Guitarist Tyler Reese
found that being a busy Nashville session player all week and touring
in a country band every weekend left little time to explore his own
musical creativity. The 23-year-old, once summoned to Paisley Park to play for Prince and who studied at the feet of jazz guitar legend Pat Metheny, re-immersed
himself in the music that first sparked his passion and imagination:
jazz fusion. Carving time to revisit his roots resulted in the varied
guitar-driven, jazz odyssey titled “Reminiscence,” featuring ten of his original compositions. The platter, produced by Jeff Silverman
(Rick Springfield, Hiroshima, The Allman Brothers Band, Tim Weisberg)
and Reese, will be released on November 4 and is prefaced at radio by
the spirit-lifting, sweetly melodic acoustic guitar sojourn “Moving
On.”
Reese
composed “Reminiscence” to be an ambitious and intrepid expedition
through vast jazz terrain. Most tracks slash through thickets of
electric guitar-powered fusion, horn-highlighted funk and sprawling
progressive rock. Others present delicate bouquets of acoustic guitar
expressions, fragrant stems of gypsy jazz and new age meditations.
Whether gracefully strumming gentle harmonies or dexterously plucking
frenetic runs at dazzling speed with turn-on-the-dime precision, Reese’s
fretwork primarily serves his engaging compositions, enabling his
fingers to communicate evocatively and emote vividly.
“The
seed of my inspiration for ‘Reminiscence’ came from needing a creative
change and a musical recharge - something fresh and new - so I delved
into writing and found myself back at my jazz roots and renewed my love
of fusion. It has rekindled my musical soul. I hadn’t realized that I
had so many ideas floating around in my head. The writing and production
process was fun and inspiring, but challenging and liberating at the
same time. The body of work is truly no holds barred, which is exactly
what I was going for,” said Reese, a Fredericksburg, Virginia native who
will return to the area to perform on November 20 at the Riverside Center and November 23 at The Tin Pan
in Richmond. “I was never too much into songwriting, but after moving
to Nashville and spending the past few years playing so many gigs,
traveling extensively and going through certain life experiences, I was
inspired to write. ‘Reminiscence’ encompasses all those experiences and
places I’ve gotten to see, all of which are reflected in the writing.”
Reese
studied classical piano for 14 years beginning at age three and started
studying jazz guitar when he turned twelve. He cranked out his first
album at age 15, “Risus21,” an energetic, moody and heavy progressive rock foray. Two years later, his “Because I Can”
disc put a contemporary funk, rock and blues spin on a collection of
straight-ahead jazz standards. He recorded a duets project two years ago
with longtime Prince backup singer Elisa Fiorillo-Dease titled “Life in 20,”
which is how he came to the attention of the late purple icon.
Impressed, Prince flew the guitarist to Minneapolis for a jam session
and carefully studied the young prodigy’s technique. Reese attended a
master’s guitar clinic taught by Metheny and calls the 20-time Grammy winner a mentor. During his sophomore year as a jazz performance guitar major at Berklee College of Music, Reese released a rock single, “Simply To Choose,” his first collaboration with Silverman, who recruited the rock band Boston’s Kimberely Dahme
to sing on the track. Feeling he learned all he could in the classroom,
Reese left college early eager to launch his professional
career.
Released on the Tyler Reese Music label, the “Reminiscence” album contains the following songs:
“Moving On”
“Breaking Point”
“Out Of Orbit”
“Reflections”
“Astrotermination”
“2Funk”
“Escapade”
“Reminiscence”
“Headed Out”
“Emancipation”
Bonus Track: “Moving On” Radio Edit
For more information, please visit www.TylerReeseMusic.com
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