Brandon Ross

Brandon Ross is a guitarist/composer/singer/songwriter, who has worked/recorded with Cassandra Wilson, Henry Threadgill, Jewel, Tony Williams, Lizz Wright, Arto Lindsay, The Lounge Lizards, Leroy Jenkins, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Bill Frisell, Me'Shell N'degeocello, Moreno Veloso, Arrested Development, Archie Shepp, Joan Osborne, Muhal Richard Abrams, Don Byron, Myra Melford, Oliver Lake, Bill Laswell, Wadada Leo Smith, and many others, crafting a personal approach to guitar, and improvisation, that has taken him all over the world. He co-leads the avant power trio, Harriet Tubman, with bassist Melvin Gibbs, and drummer JT Lewis. "Tubman" is dedicated to musical revelation/investigation in a pan-African vernacular. In Harriet Tubman, Ross uses electronics, and pan-tonality to sculpt a multidimensional, interactive, sonic language in a "classic" R&B/Rock configuration of guitar, bass, and drums. Harriet Tubman has released 3 CD's, "I Am A Man" on Slave No Mo' Records 1998, "Prototype" (live) on (John Zorn's) Avant Records label, Japan 2000 and "Ascension" on Sunnyside Records, 2011. "...HARRIET TUBMAN, AN OUTSTANDING POWER TRIO featuring THE REMARKABLY CREATIVE GUITAR HERO BRANDON ROSS, who combines the linear facility and originality of Joyous Lake-era Pat Martino with the sheer decibels and cathartic abandon of Sharrock and the liquid whammy-bar articulations of Allan Holdsworth. Ross unleashed fuzz-inflected, wah-fueled licks and testified with overdriven bluetones during this searing set, which concluded with a frantic jam that reached a Bad Brains level of intensity." - Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times In his acoustic based quartet, Blazing Beauty, Ross plays banjo, electric, acoustic and soprano guitars to extend his expressive field into "folk" oriented musics and compositional approaches that communicate his dedication to fresh musical experience. Ross has released 2 recordings of this work, "Costume", in 2004, and "Puppet" in 2006, on Intoxicate Records (Japan), to rave reviews, and several critic's "best of the year" lists. Ross also leads, For Living Lovers, the all acoustic duo with acoustic bass guitarist, Stomu Takeishi. The duo released "Revealing Essence" on Sunnyside Records 2014, to a flurry of superlative reviews and year-end "best of ..." lists. He is a Chamber Music America, 2014 New Jazz Works grantee.