Genre-hopping guitar ace Eric Johnson emerged during the mid-'80s with a distinctive style that blended the adventurous rock chops of Jimi Hendrix with the blues power of Albert King while folding in myriad other styles and influences from jazz fusion to folk and classical. Known for his dexterity, precision, and perfectionism, he is also a singer and songwriter with a knack for writing melodic rock songs. Based in Austin, Texas, he earned a reputation in the late '80s and '90s as an eclectic and virtuosic player, winning a Grammy Award for his dynamic instrumental "Cliffs of Dover" from his breakthrough third album Ah Via Musicom. In 1996, Johnson took part in the inaugural G3 tour alongside fellow trail-blazing axemen Joe Satriani and Steve Vai while occasionally gigging with his side project, Alien Love Child. His output over the next decade consisted of previously unreleased material, live sets, and a 2005 studio LP, Bloom, that ranged from instrumental hard rock to new age and country. Throughout his career, Johnson has maintained a steady live presence in a variety of formats and facets, and his studio work in the 2010s reflects this. Although he occasionally returned to his hard rock fusion, more and more his releases turned to other interests, as on Eclectic, his 2014 blues-jazz collaboration with Mike Stern, and 2016's entirely acoustic EJ, which also saw him playing more piano. After 2019's full-band set EJ II, Johnson entered the next decade with a pair of wide-ranging albums simultaneously released in 2022..
Growing up in Austin in the 1960s, Johnson began playing guitar at age 11 and was drawn to an unusual range of influential music, from rock dynamos Hendrix and Cream to Chet Atkins' nimble fingerpicking and jazz players like Wes Montgomery and Django Reinhardt. Later, the great Texas blues ace Stevie Ray Vaughan left his mark as well. After cutting a demo with a psych rock group called Mariani in 1970 (he was only 15 at the time), Johnson spent some of his post-high school years at the University of Texas at Austin and living in Africa with his family. After returning home, he found some regional success as part of a mid-'70s fusion band called the Electromagnets, who recorded a pair of independent albums before disbanding in 1977. Unable to find a label deal for his own music, he devoted himself to session work and played on records by some high-profile artists like Carole King and Cat Stevens while also gigging locally.
The tides turned in 1984 when Johnson landed a deal with Warner Bros. through a connection to Christopher Cross. A breakout performance on Austin City Limits brought more attention his way, and he finally made his solo debut with 1986's Tones, establishing the unique mix of instrumental rock, power pop vocal tunes, and blues/jazz fusion that became his hallmark. His real breakout came four years later with 1990's Ah Via Musicom, which made a strong crossover showing on the Billboard charts and yielded his signature showpiece, "Cliffs of Dover," which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
Johnson's inherent perfectionism cost him some of the ground he had gained, however, and his follow-up didn't arrive until 1996. While Venus Isle made a decent chart run, its mix of rock and world music elements didn't sit as well with critics. That same year, he joined Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to complete the inaugural trio of virtuosic guitar shredders on the G3 tour. He also formed a side project called Alien Love Child, who performed occasionally and released a live album in 2000. Prior to that, a 1998 album called Seven Worlds offered up the lost material from his time with mid-'70s band the Electromagnets. Another anthology, Souvenir, appeared in 2002 and featured previously unreleased material.
Johnson finally returned to new music with 2005's Bloom, an album divided into three phases that contained such a range of styles it played almost like a compilation. Despite this, it was well-received and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Album. That same year, his 1988 Austin City Limits performance was issued on DVD and CD, and he also filmed an instructional guitar DVD called The Art of Guitar. During the 2010s, Johnson continued to evolve and explore various musical forms, beginning with 2010's rock/fusion set Up Close, followed in 2014 by the duo album Eclectic with jazz guitarist Mike Stern. Johnson took a quieter turn on 2016's EJ, offering up the first all-acoustic release on which he also played several piano pieces and supported it with a solo tour. Collage, which featured five originals and five interpretations of songs by inspirational musical figures in Johnson's life, including Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, and the Beatles, followed in 2017. Two years later, he again visited the acoustic world with EJ II, a fuller-bodied acoustic band set with a strong Americana feel to it. Johnson's first projects in the new decade were the 2022 albums The Book of Making and Yesterday Meets Today. Although separate albums, they were released simultaneously and featured the full breadth of the guitarist's range, from driving rock with vocals to instrumental jazz fusion, blues, and R&B-influenced songs. ~ Timothy Monger
Recognized as one of the finest electric guitarists of his generation, Mike Stern is well-versed in the jazz tradition, fusion, hard rock, and blues. His style combines phrasing normally attributed to saxophonists, innovative chord voicings pioneered by Jim Hall, the sonic approach of a rock musician, and the soulful, emotive expression of a bluesman. All of these traits were on display on his debut solo effort, 1983's Neesh, from the Japanese Trio label in 1983. A decade later, his acclaimed Standards (And Other Songs), led to his being named Best Jazz Guitarist of the Year by readers and critics of Guitar Player magazine. The next year's Is What It Is and 1996's Between the Lines, both received Grammy Award nominations. 1997's Give and Take won him the Orville H. Gibson Award for Best Jazz Guitarist. Stern has placed ten albums on the jazz charts, and three more at contemporary jazz including the Grammy-nominated Big Neighborhood in 2009. That same year, Down Beat named him one of the 75 Greatest Guitarists of all time. Though best-known as an influential soloist, bandleader, and sideman, Stern is also a veteran collaborator. In 2008 he was featured as such on the Yellowjackets' Lifecycle; in 2014, he and guitarist Eric Johnson co-led the contemporary jazz chart-topper Eclectic; five years later he and Jeff Lorber shared billing for Eleven. Following the COVID-19 pandemic Stern played sessions and wrote. In 2024 he returned with the star-studded Echoes and Other Songs.
