Garrison Fewell

Europeans knew about Garrison Fewell's jazz talent long before his fellow Americans discovered him. The Virginia native began his love affair with Europe on a visit to Marseille, France, in 1983. He went on to play hot jazz venues all over the continent, including Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, and Brussels. While the Europeans were learning about Fewell, he was busy learning their languages, becoming fluent in Italian and French. His relative obscurity in his homeland changed, however, with the release from Accurate Records of his first album in 1993. A Blue Deeper Than the Blue brought him to the attention of jazz lovers in the States and earned him a number of honors. Coda Magazine and United Press International included the recording on their lists of the year's ten best. The Boston Music Awards named the debut Best Jazz Album of the Year. Although the guitarist was born in the Virginia city of Charlottesville, he was raised in Philadelphia, PA. He started playing the stride guitar when he was 11 years old. Interested in acoustic blues, he turned to the music of Reverend Gary Davis, Fred McDowell, and Mississippi John Hurt. During the early '70s, Fewell embarked on a tour that took him to Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan. He came home to the States in 1973 and became a jazz student of Pat Martino and Lenny Breau. At the Berklee College of Music, he earned a performance degree and by 1977, he was teaching at his alma mater. As part of a new exchange program set up between the Boston music school and Holland's Rotterdam Conservatory in 1988, Fewell spent time teaching overseas. While in Rotterdam, he had the opportunity to work with Dutch musicians, including Cees Slinger. Paired with Dave Frank, he performed during the North Sea Jazz Festival. The guitarist settled...