John Abercrombie

Guitarist John Abercrombie combines bop and free jazz stylistic elements with electronics utilizing phase shifters, guitar synthesizers and the good old volume pedal. What has kept his playing fresh is his refusal to be chained by these digital devices. As he told Down Beat writer Bill Milkowski, "I try to adjust my playing to the timbre and learn something about how to play that sound, yet at the same time I have to try and force the instrument to play with me a little bit. In other words, I sometimes try to overplay the instrument." SOLOS: THE JAZZ SESSIONS spotlights unaccompanied performances by some of the legends and bright young stars of the jazz world. Designed and recorded specifically for television, SOLOS offers viewers front row seats for an intimate and unique jazz experience.

Concert registration, recorded in June 2001 during the International Jazz Festival in Montreal.

Conductor Gunther Schuller leads 30 renowned musicians in this spectacular world-premiere performance of Charles Mingus's epic composition, "Epitaph," filmed at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on June 3, 1989. Clocking in at more than two hours long, the landmark piece was unearthed only after the jazz legend's death in 1979. The orchestra includes such musical luminaries as Wynton Marsalis, Lew Soloff, Bobby Watson and Urbie Green.