Akbank Jazz Festival: Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio at Akbank Jazz Festival at Zorlu Performing Arts Center

One of the influential guitarists of his generation, Wolfgang Muthspiel, born in 1965, in Austria, was named by his Mozart-loving father. At 14, he switched from violin to guitar and started to improvize. At Berklee College he was introduced to the complex harmonies of jazz. He acquired an outstanding reputation during his 2-year touring with the Gary Burton Band. There, he met with Larry Grenadier, the bassist with whom he will play now. In New York, he was the reliable sideman of names like Trilok Gurtu, Dhafer Youssef, Youssou N’Dour, Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine, Paul Motian and Gary Peacock...

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One of the influential guitarists of his generation, Wolfgang Muthspiel, born in 1965, in Austria, was named by his Mozart-loving father. At 14, he switched from violin to guitar and started to improvize. At Berklee College he was introduced to the complex harmonies of jazz. He acquired an outstanding reputation during his 2-year touring with the Gary Burton Band. There, he met with Larry Grenadier, the bassist with whom he will play now. In New York, he was the reliable sideman of names like Trilok Gurtu, Dhafer Youssef, Youssou N’Dour, Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine, Paul Motian and Gary Peacock. When back home, he founded his own label, “material records”, and recorded his own songs in the albums Vienna Naked and Vienna World. Meantime, he wrote compositions for the foundation of the royal Esterházy family who, centuries ago, commissioned Haydn to compose. Most recently, he recorded the album Rising Grace for ECM in 2016, together with Brad Mehldau, Ambrose Akinmusire, and his old colleagues Larry Grenadier and Brian Blade.

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