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Sheryl Bailey

There's no description more apt for Sheryl Bailey than "A sizzling guitar goddess", coined by Elliot Simon of All About Jazz. He's not alone with his superlatives-Adam Levy of Guitar Player Magazine calls Sheryl "One of the most compelling tones of her generation", and Frank Forte of Just Jazz Guitar ranks her "among the best bop guitar players with a fresh approach and something new."

Sheryl's playing is unquestionably "sizzling". She has groomed incredible chops and impeccable taste with which she applies them. It's said (by Lee Metcalf, The Villager) that she can "go from zero to blazing in two beats", but she is continually praised for never sacrificing melody and lyricism for technique. "She balances superior technical skills with a strong lyrical sense and swinging touch..." continues Metcalf, and Joe Taylor of Soundstage says "Bailey combines an astonishing command of the fingerboard with a seemingly endless flow of melodic invention."

As for the guitar, she's hardly had it out of her hands since the age of 13. That was when her mother finally relented to Sheryl's begging for a Harmony Strat from the J.C. Penney catalogue. Though Sheryl was a rock-star wannabe, the influence of her pianist mother got her obsessed with learning harmony, and her first teacher in Pittsburgh, John Maione, introduced her to the guitar tradition-Wes, Jimmy Raney, George Van Eps, Joe Pass and others. She eventually attended Berklee College of Music. Her years of dedication and focus won her 3rd place in the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Guitar competition in 1995, and she was chosen as a Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department in 2000 for a South American tour. She is now said to be "One of the top players in an emerging generation of jazz guitarists" (John Heidt, Vintage Guitar).

Her own trio, The Sheryl Bailey 3, is a modernized version of the organ trio-"the ultimate organ trio" according to JazzInside Magazine. In addition to their 15-year plus residency at NYC's 55 Bar, they have toured China, Canada, Europe and the US. She also tours the world as a member of David Krakauer's "Ancestral Groove". A partial list of others with whom she has performed and recorded with includes Richard Bona, George Garzone, Lincoln Goines, Kim Plainfield, Bill O'Connell, Mike LeDonne, Irene Cara, Lea Delaria, Jack Wilkins, Howard Alden, Shingo Okudaira, Ingrid Jensen, Dwayne Burno, Tommy Campbell, Simon Woolf, Alex Garnett and Ken Peplowski.

To date, Sheryl has 9 CDs out under her name, and a live DVD, The Sheryl Bailey 3 Live in NYC (Mel Bay). Each successive release has drawn more accolades. Of Live at the Fat Cat, Joe Taylor says, "...this disc proves again that Sheryl Bailey is one of the most gifted and exciting jazz guitarists on the scene", and that she is a "jazz composer of the first order". In 2010 MCG Jazz released A New Promise, her tribute to Emily Remler, produced by Grammy-award winner, Marty Ashby, featuring Sheryl as the solo artist with Three Rivers Jazz Orchestra. In Downbeat Magazine Phillip Booth commented, "She is one of the new greats of her chosen instrument". Her 2014 release on the Cellar Live label, A Meeting Of Minds features The Sheryl Bailey 3. A feature on the disc in Guitar Player Magazine states: "They are so in sync they seem to finish each other's ideas". In 2015, she and bassist Harvie S debuted their acoustic duo, Plucky Strum on Whaling City Sound. JazzTimes Magazine remarked of Baileyâ€™s approach: "her fluidity of style is impressive, her agility uncommon".

Sheryl is a Professor at Berklee College of Music, and at the Collective in New York. In keeping with Sheryl's philosophy of "giving back", her 2011 quartet release, "For All Those Living" donates 20% of sales to the Ronald McDonald House of NYC. She has been an Artist in Residence at countless other programs, including NYU, Bates College, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, Towson University, the LA Music Academy and GIT. In 2009, Mel Bay published her book Moveable Shapes: Concepts for Re-Harmonizing II-V-I's. She has also developed a complete curriculum in jazz improvisation for interactive cyber study via Truefire's Guitar Sherpa program, The Bebop Dojo. In addition she has top selling courses available from Mike's Masterclasses, Jazz Guitar Society, JamPlay, and Truefire.

So, Sheryl lives up to Elliot Simon's description, in all facets of her work. Earning "Rising Star" status on Downbeat's Critic's Poll 2013, 2014, and 2015. At a recent duo performance in New York-Sheryl and Jack Wilkins-I sat next to Jimmy Wyble. After a couple of tunes, Jimmy leaned over and whispered, "She's one of the top five" ...as in, one of the top five guitarists in the country. And Vintage Guitar terms her "one of jazz guitars current front runners."