Stern was born on January 10, 1953, in Boston, Massachusetts, but grew up in Washington, D.C. before returning to Boston to study at the Berklee School of Music. Stern was only 22 when he joined Blood, Sweat & Tears, with whom he played for three years before signing on with Billy Cobham's jazz fusion outfit, which led to his big breakthrough: Miles Davis enlisted him as guitarist in 1981 for Davis' return from a five-year musical hiatus. He played and recorded with Davis until 1983, when he began touring with Jaco Pastorius, but he rejoined Davis in 1985. In the meantime, Stern had completed work on his 1983 solo album, Neesh, his debut as a bandleader. Again with Davis, Stern stayed on for just a year, after which he cycled through projects by David Sanborn and Steps Ahead while simultaneously recording his follow-up to Neesh, Upside Downside, which marked his first release for Atlantic Records' jazz division. Stern continued a steady string of releases for the label over the next few years while continuing to play with several other projects, including Michael Brecker and the reunited Brecker Brothers, eventually scoring his first Grammy nomination with the release of Is What It Is in 1994, then garnering another nomination for his 1996 follow-up, Between the Lines. He received his third Grammy nod for his 2001 release Voices, which was Stern's first recording with vocals -- albeit wordless vocalese; it also marked the end of his tenure with Atlantic. Stern issued These Times, his debut album for ESC in early 2004, and two years later, with a cast of impressive backing musicians (Richard Bona, Meshell Ndegeocello, Roy Hargrove, and Kim Thompson, among others), Who Let the Cats Out was released. In 2008, evidence of a dazzling show from that year's European tour was captured and released the next year on concert DVD New Morning: The Paris Concert. 2009 saw Stern earning yet another Grammy nomination for his 14th solo album, Big Neighborhood, which featured guest work from artists such as fellow gunslinger/guitarist Steve Vai and Medeski, Martin & Wood. He returned in 2012 with All Over the Place, working again with trusted producer Jim Beard. In 2014, Eclectic appeared, an ambitious collaboration with guitarist Eric Johnson featuring guest spots from Stern's wife Leni on vocals and singer/songwriter Christopher Cross. The album was recorded mostly live at Johnson's studio.
On July 3, 2016, Stern was hailing a cab to leave for a European tour. He tripped and fell over some construction debris hidden in the street, broke both arms and was taken to the hospital. He fractured both humerus bones and was left with significant nerve damage in his right hand, which prevented him from accomplishing even the simplest of tasks -- including holding onto a guitar pick. Following a surgery in which 11 screws were put into his arm, Stern emerged in late October with Chick Corea during the pianist's two-month residency at the Blue Note. The guitarist had to play seated while wearing a black glove outfitted with velcro attached to a velcro-fitted pick. In November, Stern hit the road for Europe, co-leading a band with drummer Dave Weckl.
Following a second surgery, he gained more control of his nerve-damaged hand by devising a scheme where he literally glued and taped his right-hand fingers to the pick. It strengthened his grip, and allowed him to regain his signature speed and technical precision. In January, he entered Long Island City's Spin Studio with a well-heeled crew of sidemen -- many of whom he had worked with since the '80s: keyboardist/producer Jim Beard, trumpeters Randy Brecker and Wallace Roney, saxophonists Bob Franceschini and Bill Evans, bassists Victor Wooten and Tom Kennedy, and drummers Weckl, Dennis Chambers, and Lenny White. The album was completed in March with the self-deprecating title Trip. His sense of humor was also reflected in the tracks "Screws" and "Scotch Tape and Glue." Trip was issued by Concord some 14 months after the accident in September 2017. A year later, the Yellowjackets co-founder Jimmy Haslip introduced Stern to Jeff Lorber. While neither had worked together previously, they were mutual admirers. After meeting and jamming, the pair decided on a collaboration that resulted in 2019's Eleven, issued by Concord Jazz.
Stern resumed playing sessions after the pandemic in 2020, and played on recordings by Christian McBride, Makoto Ozone, Dewa Budjana, Sadao Watanabe, and Keiko Matsui, among others. He broke his own recording silence in September 2024 with Echoes and Other Songs, his Mack Avenue debut. The guitarist assembled a top shelf cast, composed almost entirely of bandleaders. They included bassists McBride and Richard Bona, saxophonist Chris Potter, spouse Leni Stern (playing ngoni), drummers Antonio Sanchez and Dennis Chambers, percussionist Arto Tunçboyacian, saxophonist Bob Franceschini, and producer and pianist Jim Beard, who died suddenly after the sessions were completed. ~ Fred Thomas, Thom Jurek
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