Adam Rafferty draws his guitar approach from the bebop lineage, the product of extended tutelage under Mike Longo, Dizzy Gillespie’s longtime pianist. He is equally immersed in the organ-trio idiom exemplified by Wes Montgomery, George Benson, and Pat Martino, where groove and blues-inflected nuance matter as much as execution or harmonic command. After beginning in rock and funk ensembles, Rafferty pursued a B.F.A. at the State University of New York in Purchase while concentrating on classical guitar. Private lessons with Longo nevertheless steered him firmly toward jazz. In 1991 he secured two engagements in Harlem, one alongside Jimmy “Preacher” Robbins’s organ trio and another with the Tippy Larkin Quintet. Additional sideman work followed with Lou Donaldson, Frank Wess, Benny Golson, the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, and the Mike Longo Big Band. Rafferty continues to tour the United States and Europe leading his own trio. His first recording, First Impressions, showcased the Mike Longo Trio and appeared on Longo’s Consolidated Artists imprint in 1993. The successor album, Blood, Sweat & Bebop, arrived in 1998, with Kush following three years afterward.
