Joshua Breakstone

Joshua Breakstone, a skilled guitarist grounded in bop, first encountered jazz at the age of 14. Over the course of several years he took lessons from Sal Salvador while maintaining steady gigs in a rock band. After enrolling at Berklee, he joined reed player Glen Hall for a 1977 tour of Canada and made his recorded debut on Hall’s Sonora album. Between 1979 and 1981, while teaching guitar at the Rhode Island Conservatory of Music and in the years immediately following, Breakstone appeared in New York alongside Warne Marsh, Emily Remler, Dave Schnitter, and Vic Juris. His first album as a leader, Wonderful!, was issued by Sonora in 1983. Barry Harris played piano on that date; Kenny Barron appeared on the next session. Breakstone later recorded for Contemporary—including a quartet date with Pepper Adams—as well as Capri, Evidence, and Double-Time, thereby sustaining the quiet tradition of bop guitar.