Jamey Arent is a versatile guitarist, born in Denver, Colorado in 1986. At age 12, Jamey became inspired to pick up the guitar after watching a video of The Beatles. Within a week, Jamey was taking lessons with Wayne Sturdy and spending countless hours learning songs. Once Jamey heard blues-rock greats Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, he dedicated his life to music. Jamey soon began to study legends of the blues like Freddie King and Albert Collins, as well as the heavyweights of R&B, soul and funk from Motown, Stax and New Orleans band, The Meters.
During high school, Jamey was chosen for the guitar chair in the Colorado All State Jazz Band for both 2004 and 2005 and was given the 2005 Downbeat Magazine Student Award for best blues/pop/rock soloist. That same year, Jamey was featured in Mike Varney’s Spotlight in Guitar Player Magazine. Varney, a Guitar Player Magazine Columnist, Bay Area record producer and owner of Shrapnel, Blues Bureau and Tone Center Records wrote:
In the fall of 2005, Jamey began seriously pursuing jazz music at the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with Bob Ferrazza and Robin Eubanks, and completed a bachelor’s degree in music in 2009. Jamey immersed himself in the sounds of George Benson, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. While at Oberlin, Jamey was selected by the faculty to play in the 2008-2009 Oberlin Jazz Septet. The OJS played all over the East coast, including a set at the Detroit Jazz Festival and two sold out sets at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, where they were joined by jazz legends Gary Bartz, Billy Hart and Wycliffe Gordon. Jamey also toured the Virgin Islands with the Oberlin Jazz Ensemble Big Band. Jamey studied with Denver based guitar legend Mitch Chmara during this time.
Directly after finishing up at Oberlin, Jamey moved to Los Angeles to begin his graduate studies in Studio/Jazz Guitar at the University of Southern California. At USC, Jamey had the privilege of studying guitar with Bruce Forman, Richard Smith, Frank Potenza, Adam Del Monte and Pat Kelley. Jamey also studied composition with Russell Ferrante, and was selected for the guitar chair of the award winning Thornton Jazz Orchestra, directed by Bob Mintzer. Jamey completed his Master’s degree from USC in 2011.
Jamey is a rare guitarist on today’s music scene with his ability to genuinely co-exist in many genres, from rock to jazz, blues to soul. He is currently playing at venues all over Los Angeles as a sideman, with artists like CJ Emmons, Raquel Rodriguez and Dave Lewis as well as his own original jazz project The Jamey Arent/Tim McKay group, co-led by saxophonist Tim McKay.
