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Nick Russo

Guitarist, banjoist & composer, Nick Russo, winning participant of the 2004 International Jazz Workshop at The BANFF Centre in Canada (director, Dave Douglas) & winning participant of the 2001 JAS academy in Aspen Colorado (director, Christian McBride, mentioned in Dec. 2001 issue of DownBeat magazine), leads a life of full-time performing, including performances at:

Carnegie Hall Lincoln Center The United Nations Blue Note Birdland 55 Bar Showman’s (Harlem) Lenox Lounge (Harlem) Charles Ives Center Tilles Center Boom Penne e Vino Via Delle Zoccelette The Patchogue Theatre Flushing Town Hall Cleopatra’s Needle Kavehaz Merchants The C-Note The BANFF Centre in Canada 7 weeks at Huis Ten Bosch (Sasebo, Japan) Omsk, Tomsk, Novasibersk, Akademgorodok (Academy City), and Moscow Salvador in the state of Bahia (Brazil)

Nick Russo is currently the guitarist and banjoist with Vince Giordano and The Night Hawks, with vocalist, Miles Griffith and Mona's Hot Four. His acclaimed CD "Ro" features Mark Turner, Miles Griffith, Samir Chatterjee, Bryan Murray, Greg Glassman, Art Hirahara, Matt Clohesy, Nathan Peck, Ari Hoenig, Willard Dyson & David Pleasant. Nick has also been a sideman with organist, Jimmy McGriff, vibraphonist Teddy Charles, drummer, Doug Richardson, vocalists: Anastasia Rene, Jennifer Jade Ladesna, Eve Cornelious, Malika Zarra, Taeko Fukao, Annette St. John, saxophonist, Eric Pakula, and many others. He has also been a sideman with Jim Nolet (former violinist with the Jazz Passengers), Sonny Dallas (former bassist with Lennie Tristano & Lee Konitz) and The Frank & Joe Show (Frank Vignola and Joe Ascione). His first CD as a leader was recorded February 2002 with legendary trumpeter, Dr. Eddie Henderson, bassist, Essiet Essiet and drummers Ralph Peterson and Montez Coleman. While attending the Jack McDuff raiser in 2002, Nick Russo sat in with George Benson at Showman’s and Birdland. In 2004, Nick had a chance to perform with Bill Frisell and sit-in with Dave Douglas & Mark Turner at the Banff Centre in Canada. Musicians such as Frank Wes, Ralph Peterson, Eddie Henderson, Mark Turner, Ari Hoenig, Steve Hass, John Benitez, Ed Schuller, Todd Coolman, Barry Altschul, Elliot Zigmund, Dennis Irwin, Gerald Cannon, James Cammack, John Ormond, Daryl Hall, Essiet Essiet, Alvester Garnett, Joe Ascione, Bruce Cox, Tony Moreno, Montez Coleman, Jeb Patton, Bill McCrossen, John Ray, Miles Griffith, Marion Cowlings, Antonia Bennett, Eve Cornelious, Stephanie Rice, Monica Lynk, and Sachel Vasandani have appeared in his group. His credits also include a Broadway show called "A Jew Grows In Brooklyn" (Lamb's Theatre), and many off-Broadway shows such as: Man Of La Mancha, The Lion King, Greece, Sweet Charity, The Pajama Game, The King and I, The Wiz, Annie, Foot Loose, Mary Poppins and has subbed on the Big Apple Circus and Yankee Doodle Circus tours.

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1
Album Review

Nick Russo: Ro

Read "Ro" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff


Opera prima, autoprodotta, questo album è una sintesi del percorso musicale del chitarrista Nick Russo. Brani risalenti a periodi diversi, eseguiti con organici diversi, e caratterizzati da atmosfere piuttosto distanti tra loro. Alcuni schiettamente jazz, altri permeati da venature brasiliane, altri ancora cantati. Come spesso accade quando c'è molta carne al fuoco, l'album mostra anche una certa disomogeneità e non tutte le composizioni sono allo stesso livello.I brani più interessanti sono, a nostro avviso, quelli che si discostano ...

106
Album Review

Nick Russo + 11: Ro

Read "Ro" reviewed by Tom Greenland


Ro is yet another release from a relatively unknown jazz journeyman who has been paying (and playing) his dues in the five-borough area; after hosting a series of underpaid late-nite jam sessions, endless society gigs and teaching, guitarist Nick Russo is finally strumming his stuff for the larger arena of jazz fandom. It's been worth the wait: his impressive debut recording is broad in scope, deep in concept, and eminently listenable, giving evidence that the dues are paid up--and earning ...

