Updated: September 29, 2022
Born: October 15, 1957
Jack DeSalvo, born in New York City, developed his extraordinary guitar style from a deep immersion into modern jazz, classical guitar and his own prolific compositional output. He has been compared to artists as diverse as Ralph Towner and John McLaughlin and has studied guitar with Bill Connors and Leonid Bolotine, composition with Ariada Mikéshina (herself a student of Richard Strauss) and at Berklee College of Music as well as with composer and theorist George Russell. DeSalvo performs mainly with his own trio and quartet and the group Quintrepid, which includes Jack on guitar, Matt Lambiase on flugelhorn, Chris Forbes on piano, double-bassist Dmitry Ishenko and drummer Tom Cabrera. All About Jazz calls Quintrepid “ a swinging collective with a fresh sound”.
Hailed in THE WIRE magazine as “masterful”, Jack DeSalvo has performed on over 100 albums with over 30 under his name. He is featured on numerous classic jazz albums, including Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Red Warrior, Spontaneous Combustion by the group D3, Transparencies with Karl Berger, and Anthony Cox, and Liquide Stones in duo with Arthur Lipner. He has performed worldwide, including at jazz festivals and clubs in Europe.
Jack DeSalvo is a founder of, and producer for Unseen Rain Records and also a multi-instrumentalist playing (besides classical, steel-string, 12-string and electric guitars) cello, mandolin, banjo, keyboards, etc.
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Guitarist Jack DeSalvo: While We Sleep & Quintrepid on Unseen Rain
![Read "Guitarist Jack DeSalvo: While We Sleep & Quintrepid on Unseen Rain" reviewed by Mark Sullivan](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/0c5497790ab50868f49591c4a71bbf8d.jpg)
by Mark Sullivan
Guitarist/composer Jack DeSalvo has had a long, diverse career emphasizing fusion and free playing. His most visible gig was with Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, but since co-founding the record label Unseen Rain Records he has played on or produced a wide variety of music. For example, his duet album Soldani Dieci Anni (Unseen Rain Records, 2016) with guitarist Dom Minasi contained both free improvisation and mainstream jazz playing, performed on various acoustic guitars. Two recent Unseen Rain releases showcase ...
read moreHis duet album Lumens with German/Swiss saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen received praise on both sides of the Atlantic, “I have been completely bowled over by this album since it arrived for review a few weeks ago.” – Nick Lea, Jazz Views, “Nicole Johänntgen and Jack DeSalvo pulled out all the stops at the recording session for “Lumens”. Guitar and saxophone play almost hands-free with the themes and find the perfect balance in terms of sound.” – Georg Wassmuth, SWR2, “(DeSalvo’s) conception is pure jazz, comping, accenting and prodding Johänntgen’s watery lines on alto and soprano.” – Downbeat
Primary Instrument
Guitar
Location
New York City
Willing to teach
Beginner to advanced
Ornette Coleman
saxophone, altoJohn Coltrane
saxophoneTal Farlow
guitarJan Garbarek
saxophone, tenorCharlie Haden
bass, acousticKeith Jarrett
pianoJohn McLaughlin
guitarRalph Towner
guitarContact
Publicist
Management and booking
Europe
Vida Art Management
[email protected]
+41 (76) 493 52 46
North America
Unseen Rain Artists
[email protected]