Source: Evelyn Palmer

Awards

2014 Rising Star Downbeat 2013 Rising Star Downbeat

Gear

JazzKat Amps, McCurdy Guitars, Bourgeois Custom OM Acoustic

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Sheryl Bailey: Homage

by Jim Josselyn
May 15, 2023

Homage, Sheryl Bailey's 12th outing as a leader, is a welcome and well deserved musical love letter to the late, great Pat Martino. The opening track, with one of the great song titles in instrumental music history, “The Velvet Hammer," was written for Martino, and the decision to have keyboardist Miki Hayama play the Fender Rhodes throughout harkens back to one of Martino's masterpieces with Gil Goldstein, We'll Be Together Again (Muse, 1976). But make no mistake, Bailey ...

Album Review

Alternative Guitar Summit: Honoring Pat Martino, Volume 1

Read "Honoring Pat Martino, Volume 1" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 20, 2022

Each year the Alternative Guitar Summit, led by Joel Harrison, presents a concert to honor a living jazz composer/guitarist. That wasn't possible in 2021, however, as venues in and around New York City were shuttered tight by the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, it was clear that the chosen honoree, the great Pat Martino, was gravely ill and might not have another year to live. With that in mind, members of the Summit took their guitars straight to a studio to record ...

Radio & Podcasts

Sheryl Bailey: Shifting Gears

by David Bixler
January 27, 2021

Guitarist and educator Sheryl Bailey recently moved from New York to Boston to become the assistant chair of the guitar department at The Berklee College of Music. In this episode of Liner Notes Sheryl talks about the challenges of moving to a new city while overseeing the education of nine hundred guitarists in the time of the coronavirus. We spoke over zoom-heads up that the interview is replete with the street sounds of Washington Heights. This episode features music from ...

Album Review

Plucky Strum: Departure

Read "Departure" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 26, 2017

Guitarist Sheryl Bailey and bassist Harvie S have clearly learned the first rule of getting ahead in show biz in these days of glitz and hype: find a clever and distinctive name--in this case Plucky Strum (after all, Lady Gaga was going nowhere as Stephani Germanotta). Departure is the duo's second album under that name for Whaling City Sound, one on which they show that pluck or strum by any name can be charming and persuasive. Musically ...

148

Album Review

The Sheryl Bailey 4: For All Those Living

Read "For All Those Living" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
August 29, 2011

Wes Montgomery may be gone, but the great jazz guitarist's crisp, rich-toned sound lives on in Sheryl Bailey, whose style is so reminiscent of the icon, but whose technique has also been compared to that of Pat Martino. It is quite clear that Bailey is a gifted guitarist as well as a veteran musician, with several albums to her credit. Bailey has performed in many formats throughout her career, yet For All Those Living, is her first to lead a ...

148

Album Review

Sheryl Bailey: For All Those Living

Read "For All Those Living" reviewed by Nic Jones

by Nic Jones
May 8, 2011

In the past, guitarist Sheryl Bailey has been an embodiment of versatility through her work with bassist Richard Bona, and with David Krakauer's klezmer ensemble. She now has another strain of music in her bag with this program of straight-ahead jazz guitar. Both Pat Martino and Wes Montgomery can be cited as reference points for this outing, but the fact remains that Bailey brings her own not inconsiderable character to bear. The featured quartet is Bailey's current working group, and ...

209

Album Review

Sheryl Bailey 4: For All Those Living

Read "For All Those Living" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 12, 2011

While guitarist Sheryl Bailey's A New Promise was a tribute to another tremendously talented female guitarist--the late Emily Remler--For All Those Living touches on a wide variety of figures, both here and gone. Bailey's music pays direct tribute to fellow guitarists, like Jack Wilkins ("Wilkinsburg"), Masa Sasaki ("Masa's Bag") and the late Jimmy Wyble, but she also looks beyond her own instrument with an homage to the great Hank Mobley, the man that jazz critic Leonard Feather dubbed “the middleweight ...

Recording

Rebecca Coupe Franks - New Release - Every Little Thing Counts - With Sheryl Bailey, Jessica Jones & More!

