“Fire in velvet. A fitting description of Joshua Breakstone’s jazz guitar,” wrote Paul Weidman in The Sante Fe New Mexican. “His flowing lines on up-tempo cookers are impeccably clean and fiery, bearing the mark of a first-rate improviser, while his chordal work on heartbreaker ballads is the final word in finesse,” has raved Guitar Player magazine. Japan’s Jazz Hihyo (aka Jazz Critique) recognizes that “The style in which Joshua develops his fluid single-note solos used to be thought of as the Grant Green school, but now this man leads the school.” Downbeat also has written that “There is no shortage of young, knock-out jazz guitarists about us these days. And Joshua Breakstone is among the best of them.”
Joshua is a jazz guitarist with 20 recordings out as a leader with such greats as Kenny Barron, Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, Pepper Adams, Jimmy Knepper, Jack McDuff, Mickey Roker, Al Harewood, etc. He tours twice each year in Japan, plays regularly in Europe and tours just about everywhere in the US.
He is also the author of “Jazz Etudes: Studies For The Beginning Improviser”, released by Cherry Lane Music/ Hal Leonard. “Jazz Etudes” has become a standard text at colleges and universities throughout the world. (Link to Amazon’s page for the book- with reviews:http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Etudes-Studies-Beginning-Improviser/dp/1603780602/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1288162481&sr=8-2)
Joshua Breakstone was born July 22, 1955 in Elizabeth, NJ. Through his music loving parents he was exposed to Broadway shows, Broadway show cast recordings, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Through his older sisters he was exposed to all kinds of other music- including jazz and rock and roll. “My sister Jill worked for the light show at The Fillmore East where I could hear all the bands regularly, especially my then-favorites Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa.”
“I was exposed to jazz regularly as a kid, but it never caught my ear until I heard Lee Morgan. Lee’s sound was exciting and made me want to hear more jazz. The first jazz people who turned me on were trumpet players, then I heard Charlie Parker.”
“The fire of Lee Morgan played with grabbed me immediately,” he says, “and the way both he and Clifford Brown fully articulated each note has been an ideal toward which I work with regard to the sound I try and get on the guitar. When I heard Bird, I knew I wanted to play like him in the sense of playing things which are meaningful, emotional, and, more than anything else, irresistibly beautiful.”
At that same time Joshua began studying in Manhattan with Sal Salvador. “Sal was a great teacher, a great person, and eventually became a great friend. He exposed me to a broad range of music and helped me accomplish a lot on the instrument in a relatively short time.”
In 1972, Breakstone entered New College of the University of South Florida (Sarasota, Florida), where he graduated in three years – including two terms at Berklee College of Music (Boston, Massachusetts)- in 1975 with a degree in jazz studies.
In 1979 he made his recording debut on Canadian reedman Glen Hall’s Book of the Heart (Sonora Records 101), alongside JoAnne Brackeen, Cecil McBee, and Billy Hart. His first recording as a leader in 1983, Wonderful! (Sonora Records 222 with Barry Harris, Earl Sauls, and Leroy Williams), came during a period in which Joshua was residing in New York, performing with people like Vinnie Burke, Warne Marsh, Emily Remler, Dave Schnitter, and Aaron Bell, and teaching both privately as well as at the Rhode Island Conservatory of Music (Providence, Rhode Island). The following year he recorded again for Sonora Records, 4/4=1, with Kenny Barron.
In 1986 Breakstone began a four year contract for four recordings with Fantasy Records’ Contemporary label. First was Echoes, with Pepper Adams, Kenny Barron, Dennis Irwin, and Keith Copeland, followed by Evening Star the following year with Jimmy Knepper, Tommy Flanagan, Dave Shapiro and Keith Copeland. Self Portrait in Swing followed in early 1989, followed by 1990′s Nine By Three, Breakstone’s first trio recording, with Dennis Irwin and Kenny Washington. Josh has written, “During the course of my four short years with Contemporary, I spanned two eras in the recording industry in that my first two recordings were released only on LP, my third was released as both LP and CD, and my last, Nine By Three, was released only on CD.”
1986 was the year of Joshua’s first Japanese tour. Since that time he has toured throughout Japan usually twice a year both with his own groups as well as with the groups of such noted Japanese musicians as Terumasa Hino, “Monkey” Kobayashi, and Eiji Nakamura. In 1991 Joshua began recording for the Japanese King Record label, an association that led to four recordings. Walk Don’t Run was followed by I Want To Hold Your Hand and Oh! Darling – two CDs of Beatles compositions rearranged and adapted to Breakstone’s musical point of view. On all three are heard the formidable rhythm section of pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Dennis Irwin, and drummer Kenny Washington. The subsequent Remembering Grant Green features Grant Green bandmates, organist Jack McDuff and drummer Al Harewood. Kenny Barron returns as well on two tracks, this time with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Keith Copeland.
