Jonathan Kreisberg.(Photo by Govert Driessen)
By Bill Meredith
New York City-born guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg first showed an interest in music at age 10 after he’d moved to Miami with his family. He would go on to study at the New World School of the Arts, appear in Guitar Player and Down Beat magazines while in his teens, and earn a scholarship to the University of Miami, graduating from its esteemed music program.
He then played in successful South Florida progressive rock and fusion groups, achieving an impressive regional audience. But when it came to starting his traditional jazz career, Kreisberg decided there was no place like home.
Now living in Brooklyn, he’s released several CDs since moving back in 1997, including Trioing (New For Now) from 2002, the 2004 gem Nine Stories Wide (on Criss Cross, with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart), the 2007 disc The South of Everywhere (Mel Bay) and his latest, Night Songs (Criss Cross), a 2009 collection of jazz standards.
Kreisberg promises that his forthcoming eighth CD, recorded within the past few weeks, will blend all of his different musical tributaries like no other. And he’ll prove it by debuting some of the new material live on the upstairs stage at Tobacco Road in Miami with his quartet (in 9 and 10:30 p.m. shows on May 27, and a 7 p.m. all-ages show and 9 p.m. set on May 28). The $15 tickets are available at the door, and at www.jonathankreisberg.com, and are good for the entire evening.
“I’m not sure which label this CD will be on yet, and I only have a few different working titles for it now,” Kreisberg says. “But it’ll be my own material, with one crazy arrangement of the standard ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It.’ Tradition is certainly part of the album, but it also goes in several different directions that make it un-standard. There’s a lot of drive and forward motion, so it’s a good document of what we’ve been doing live lately.”
Indeed, advance takes of tracks like Twenty-One (named for its 21/8 time signature) and Stir the Stars mix jazz tradition with the inherent modernism of a composer born in the 1970s. Kreisberg’s liquid lines and tones show the influence of not only guitar predecessors like Allan Holdsworth, but also piano icons such as Keith Jarrett. And the interactive contributions of saxophonist Will Vinson, pianist Henry Hey, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Mark Ferber help stir the pot into a jazz/fusion/world music gumbo.
Vinson (who’s worked with Madeleine Peyroux and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and also plays occasional keyboards with Kreisberg) and Penman (John Scofield, Joshua Redman) will be part of Kreisberg’s quartet at Tobacco Road, with Eric Doob playing drums in place of Ferber (Norah Jones, Fred Hersch).
“Eric plays a lot with Paquito D’Rivera,” Kreisberg says, “so he’s great with Latin rhythms. And I love the overall feel of his playing.”
Kreisberg’s recording career started out with the 1995 independent CD Third Wish by Wyscan, a Miami-based rock quintet that blended the sounds of Yes, King Crimson and UK. He then recruited that band’s rhythm section of bassist Javier Carrion and drummer Vince Verderame to record his independent self-titled fusion debut in 1996.
The guitarist’s love for jazz standards emerged on that trio debut, which mixed Someday My Prince Will Come and We’ll Be Together Again with muscular fusion originals and a cover of The Beatles’ Come Together. After several trio tours of the East Coast and Southeastern United States, Kreisberg decided to move back to New York City. Carrion stayed in South Florida, working with K.C. & the Sunshine Band, among others, and Verderame relocated to Las Vegas and eventually landed the drum slot with the Blue Man Group.
“The primary reason that trio didn’t last longer was that I wanted to get up to New York and lean more into the jazz world,” Kreisberg says. “But I’m sure Javier will come to Tobacco Road if he’s in town and doesn’t have a gig.”
The current Kreisberg trio (usually with Penman and Ferber) plays a Wednesday night house gig at La Lanterna in Greenwich Village, at least when its leader isn’t on the road. A look at Kreisberg’s website shows forthcoming 2010 concerts by his various configurations around the United States, plus the latest of several European tours starting in September.
The guitarist also tours with the trio led by the iconic Hammond organist Dr. Lonnie Smith (and appears on Smith’s new release, Spiral, on the Palmetto label). In addition, Kreisberg plays with drummer Ari Hoenig and his band Punk Bop, and will appear on their forthcoming live CD on the Smalls label.
“Vinson and I wil both be on Ari’s record,” he says. “Ari and I go way back. He and I met before I even moved to New York. And Dr. Lonnie’s trio also has a young, amazing drummer named Jamire Williams. I only played with Lonnie for the first time a couple years ago, even though we both lived in Florida at the same time. I’d heard him there, but never put together that this was the same guy who was playing amazing stuff with George Benson in the ‘60s. And Lonnie still sounds amazing. He’s like a mad scientist; always trying new things. It’s a special trio.”
Kreisberg also does occasional recording session work, and rounds out his career through teaching.
“I do workshops at a lot of the places where I travel,” he says. “I’ll do one during this trip at Glades Guitars in Hollywood on Sunday, May 30. And I also teach through the New School University in New York.”
The last South Florida appearance by Kreisberg was in 2005; his last trip to the venerable Tobacco Road (Miami’s oldest restaurant, established in 1912) was in 2002.
“It’s been a long time,” he says. “But those were all shows that I put together with musicians from down there, or doing standards with faculty from Miami-Dade College. This will be the first time I’m bringing down musicians from New York to play my own music. And we’re going to do it right.”