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations
August 6, 2020

Rebecca Coupe Franks (aka Coupe) was born and raised in Aptos, California and currently resides in Gardiner, New York after living in New York City for 10 years. Coupe's new release Every Little Thing Counts is a blend of styles; blues, jazz and singer/songwriter. It consists of 15 original songs/lyrics. All the songs are sung by Coupe who has a subtle and distinct voice. Coupe also plays her trumpet which she is renowned for throughout her 35-year career in the ...
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Event

Plucky Strum CD Release Concert at Kitano Features Harvie S and Sheryl Bailey

Source: Mixed Media Promotion
June 1, 2015

TWO SHOWS: 8 PM & 10 PM Kitano 66 Park Avenue (at E 38th St) New York, NY 10016 212.885.7000 $15 cover, $20 minimum drink and food per person, per set About Plucky Strum The joy of acoustic music by Harvie S and Sheryl Bailey. Steeped in jazz but blended with a myriad of styles, Whaling City Sound’s latest release makes a unique and delicious feast for the ears. Plucky Strum may sound a ...
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Festival

Sheryl Bailey, Lena Seikaly to Headline Second Annual Mel Bay Jazz Festival

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
September 3, 2014

Guitarist Sheryl Bailey and singer Lena Seikaly will headline the second annual Mel Bay Jazz Festival, which will take place Thursday, September 25 through Saturday, September 27 at four different venues in and around De Soto, MO. The NYC-based Bailey is a Berklee School of Music graduate who has released eight albums as a leader, the most recent being 2013's A Meeting Of Minds. Seikaly, who earned a degree in classical vocal performance at the University of Maryland, has released ...
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Contest

Enter the "Sheryl Bailey - A Meeting of Minds" Giveaway!

Source: All About Jazz
August 4, 2014

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Cellar Live “Sheryl Bailey - A Meeting of Minds“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on September 2nd. Click here to enter the contest (Tracking Sheryl Bailey at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.) Good luck! Your Friends at Cellar Live About Sheryl Bailey There's no description more apt for Sheryl Bailey than “a sizzling guitar goddess," coined by Elliot ...
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138

Interview

Guitarist Sheryl Bailey Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
May 24, 2010

Sheryl Bailey has been rising to the top of the jazz guitar world ever since she burst onto the national scene by taking third place in the 1996 Thelonious Monk Guitar Competition. Following her top three finish in the competition, and graduating from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, Bailey has released five albums as a bandleader, a DVD and two instructional books, all while maintaining a seemingly constant touring schedule and holding down an associate professorship at her alma ...
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Recording

New MCG Jazz CD by Guitarist Sheryl Bailey, Due for Release Feb. 2, Pays Tribute to Emily Remler

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity
January 9, 2010

A New Promise, the sixth and latest CD by Sheryl Bailey, represents something of a homecoming for the New York-based guitarist. It's her first collaboration with producer Marty Ashby and the MCG Jazz label, which is affiliated with the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Sheryl's hometown of Pittsburgh. And the project is a tribute to guitarist Emily Remler (1957-1990), whom Bailey first saw perform at the University of Pittsburgh Jazz Festival in 1984 and whose originality and musicianship deeply impressed and ...
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Performance / Tour

Sheryl Bailey Three Upcoming "Bull's Eye!" Tour

Source: All About Jazz
September 28, 2004

Thursday, October 21 CD RELEASE PARTY @ The Fat Cat 75 Christopher St. NYC 212-675-6056 9pm-midnight

Friday, October 22 The Garage 99 7th Ave, NYC 212-645-0690 11pm-3am

Monday, November 1 The 55 Bar 55 Christopher St. NYC 212-929-9883, Early set 7pm-9pm

November, 2-23 European Tour (See website link below)

Saturday, December 18 The Deer Head Inn ...
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Recording

Guitarist Sheryl Bailey Releases "Bull's Eye!" with Gary Versace and Ian Froman

Source: All About Jazz
September 28, 2004

Bull's Eye! - the newest release from guitarist, Sheryl Bailey. The much-anticipated follow up to her trio's smash debut, The Power of 3!.

Nine new compositions that allow the band to create their unique sound, and develop their special rapport and interaction. This is not your typical groove-based guitar/organ trio; this is a modern jazz power trio dedicated to expanding the post-bop language, from the lineage of the Grant Green/Larry Young/Elvin Jones sound.

Here she opens up with, “Old and ...
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"One of jazz guitars current front runners."

John Heidt, Vintage Guitar Magazine 2007

"Move over Mike Stern!"

Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times Magazine 2007

"Bailey plays with power and drive."

Downbeat 2007

"Always lush and lyrical - her sound displays a lovely sinewy edge that allows the listenere to glean every nook and cranny of her wonderful style."

Darrin Fox, Guitar Player Magazine 2005

Primary Instrument

Guitar

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

Associate Professor of Guitar Berklee College of Music since 2000, Faculty at The Collective NYC, National Guitar Workshop Jazz Resident, Clinics throughout Europe, US and Australia. Truefire Guitar Sherpa: The Bebop Dojo

Clinic/Workshop Information

Concepts of developing improvisation through deeper understandings of how harmony connects. Topics include using chord tones, melodic embellishments, use of the Jazz Melodic Minor scale, upper structure triads, chord substitutions, rhythmic clarity, and composition.