Sittin’ On The Thing With Ming, his 1993 debut recording for Capri Records, consists mostly (except for one selection) of Joshua’s original compositions. “In live settings I tend to play a mix of originals and standards, I’m always writing new things. After four CDs of theme recordings for King, I had amassed quite a lot of original material which ended up seeing the light of day – in terms of being recorded for the first time – on Sittin’ On The Thing With Ming.” This was followed by his 2001 recording, Tomorrow’s Hours, a tribute to the compositions of Wes Montgomery and 2003′s A Jamais (Forever). “A Jamais was recorded in the south of France with French musicians, the first time I had recorded outside the US. It also consists, as does Sittin’ On The Thing With Ming, almost entirely of my own originals, some of which had been previously recorded, others being recorded here for the first time.”
1996′s Let’s Call This Monk, with bassist Dennis Irwin and drummer Mickey Roker marked Breakstone’s debut for the Double-Time label. In 2000 he recorded a subsequent tribute to another of the great jazz pianists with his The Music of Bud Powell. Sandwiched in between on Double-Time was his 1999 This Just In.
An additional and very unique item of interest in Joshua’s discography as a leader is Japanese Songs with Al Harewood and Earl Sauls . “As it says in the liner notes, it all began with the gift. When I was touring Japan in the spring of 1999, I was given an extraordinary present by Junko Noda, an opera singer, pianist and teacher – a handmade book of Japanese songs. From this gift sprang the Japanese Songs CD, which is self produced- a limited edition of only 1000 copies, each one hand signed and numbered. I’m really proud of this very special project.”
A Jamais and Memoire were recorded in the south of France and feature the great French bassist, Louis Petrucciani.
No One New with bassist Lisle Atkinson and drummer Eliot Zigmund- rose to #13 in US airplay on the jazz charts.
In late 2009, Joshua’s first book was released by Cherry Lane Music (and distributed by Hal Leonard), “Jazz Etudes: Studies For The Beginning Improviser”. “A Perfect Study Guide by a Great Guitarist” wrote Terry Dunn in his review on Amazon.com.
In January of 2014, “With the Wind and the Rain” was released by Capri Records featuring Joshua’s “Cello Quartet”- Lisle Atkinson (bs), Eliot Zigmund (dr), and Mike Richmond (cello). It received 4 1/2 stars in DownBeat and rose to #9 on the US jazz airplay charts. Eric Harabadian wrote in Jazz Inside, “Breakstone is, simply, a tasteful and melodic master.” George W Harris wrote in Jazzweekly.com, “Joshua Breakstone has a wonderfully lyrical sound to his axe and can make it flow like water or burn like a forest fire.” George Fendel wrote in http://www.jsojazzscene.org (Jazz Society of Oregon), “A couple of things about Breakstone: 1) he’s a consistent, gimmick-free, dedicated jazz guitarist; and 2) if the guitar can be described as warm, he is the champion. His guitar sounds beautiful at any tempo. I admire him for staying the course, never bowing to fads, and for simply making one great jazz album after another for years.”
Joshua has been busy teaching privately as well as conducting workshops and clinics all over the world, including The University of Hiroshima, Nagoya (Japan) University of the Arts, Roots Music School (Tokyo, Japan), Jams Music School (Montpellier, France), Music Halle (Toulouse, France), The University of Alberta (Alberta, Canada), The University of Miami (FL), Jacksonville University (FL), The University of North Florida (Jacksonville, FL), Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, Il), Western Illinois University (Macomb, Il), Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS), Bellermine College (Louisville, KY), Wayne State University (Detroit, MI), Montclair State University (NJ), Central NY Arts Foundation (Syracuse, NY), The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (Cincinnati, OH), Cuyahoga Community College (Cleveland, OH), Bowling Green State College (Bowling Green, OH), Denison University (Granville, OH), Capital University (Columbus, OH), Duquesne University (Pittsburgh, PA), The University of Wisconsin (Wausau, WI), Broadway Music School (Denver, CO), Old Town Music School of Folk Music (Chicago, IL), The Centrum Workshop (Port Townsend, WA), and in the Public School Systems of New York City, St Louis, MO, and Pittsburgh, PA.
Joshua has been quoted as saying, “in teaching, either in clinics or individually, I describe to students the progression we make as jazz musicians, starting with learning to improvise, to negotiate any harmonic terrain, which could be a lifetime of work right there. But when we take a step back and consider, to become an improviser is not really to have accomplished anything at all- the goal in jazz is one of self expression- to become a unique voice, to say something in our own way, with our own voice. It’s only in the taking of this leap- from someone who improvises to someone who communicates- that we go from being musicians, craftsmen, to becoming artists. I don’t worry about trying to be this thing or that other thing, my idea has always been to try and say something straight from my heart. It’s always been my conviction that if you say something unique, in your own way, and honestly, that there will always be an audience there for you, you’ll always be all right.”
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