Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open - 26

The Core of Big Apple Jazz

very noted jazz artist in the world is
familiar with Vic Juris. His body of work
commands serious respect and admiration
from today's music cognoscenti.
A child of the '60s, he grew up bombarded
with great music - the Beatles, Hendrix, Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Chuck Berry's records
on Chess. He recalls its tremendous appeal and
how it spurred him to pick up the guitar.
"My first guitar was a Harmony Monterey,"
he said. "Then I graduated to a National
electric and a Magnatone amp. At age 11, I
began studying with Ed Berg, who hipped
me to Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney, Django
Reinhardt, Jim Hall, and especially Johnny
Smith. Ed had gotten one of the last guitars
made by John D'Angelico. I've never heard a
guitar sound like that.
"My teachers were among the best anywhere," he added. "In addition to Ed, I was
lucky to have greats like Lou Mecca, Joe

Cinderella, and Pat Martino mentoring me.
Even Tony Mottola lived just two blocks away."
During a succession of garage bands and local
rock gigs as a teen, a friend turned Juris onto
Howard Roberts' early Capitol albums, H.R.
is a Dirty Guitar Player and Color Him Funky.
"I bought all his records, even later stuff with
his more-progressive things like Antelope Freeway and Equinox Express Elevator. And I found
Hank Garland's Jazz Winds from a New Direction,
with Joe Morello and Gary Burton. I think Gary
was only 16 at the time. That was a real landmark
record for any aspiring jazz guitarist."
Juris further cites Larry Coryell's early
recordings, the Beatles' Rubber Soul, Jimi
Hendrix's Are You Experienced?, and Dynamic
Duo by Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith
as having profound impact on him.
Juris has always made his living as a
guitar player.
"In the '70s I learned so much from working

VINTAGE GUITAR

September 2017

Vic Juris: Roger Sadowsky.

VIC JURIS

my way up through organ trios, like Pat Martino
did. In fact, Pat recommended me to Don Patterson and I played an ongoing gig with Jimmy
Smith, and also worked with Wild Bill Davis."
In addition, he helped perpetuate the
prestigious line of guitarists who worked
with drummer Chico Hamilton, whose bands
always featured a hot young guitarist; Howard
Roberts, John Pisano, Jim Hall, Gabor Szabo,
Dennis Budimir, and Larry Coryell all got their
starts with Hamilton, and Juris later taught
alongside him at The New School for Jazz and
Contemporary Music. Today, students can
avail themselves of Juris' teaching expertise at
The New School as well as at Rutgers University
and CUNY Purchase.
The Juris discography as soloist and sideman
includes more than 200 recordings including
sessions with Nancy Wilson, Sarah Vaughan,
Mel Torme, two duet albums with Phil Woods,
regular appearances with Larry Coryell, albums
with James Moody and a live Carnegie Hall recording with Biréli Lagrène among many others.
"I even got to work with Dizzy Gillespie in a
couple of All-Star configurations," Juris said.
"He was so wonderful to play with and a great
teacher. I'm so happy I got to ask him some
technical questions about his tunes."
In addition, the guitarist routinely mines
our greatest composers for his recordings.
He admires compositions from everyone
from the Beatles to Marvin Gaye and many
more, but strongly favors the Great American
Songbook old guard like Victor Young and
the iconoclastic and enigmatic Alec Wilder.
"The first Alec Wilder song I remember
hearing was 'Moon and Sand' recorded by
Kenny Burrell in the '60s on Guitar Forms. The
arrangement was by Gil Evans and I thought it
was the most beautiful song ever. Then I heard
'I'll be Around' and later the waltz that Wes
Montgomery recorded, 'While We're Young.'
When I record a tune, I do my homework and
always think of the lyric and try to listen to
several versions."
Today, Juris is using a Roger Sadowsky semihollow and a Fuchs Jazz Classic amp with 12"
speaker. There's an Earthquaker Dispatch Master
for reverb and delay as well as a few Boss pedals
like the Super Overdrive, Terra Echo, and DG-3
delay. Also in the arsenal is a Godin nylon-string
Grand Concert and a Martin OM steel-string.
Juris works with drummer Adam Nussbaum
and bassist Jay Anderson in his trio, which
plays the first Sunday of each month at The
55 Bar in New York City. His solo concerts
include master classes that encourage and
inspire young players. He's proof that dedication and talent can realize an extraordinary
career payoff. - Jim Carlton

Vintage Guitar - September 2017 - open

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