Guitarist Tyler Reese found
that being a busy Nashville session player all week and touring in a country
band every weekend left little time to explore his own musical creativity. The
23-year-old, once summoned to Paisley Park to play for Prince and who studied
at the feet of jazz guitar legend Pat Metheny, re-immersed himself in the music
that first sparked his passion and imagination: jazz fusion. Carving time to
revisit his roots resulted in the varied guitar-driven, jazz odyssey titled
“Reminiscence,” featuring ten of his original compositions. The platter,
produced by Jeff Silverman (Rick Springfield, Hiroshima, The Allman Brothers
Band, Tim Weisberg) and Reese, will be released on November 4 and is prefaced
at radio by the spirit-lifting, sweetly melodic acoustic guitar sojourn “Moving
On.”
Reese composed “Reminiscence” to be an ambitious and
intrepid expedition through vast jazz terrain. Most tracks slash through
thickets of electric guitar-powered fusion, horn-highlighted funk and sprawling
progressive rock. Others present delicate bouquets of acoustic guitar
expressions, fragrant stems of gypsy jazz and new age meditations. Whether
gracefully strumming gentle harmonies or dexterously plucking frenetic runs at
dazzling speed with turn-on-the-dime precision, Reese’s fretwork primarily
serves his engaging compositions, enabling his fingers to communicate
evocatively and emote vividly.
“The seed of my inspiration for ‘Reminiscence’ came from
needing a creative change and a musical recharge - something fresh and new - so
I delved into writing and found myself back at my jazz roots and renewed my
love of fusion. It has rekindled my musical soul. I hadn’t realized that I had
so many ideas floating around in my head. The writing and production process
was fun and inspiring, but challenging and liberating at the same time. The
body of work is truly no holds barred, which is exactly what I was going for,”
said Reese, a Fredericksburg, Virginia native who will return to the area to
perform on November 20 at the Riverside Center and November 23 at The Tin Pan
in Richmond. “I was never too much into songwriting, but after moving to
Nashville and spending the past few years playing so many gigs, traveling
extensively and going through certain life experiences, I was inspired to write.
‘Reminiscence’ encompasses all those experiences and places I’ve gotten to see,
all of which are reflected in the writing.”
Reese studied classical piano for 14 years beginning at age
three and started studying jazz guitar when he turned twelve. He cranked out
his first album at age 15, “Risus21,” an energetic, moody and heavy progressive
rock foray. Two years later, his “Because I Can” disc put a contemporary funk,
rock and blues spin on a collection of straight-ahead jazz standards. He
recorded a duets project two years ago with longtime Prince backup singer Elisa
Fiorillo-Dease titled “Life in 20,” which is how he came to the attention of
the late purple icon. Impressed, Prince flew the guitarist to Minneapolis for a
jam session and carefully studied the young prodigy’s technique. Reese attended
a master’s guitar clinic taught by Metheny and calls the 20-time Grammy winner
a mentor. During his sophomore year as a jazz performance guitar major at
Berklee College of Music, Reese released a rock single, “Simply To Choose,” his
first collaboration with Silverman, who recruited the rock band Boston’s
Kimberely Dahme to sing on the track. Feeling he learned all he could in the
classroom, Reese left college early eager to launch his professional
career.
Released on the Tyler Reese Music label, the “Reminiscence”
album contains the following songs:
“Moving On”
“Breaking Point”
“Out Of Orbit”
“Reflections”
“Astrotermination”
“2Funk”
“Escapade”
“Reminiscence”
“Headed Out”
“Emancipation”
Bonus Track: “Moving On” Radio Edit
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