Roland Guerin

Bassist Roland Guerin began his musical journey while studying marketing at Southern University in Louisiana, joining the Jazztronauts under avant-garde jazz clarinetist Alvin Batiste. After earning his degree he joined the Mark Whitfield Band, where he spent more than six years on the road as the jazz guitarist’s bassist. During that period he also shared stages with Gerry Mulligan, George Benson, Vernel Fournier, Frank Morgan, and Jimmy Scott. Session work followed on Ellis Marsalis’s Twelve’s It, Allen Toussaint’s Connected, three Marcus Roberts albums—Blues for the New Millennium, Portraits in Blue, and In Honor of Duke—and two Mark Whitfield releases, Forever Love and the guitarist’s self-titled album. In 1998 Guerin stepped forward as a leader with the ten-track release The Winds of the New Land, featuring Peter Martin on piano, Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Donald Edwards on drums, and Whitfield on guitar. He described the original pieces as Christina jazz, crediting divine inspiration for all ten compositions. Recognition arrived quickly: Jazz Review selected him for its Fantasy Jazz Band, and New Orleans Magazine named him a Contemporary Jazz All-Star that same year. The Roland Guerin Sextet’s Live at the Blue Note, issued on Half Note Records, came next; like the debut it centered on originals while adding the standards “Autumn Leaves” and “All Blues.” You Don’t Have to See It to Believe It appeared in 2000, following a four-week tour of Japan. Guerin’s band had already performed at the 1999 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and at the Jazz Times Convention the year before. Beyond his own projects he continues to work with Sadao Watanabe, Jesse Davis, and Marcus Roberts.