Louis Guarino Jr.

Trumpeter Louis Guarino Jr. entered the spotlight with a 2002 debut, yet his immersion in jazz stretched back well before he assembled his initial solo project. As a teenager he first encountered the horn through classic jazz figures, prompting him to take up the instrument and, once high school ended, sit in with Dixieland ensembles. Time spent in the U.S. Navy broadened his exposure to additional jazz idioms, after which he returned to the States and began shaping original material. He performed with multiple R&B groups and simultaneously worked the improv scene, gradually steering his style toward funk while folding those influences into his approach. Membership in several improv collectives soon left him disenchanted with the stagnant club environment he had surpassed. Focusing on his own writing, he drew from the experimental sounds he had absorbed and blended avant garde jazz, world beat, and funk fusion into a single statement. He titled the album Spiritual Awakenings, issued it in fall 2002, and set out on the road to present its distinctive voice.