Biography
Long before Americans took notice of Garrison Fewell’s jazz abilities, Europeans had already embraced them. His initial encounter with the continent occurred during a 1983 trip to Marseille, France, after which the Virginia-born guitarist performed extensively across numerous cities, among them Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, and Brussels. While absorbing these experiences, Fewell acquired fluency in both Italian and French. Recognition arrived stateside only after Accurate Records issued his debut album, A Blue Deeper Than the Blue, in 1993; Coda Magazine and United Press International both listed the recording among their ten best releases of the year, and the Boston Music Awards designated it Best Jazz Album of the Year.
Although born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Fewell grew up in Philadelphia. He began playing stride guitar at age eleven and later drew from the acoustic blues styles of Reverend Gary Davis, Fred McDowell, and Mississippi John Hurt. In the early 1970s he toured Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan, returning to the United States in 1973 to study jazz with Pat Martino and Lenny Breau. He completed a performance degree at the Berklee College of Music and joined its faculty in 1977. Through a 1988 exchange initiative linking Berklee with Rotterdam Conservatory, Fewell taught abroad and collaborated with Dutch musicians such as Cees Slinger; alongside Dave Frank he also appeared at the North Sea Jazz Festival. In 1989 he relocated to Paris, where he performed and instructed at the American School of Modern Music while appearing that year at the Umbria Jazz Festival.
Fewell later formed a creative alliance with Berklee department chairman Alex Ulanowsky that produced a distinctive approach to improvisation and theory; together they conducted workshops in Switzerland and Italy and toured Holland, Austria, and Belgium. A National Endowment for the Arts grant enabled him to teach in Weimar, Leipzig, and Freiburg, Germany, during 1991; the following year he continued instruction in Aachen and Cologne and performed with David Friesen at the Zelt Music Festival in Freiburg. Beginning in 1994, Fewell spent six consecutive summers on the faculty of the Polish Jazz Society. Guitar Player Magazine named his 1996 release Are You Afraid of the Dark? Best Record of the Year, while The Philadelphia Inquirer placed the subsequent Reflection of a Clear Moon among its Top Ten Jazz Albums of 1997. From 1995 onward he conducted workshops and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival for five straight years.
Although born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Fewell grew up in Philadelphia. He began playing stride guitar at age eleven and later drew from the acoustic blues styles of Reverend Gary Davis, Fred McDowell, and Mississippi John Hurt. In the early 1970s he toured Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan, returning to the United States in 1973 to study jazz with Pat Martino and Lenny Breau. He completed a performance degree at the Berklee College of Music and joined its faculty in 1977. Through a 1988 exchange initiative linking Berklee with Rotterdam Conservatory, Fewell taught abroad and collaborated with Dutch musicians such as Cees Slinger; alongside Dave Frank he also appeared at the North Sea Jazz Festival. In 1989 he relocated to Paris, where he performed and instructed at the American School of Modern Music while appearing that year at the Umbria Jazz Festival.
Fewell later formed a creative alliance with Berklee department chairman Alex Ulanowsky that produced a distinctive approach to improvisation and theory; together they conducted workshops in Switzerland and Italy and toured Holland, Austria, and Belgium. A National Endowment for the Arts grant enabled him to teach in Weimar, Leipzig, and Freiburg, Germany, during 1991; the following year he continued instruction in Aachen and Cologne and performed with David Friesen at the Zelt Music Festival in Freiburg. Beginning in 1994, Fewell spent six consecutive summers on the faculty of the Polish Jazz Society. Guitar Player Magazine named his 1996 release Are You Afraid of the Dark? Best Record of the Year, while The Philadelphia Inquirer placed the subsequent Reflection of a Clear Moon among its Top Ten Jazz Albums of 1997. From 1995 onward he conducted workshops and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival for five straight years.
Albums
