January 11 — All Souls at Sundown:

Peter Bernstein, guitar
Over the past decade, New York City-based guitarist Peter Bernstein has established himself as a consummate sideman, as well as a noteworthy leader/recording artist and gifted composer. Known for his melodic, bluesy tact and warm tone, Bernstein's discography as a sideman exceeds 30 recordings. He has worked with Joshua Redman, Lou Donaldson, Joe Lovano, Roy Hargrove, Maceo Parker, Jack McDuff, Jimmy Cobb, and Dr. Lonnie Smith, among others. To date, Peter has recorded four CDs as a leader for the Criss Cross label, his most recent being Heart's Content. Bernstein majored in jazz studies at Rutgers University with influential coaches Ted Dunbar and Kenny Barron, and he holds a degree from the The New School. Bernstein is currently a member of Jimmy Cobb's Mob, the Lou Donaldson Quartet, the Melvin Rhyne Trio, and his own trio featuring Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart.

"Peter Bernstein is the most impressive young guitarist I've heard. He plays the best of them all, for swing, logic, feeling and taste."

—Jim Hall
(legendary jazz guitarist, composer and master teacher,
fe atured on the Jim Hall's Jazz Guitar Master Class video series)

"The guitarist Peter Bernstein is best known for playing in other people's bands, particularly Joshua Redman's. He seems suited for a supporting role, with an easy, fluid knowledge of harmony, and a beautiful sound. But on Friday night he played as leader of a tight quartet at the jazz club Smoke, playing his own amiable tunes and standards. He brought the pianist Brad Mehldau into his trio, who is nothing if not a leader himself. Their approaches collided and shook up the music, which needed shaking up; the pieces took on a tension.

Mr. Bernstein is a melodic thinker who likes sticking by the elements of a tune's melody when he improvises. He's also quite proudly a traditionalist; when he plays, you can hear modifications of Grant Green's style come to the surface: easy-flowing single-note playing, with funky grace notes. Like Green, too, he has a number of licks and devices that he tends to reuse; his style is a comfortable arena, and he maintains a consistent personality from the beginning to the end of a solo."

—Ben Ratliff The New York Times
September 1, 2003