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Brad Shepik

Guitarist, composer, educator Brad Shepik has recorded 9 albums with his groups Brad Shepik Organ Trio, Brad Shepik Quartet, Brad Shepik Trio, Human Activity Quintet, Brad Shepik and the Commuters. Since 1995 his ensembles have performed at major festivals and clubs across Europe and North America including The North Sea Jazz Festival, Garda Jazz Festival, Cologne Biennale Jazz Festival, Toulouse Jazz Festival, Bell Atlantic Festival, Verizon, Earshot, Caramoor Jazz Festival, Langnau Jazz Festival, Groningen, Salzburg, Jerez, Cadiz, Sevilla, American Guitar Festival, Leeds, Rochester Jazz Festival, Cork, Brussels, Edgefest and others.

He currently performs solo concerts and with Brad Shepik Organ Trio, The Brad Shepik Quartet, Rambler, Combo Nuvo, Tom Beckham/Brad Shepik Duo, Balkan Peppers, Jamie Baum Septet, Matt Darriau's Paradox Trio, George Schuller's Circle Wide, Arthur Kell and others.

He teaches Theory, Improvisation, World Ensemble, Jazz Combo, Chicago Blues, Balkan Music and private guitar at New York University and private guitar at New England Conservatory and City College of New York.

As a sideman Brad appears on more than 70 recordings and has performed and recorded with Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band, Dave Douglas' Tiny Belll Trio, Combo Nuvo, Yuri Yunakov's Bulgarian Wedding Band, Pachora, Paradox Trio, Jay Clayton and others. He has also performed with Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill, Bob Brookmeyer, Simon Shaheen, and was a a member of Joey Baron's Killer Joey from 2000-2009.

Born in Walla Walla, Washington and raised in Seattle, Brad Shepik began playing guitar at age 10, when he picked up his father's instrument. He continued to play both guitar and saxophone in school bands and studied guitar with Al Galante, Dave Petersen, Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie. He earned a B.F.A from Cornish College of the Arts and a Masters in Jazz Performance/Composition from New York University.

Shepik moved to New York in 1990, subsequently joining several bands including Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio, Matt Darriau's Paradox Trio, Pachora w/Chris Speed, Jim Black and Skuli Sverrisson, and BABKAS. He has also performed with Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill and Charlie Haden's Liberation Orchestra in the US and Europe. Shepik toured Europe and recorded two albums with Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band over 5 years. Concurrently, the guitarist deepened his interest in world music, performing and recording with Yuri Yunakov's Bulgarian Wedding Band and Simon Shaheen’s Quantara. Shepik’s first two records as a leader, The Loan and The Well, explored music of the Balkans and featured Shepik on Turkish saz and Bulgarian tambura as well as electric and acoustic guitars. “The Loan" and “The Well" received critical praise for their marriage of world music styles and jazz.

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15
Play This!

Brad Shepik: Vapor Oro

Read "Brad Shepik: Vapor Oro" reviewed by Mike Jacobs


From The Well (Songlines, 1999), guitarist Brad Shepik's incendiary “Vapor Oro" is emblematic of the ethno-jazz wave he was an integral part of in the downtown scene of late-'90s NYC. Burning performances from his band that includes drummer Michael Sarin, saxophonist Peter Epstein, bassist Skuli Sverrisson and percussionist Seido Salifosky. ...

5
Album Review

Tima Volozh: Jubilee

Read "Jubilee" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright


Jubilee is the excellent debut release of Russian-born New York-based drummer Tima Volozh. The group was formed in March 2022, assembled for a benefit performance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The rhythm section features bassist Jerome Harris and guitarist Brad Shepik, both of whom are known for their work with drummer Paul Motian, among notable others. Volozh met them while researching Motian's music for his master's degree thesis at New York University. Canadian pianist and composer Noah Franche-Nolan ...

18
Album Review

Believers: Believers

Read "Believers" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


The three individuals making up Believers are each highly respected musical voices in their own right. Percussionist John Hadfield has performed and recorded with the likes of Nguyen Le and released an inspired duo EP with woodwind autodidact Lenny Pickett, called Heard by Others (Orenda Records, 2020). Sam Minaie, on the other hand, has played bass for household names such as piano virtuoso Tigran Hamasyan and the charming jazz-pop icon Melody Gardot. Which brings us to the last protagonist completing ...

4
Album Review

Paul Shaw Quintet: Moment of Clarity

Read "Moment of Clarity" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Drummer Paul Shaw, best known as a reliable sideman in groups large and small, strides into the spotlight with panache as leader of his own quintet, having written every number on Moment of Clarity and entrusted them to the capable hands and singular talents of his earnest colleagues. He also gives those teammates ample space to shine, confining himself for the most part to timekeeping duties, which he carries out with adeptness and assurance. As a composer, ...

12
Hi-Res Jazz

Songlines: An Independent Voice for New Music

Read "Songlines: An Independent Voice for New Music" reviewed by Mark Werlin


The independent Vancouver-based record label Songlines Recordings was established in 1992. Inspired by the contemporary jazz music scene in Vancouver, label founder Tony Reif began recording Canadian, American, Dutch, German and French composer-performers. Over the next two decades, the core group of musicians who recorded frequently for Songlines included Benoît Delbecq, Harris Eisenstadt, Gordon Grdina, Wayne Horvitz, Francois Houle, Brad Shepik and Michael Blake. Plot a zig-zag route from Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, to San Francisco and Reno, from New ...

