough to have him as a guest artist in McLean, VA.

Please check out his website at www.alexskolnick.com

Describe your first experience playing music

I believe it was at a friends house or a friend of my parents who had a piano. I tapped out the riff to ‘Smoke On The Water”

What has been your most significant musical experience?

I think that may have been it! Also, hearing Miles Davis with of his electric bands while flipping channels on TV. He combined screaming electric guitarists (probably it was Scofield or Stern, not sure) with world music percussion, funk bass grooves and jazz harmony. It had the power of metal.  Right then it was clear that how deep music could go and how it was all universal.

What is the best advice on pursuing a career in music you were ever given?

“It takes ten songs to write one good one.” Several people have said something like this to me and I’ve found it to be true. Then there is the quote by the late Hunter S. Thomson:

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

What is your favorite sound?

The ocean

Name some of your biggest non-musical influences.

Books, especially those by Erica Jong, Tom Wolfe, Thomas Wolfe, Philip Roth, and Henry Rollins, to name a few. Also, food and chefs, especially Anthony Bourdaine and Thomas Keller.

What was the most memorable concert you ever attended?

Prince, ‘Musicology’ tour 2005. He made the Continental Arena in NJ feel like a small dance club and was played guitar as well as any great rock guitarist I’ve ever seen.

Put your iPod on shuffle and list the first 5 songs that appear

“Better Off Without A Wife” (Tom Waits)

” Now He Beats The Drum — Now He Stops” (Chick Corea)

“Mercy Street” (Peter Gabriel)

“The Art Of Fugue, BWV1080: Contrapunctus I” (JS Bach)

“Thunderbird” (ZZ Top)

It always takes me a bit of time to get back into the swing of things when the annual (now my 6th summer) NGW tour begins.  As it has the last few summers we started in McLean, VA at one of my favorite campuses, The Madeira School.

A few of our teachers have already wrote about their experience at McLean.  You can check them out here and here.

The week began with a trip to Blues Alley in DC to see Pat Martino with an amazing group that included Tony Monaco on B3 Organ, Eric Alexander on Tenor Sax and Jeff “Tain” Watts on Drums. Of course the music was amazing and the whole run of shows at Blues Alley was recorded for Pat’s upcoming live CD.  The whole band was very nice and it was really exciting to see them work out some new material.

Once the faculty and students arrived and the workshop began it really flowed pretty smoothly.  The Madeira School always does a great job as our hosts and the view from behind the auditorium is really incredible.

After the shows at Blues Alley ended, Pat came to campus to give an afternoon workshop and then he was going to spend the next day giving private lessons to some of our students.  I have seen Pat give 5 clinics in the past, but this one was by far the best.  He presented the material in such a clear and easy to understand manner (relatively speaking) that pretty much everyone got something out of it.

The handout for the clinic was an article by Jude Gold from Guitar Player, a leadsheet to his composition “Welcome To A Prayer” and an outline of the chord substitutions he would use on that tune.  The clinic was packed full of not only jazz students, but students from nearly every other class as well.  After the clinic, Tom Dempsey and I took Pat and his wife Aya out for dinner and we had a great time.  Both Pat and Aya are incredible to talk to and spend time with and this was likely the highlight of the week for me.

The other guest we had on campus was Alex Skolnick.  You might know Alex from his work in Testament, Trans-Siberian Orchestra or even his jazz trio.  Alex has been a longtime friend of NGW and it was great to bring him back this year.  I picked him up at the airport and we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the campus.  His clinic was a great mix of both his approach to playing metal and his newer jazz offerings.  After his clinic I introduced Alex to Pat and we all shared a ride over to Pat’s hotel.  Alex was in DC less than 12 hours as he was flying out to Amsterdam to begin a five week tour with Testament.

Overall the week was a great success.  I reconnected with some old friends on faculty and was introduced to some of the best guitarists and instructors in DC.  After the week ended, I headed back to CT for a few days and then yesterday I flew to Chicago to begin another workshop.

It seems like I was just here.