Jeff Golub

In the 1990s Jeff Golub established himself among the more adventurous and discerning guitarists working in the crossover jazz, NAC, and smooth jazz arena through his distinctive fusion of jazz, R&B, and pop. Although smooth jazz outlets gave considerable airplay to several of his releases, Golub made clear that he had no interest in producing conventional elevator fare, and his improvisations consistently revealed an underlying soul-jazz sensibility. Raised in Ohio and shaped by the examples of Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Lee Ritenour, and Larry Carlton, among others, he possessed the technical facility to perform straight-ahead bop yet deliberately concentrated on commercially oriented material, amassing extensive credits as a session musician across rock, pop, and R&B. He welcomed comparisons to figures such as David Sanborn, the Crusaders, Ronnie Laws, Joe Sample, and Grover Washington, Jr.—players who balanced groove-driven accessibility with a jazz improviser’s outlook.

Golub entered the world on April 15, 1955, in Akron, Ohio, where exposure to R&B, funk, blues, jazz, pop, and rock from an early age prompted him to begin playing guitar before adolescence. During the 1970s he left Akron to enroll at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, then relocated once more in 1980, settling in New York City, which remained his base for the rest of his life. Early in the following decade he joined arena and hard rock artist Billy Squier’s band, an engagement that opened doors to further studio and stage work. Among the prominent rock and R&B acts he supported through the 1980s and 1990s were Tina Turner, John Waite, Vanessa Williams, Ashford & Simpson, Dar Williams, and former J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf. In 1988 he began an eight-year association with Rod Stewart while also issuing his debut leader date, Unspoken Words, on the Gaia label, though session commitments still occupied most of his schedule at that time.

Golub shifted greater attention to his own projects after forming the band Avenue Blue in 1994 and signing with Mesa/Bluemoon. The group’s self-titled debut appeared that year and performed solidly within the smooth jazz and NAC markets; two subsequent Mesa/Bluemoon releases, Naked City in 1996 and Nightlife in 1997, followed before he retired the Avenue Blue moniker. Whereas those earlier albums had been credited to “Avenue Blue featuring Jeff Golub,” the 1999 Atlantic recording Out of the Blue appeared solely under his name. He subsequently joined GRP/Verve, which issued Dangerous Curves in 2000, Do It Again in 2002, and Soul Sessions in 2003. After moving to Narada for 2005’s Temptation, he released Grand Central in 2007. Returning to his rock roots, Golub delivered the electric blues album Blues for You in 2009, featuring vocals from longtime colleagues Billy Squier, Peter Wolf, and John Waite. In 2011 his band recorded The Three Kings with New Orleans pianist Henry Butler.

That same year Golub lost his sight when the optic nerves in both eyes unexpectedly failed, necessitating the use of a guide dog. While attempting to board a New York City subway train in September 2012, he fell onto the tracks as a train approached; bystanders intervened and he sustained only cuts and bruises. Undeterred, he soon completed a collaborative album with British keyboardist Brian Auger titled The Train Keeps A-Rollin’, issued in summer 2013. During subsequent touring Golub encountered mounting difficulties with coordination, balance, and speech. Diagnosed in November 2014 with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, an irreversible degenerative neurological condition, he died from complications on January 1, 2015, at age 59. The all-star posthumous collection The Vault, drawn from previously unreleased and reworked material and featuring contributions from trumpeter Rick Braun, Dave Koz, Kirk Whalum, and others, appeared in April 2015, with proceeds benefiting his family.