6
Album Review

Brad Shepik / Ron Samworth: Quartet 1991

Read "Quartet 1991" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Tony Reif is calling a mulligan here. Some twenty-five years ago, shortly before he founded and launched the Songlines imprint and long before he was known the world over for his work in the production and promotion of creative music, Reif went into a Seattle studio to produce a recording for a quartet fronted by guitarists Brad Shepik and Ron Samworth. It was the first session he ever helmed, and some intriguing music was created and captured in less-than-ideal circumstances. ...

312
Album Review

Brad Shepik Quartet: Across The Way

Read "Across The Way" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


One of the modern day pioneers of integrating Balkan music into the progressive jazz vernacular, guitarist Brad Shepik's solo and session career spans a comprehensive panorama. He lingers on the cutting-edge of matters amid collaborations with like-minded artists, such as trumpeter Dave Douglas, reedman Chris Speed and other jazz VIPs. And on this quartet date, Shepik and vibraphonist Tom Beckham impart a jubilant union within more traditional jazz quarters. Across The Way is a sinuous endeavor, packed with ...

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114

Recording

Brad Shepik Quartet - Across the Way (Songlines, 2011)

Brad Shepik Quartet - Across the Way (Songlines, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland

Guitarist Brad Shepik takes an intimate, chamberish approach on his new album, in collaboration with Tom Beckham on vibraphone, Jorge Roeder on bass and Mark Guiliana on drums. The sound of the vibraphone and subtly amplified guitar is compelling and mysterious (remember the great tracks Grant Green recorded with Bobby Hutcherson?) and blends well with the bass and drums on this album, making for a tasteful and mysterious sound. The title track “Across the Way" opens with a beguiling medium ...

124

Performance / Tour

Brad Shepik's February 9 Show at the 55 Bar To Coincide With Release of "Across The Way"

Brad Shepik's February 9 Show at the 55 Bar To Coincide With Release of "Across The Way"

Source: GoMedia PR

New Songlines CD Introduces Guitarist's First Jazz Quartet Guitarist Brad Shepik, whose 2009 Songlines release, Human Activity Suite, was lauded as “absorbingly eclectic" by the New York Times, and ..."as beautiful and architecturally impressive as the continental movements..." by Jazz Times, will celebrate the release of a new CD, Across the Way, with a show at the 55 Bar on February 9. Across the Way is the guitarist's sixth release for Songlines and, for the first time, features Shepik performing ...

402

Contest

Enter the Songlines Recordings "Brad Shepik - Human Activity Suite" Giveaway Contest

Enter the Songlines Recordings "Brad Shepik - Human Activity Suite" Giveaway Contest

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the Songlines Recordings “Brad Shepik - Human Activity Suite“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on March 29th. Click here to enter the contest

(Following Brad Shepik at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.)

Good luck! Your Friends at Songlines Recordings

“The well-traveled Shepik has drawn on his knowledge of various indigenous musics to construct the stages on which ...

273

Interview

Guitarist Brad Shepik Interviewed at AAJ

Guitarist Brad Shepik Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Guitarist Brad Shepik is an artist with a conscience that extends to major global issues. A recently completed 12-part commission, Human Activity, addresses, in musical terms, the issue of global climate change. As diverse and multifaceted as both Shepik and the problem at hand are, it's a sweeping musical statement from an artist whose name continues to gain cachet.

AAJ Contributor Franz Matzner spoke with Shepik about the suite, the definition of World Music, and more.

Check out Brad Shepik: ...

238

Performance / Tour

Julie Hardy at Bar Next Door with Brad Shepik, Monday, August 21st

Julie Hardy at Bar Next Door with Brad Shepik,  Monday, August 21st

Source: All About Jazz

JULIE HARDY @ Bar Next Door with Brad Shepik, guitar; Matt Clohesy, bass On Monday, August 21st (8:00-11:30pm) at Bar Next Door, vocalist and composer Julie Hardy will perform with guitarist Brad Shepik and bassist Matt Clohesy. Hardy is preparing to record her second CD with record label Fresh Sound New Talent and is currently the only American singer on this label. This evening she will present new pieces including original music and covers of old standards and pop songs. ...

138

Education

Brad Shepik Joins NEC Faculty

Brad Shepik Joins NEC Faculty

Source: All About Jazz

Jazz guitarist and composer Brad Shepik will join the New England Conservatory jazz guitar faculty at the beginning of the 2005-06 school year. The eclectic musical creator has been described by allaboutjazz.com as having the “mind of a pioneer. The rhythmic complexity of his compositions has few parallels in jazz—or any other genre, for that matter. With all his exotic influences, and all his different axes, he makes us rethink what it means to be a guitarist and a musician. ...

Primary Instrument

Guitar

Credentials/Background

Brad Shepik has taught at New England University, New York University, City College, The New School, Long Island University, The School for Improvised Music. He has also taught master classes at North Texas State University, Cornish College of the Arts, Fontys University and others.

Queen Kong
band / ensemble / orchestra

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Live at LunÀtico

Origin Records
2023

buy

Jubilee

Shifting Paradigm Records
2023

buy

Believers

Orenda Records
2021

buy

Moment of Clarity

Summit Records
2020

buy

Quartet 1991

Songlines Recordings
2016

buy

Top Down

Self Produced
2016

buy

Adoration of the Earth

From: Jubilee
By Brad Shepik

Haflat Zifaf

From: Live at LunÀtico
By Brad Shepik

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