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4

Education

Acclaimed Guitarist Nick Russo Offers Comprehensive Blues Guitar Masterclass Via Jam Play

Acclaimed Guitarist Nick Russo Offers Comprehensive Blues Guitar Masterclass Via Jam Play

Source: 1888 Media

With a 30-yr pedigree as composer, bandleader, International touring artist and session player with the likes of Jon Batiste, Russell Hall, Jimmy McGriff, and Vince Giordano & The Night Hawks, multi-instrumentalist Nick Russo has joined the esteemed list of educators offering courses via JamPlay, the leading online service providing guitar instruction. Russo joins a faculty of 100 teachers that includes stalwarts Steve Stevens, Lita Ford, Tosin Abasi, Kaki King, Tony MacAlpine, Phil Keaggy and Bumblefoot. For his curriculum “One Chord ...

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Event

Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches To Play Record Release Concert At DROM NYC On June 14 With Emmy-Nominated Actor Rob Morrow

Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches To Play Record Release Concert At DROM NYC On June 14 With Emmy-Nominated Actor Rob Morrow

Source: 1888 Media

Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches are likely the only band today infusing elements of Gullah-Geechee and world rhythms with folk traditions, Americana, New Orleans influences, and 1920s jazz. The forthcoming sophomore album, Get Us Out Of Fearland , due June 15, builds upon the multicultural exuberance that made the band’s debut, Very Next Thing, a transcendent breath of fresh air. Elmore Magazine championed its “remarkable musical dexterity with songs that bask in a genuine roots regimen and a sense of ...

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Event

Acclaimed Jazz Guitarist Nick Russo Assembles NYC All-Stars For Jalopy Theatre Concert On Sunday October 29

Acclaimed Jazz Guitarist Nick Russo Assembles NYC All-Stars For Jalopy Theatre Concert On Sunday October 29

Source: 1888 Media

Special Guests Include: Ari Hoenig (Drums), Miles Griffith (Voice), Greg Glassman (Trumpet) Nathan Peck (Bass), Pandit Samir Chatterjee (Tabla), Dan Aran (Drums) Opening Set by Roots, Folk, Americana, Bluegrass Collective, Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches Armed with an “impressive debut recording, broad in scope, deep in concept and eminently listenable,” guitarist/banjoist Nick Russo burst onto the scene eleven years ago with rave reviews from All About Jazz, DownBeat, Jazz Times, Jazziz, EJazz News, and Hot House. For his debut Ro, ...

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Recording

Acclaimed Jazz Guitarist Nick Russo Reimagines "Hot Jazz Jumpers" As "Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches"

Acclaimed Jazz Guitarist Nick Russo Reimagines "Hot Jazz Jumpers" As "Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches"

Source: 1888 Media

New Group Infuses Elements of Gullah-Geechee Culture With Folk Traditions, New Orleans Influences and Music of the 1920s 10-Track Very Next Thing Includes High-Spirited Renditions of Classics by Elizabeth Cotton, Harry Dixon, Fats Waller, Clarence Williams and James “Sugar Boy” Crawford. Instrumentation Includes Voice, Banjo, Resonator, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Harmonica, Trumpet, Trombone, Clarinet & Piano Special Guests Include Trumpeter, Gordon Au, Pianist, Air Hirahara and Bassists, Essiet Essiet, Mamadou Ba & Nathan Peck New York City’s Banjo Nickaru & Western ...

"Nick Russo + 11 brings us back toward jazz with Ro" - Robert Doershuk, DownBeat

"A fluid straightahead player with a globalist outlook... For a guy with a book of Metallica transcriptions under his belt, Nick Russo of Queens cultivates wonderfully pure jazz tones" - David Adler, JazzTimes

"Nick Russo's Ro is not an easy listen, but it sure is rewarding once you're able to digest it [His] tone is very near perfect - big and bold, but still subtle very full in the line of players like Jim Hall, Kenny Burrell, and Tal Farlow It'll be fun to see where Russo goes next. There are many interesting jazz guys out there these days, and he's on the front line." - Jim Hilmar, Vintage Guitar

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Lift You Up

On The Bol
2023

buy

I Double Dare You

Turtle Bay Records
2021

buy

Ro

Self Produced
2006

buy

Stop This Climate Change

From: Lift You Up
By Nick Russo

Triggered

From: Ro
By Nick Russo

Back Home Again In (Indiana)

From: The Very Next Thing
By Nick Russo

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