John Stein

John Stein commenced his study of the guitar at seven, initially drawn to folk and classical idioms. His immersion in jazz unfolded gradually rather than through any singular catalyst, although the idiom first registered during his teenage years. Full absorption arrived at thirty, when he enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston and subsequently joined its faculty. He regards the music as an ongoing stimulus to refine both his performance and his compositional craft.

Several jazz figures shaped his development, among them guitarists Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall as well as Hank Mobley and Bill Evans. To date Stein has issued four albums under his own name, two of them for the European Jardis label. Those releases—Portraits and Landscapes from 2000 and Conversation Pieces from 2002—consist largely of his own pieces, notable for their wide-ranging melodic and harmonic designs, and demonstrate his determination to steer clear of predictability. Conversation Pieces also marks a reunion with David “Fathead” Newman, longtime tenor saxophonist for Ray Charles, who had previously appeared on Stein’s 1999 recording Green Street.

Additional credits include a featured role on Ron Gill’s December 1997 WGBH Radio release Ron Gill Sings the Songs of Billy Strayhorn. Festival and concert appearances encompass the Boston Globe Jazz Festival and New Orleans’ Funky Butt jazz clam bake. Away from the studio, stage, and classroom, Stein favors guitar-and-bass duets—particularly those of Jim Hall—along with the work of Art Tatum, Stan Getz, and Antonio Carlos Jobim.