”Newton's your man whether you prefer your jazz-guitar virtuosi rough or smooth. The tunes range from funk to totally %#$*!-up (in the best sense).” (VILLAGE VOICE)
Joel Newton is a guitarist, composer, and bandleader, based in New York City. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1990 with a degree in Philosophy, and from William Paterson College in 1993 with a degree in Jazz Performance. In New York, his projects explore jazz, rock, funk, and various shades of avant-garde. He has been described as “...an adventurous guitarist with chops to spare” (Jazzreview.com) who “is able to build a spark into a full-fledged fire.” (Cadence Magazine). His hard-edged and experimental jazz-rock group, the Joel Newton Situation (”JNS”), described as “a sort of Medeski, Martin and Mahavishnu thing” (Village Voice) with “…a new angle on jazz-rock” (All About Jazz), has performed extensively in New York and elsewhere in the U.S., including long residencies at NYC's Knitting Factory. Joel works as a leader, sideman, and co-leader with such jazz luminaries as Donny McCaslin, DD Jackson, Christian Howes, Matt Shulman, David Binney, JT Lewis and Jeff Hirshfield. From 2001 to 2003, Joel did extensive studio guitar work for producer Harvey Goldberg, sound engineer for Late Night with David Letterman. In 2004 he performed in and helped score the musical Mankynde, which participated in the NY International Fringe Festival.
Joel has 2 self-produced CD releases, ONE (2000) and Crying and Laughing (2006). See www.joelnewton.com for more information.
