From fresh interpretations of jazz standards, to lyrically evocative originals, New York City based guitarist Rick Stone is an artist with a clear musical vision. His fluid, full-bodied sound pays homage to the great jazz guitar masters of the past while maintaining a personal style with a contemporary edge.
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Rick Stone Music/Jazzand 2009

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Rick Stone
plays Comins Guitars and Amps

July 7,, 2010
Things have been really busy around here, hence no new posts for the last few months.  In May I went to the First Annual Jazz Education Network Conference in Saint Louis. It was great, but if you missed it, don't dispair.  They're having the next one in New Orleans in January and it should be even better.  Check out their site: www.jazzednet.org. 

Then in June Bill Comins and I went to the Summer NAMM Show in Nashville with D'Angelico Guitars. 

Now I'm headed off to Italy for a series of gigs with Carol Sudhalter, Dario Chiazzolino, Giovanni Monteforte, Piero Borri and many others (plus a recording session with Carol and Carmelo Leotta).  It's going to be another busy month!

I did manage to put up a couple new videos on Youtube though.  Check out my trio's versions of Jerome Kern's "Nobody Else But Me" and our 5/4 version of Coltrane's "Giant Steps."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SH5-KGXx0w  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdVAq0rXHYM
Stay tuned! More to come!

April 16, 2010
Last summer I had a very nice video interview with Emon for his guitar blog Guitarkadia.com.  Part 1 is finally edit and posted. You can watch it here http://guitarkadia.com/emon/jazz/interview-with-jazz-guitarist-rick-stone-part-one/

March 18, 2010
As you know, I'm now an artist endorser for D'Angelico Guitars.  They're making some nice and affordable laminate archtops (I'm currently using their EXS-1DH as my "gigging" guitar, and about to pickup my new EX-SS which was re-designed for them by Bill Comins).  I had a fun photo shoot with my good friend Chris Drukker (a great photographer and graphic artist) at the D'Angelico store in Redbank a couple weeks ago.  We shot about 750 pictures and you can see a small sampling of them of my facebook.

February 22, 2010
Some of you might be interested in a couple blogs I'm maintaining. 

For the more "guitaristically" inclined, I regularly post some jazz guitar licks and tricks (in standard notation, tab and Guitar-Pro formats at JazzGuitarLessons.com/Ricks-Licks .

RickStoneMusic.Wordpress.com is a more general interest jazz guitar blog where I'll write about just about anything that's on my mind (which is mostly music) and I sometimes post some guitar lessons there as well.

I was also called on by Lyle Robinson to write some concert reviews for JazzGuitarLife.com last year.   Being the reviewer (as opposed to the one being reviewed) was an interesting perspective, and how could I pass up free tickets to see Greg Skaff and then Pat Martino at the Iridium?  You can read them here: Greg Skaff 7-22-2009
Pat Martino 7-26-2009.   I've been asked to do a few more, but they fell on nights that I was gigging or teaching. So far these are the only ones I've done but it was an interesting (and challenging) experience.


February 11, 2010
I'm very happy to announce that I was just featured on All About Jazz in a short interview called "Take Five with Rick Stone"  and was also interviewed by jazz critic Scott Yanow for his upcoming book "The Great Jazz Guitarists" scheduled to come out in 2011 on Hal Leonard Publications.

Also, I just become an endorser for D'Angelico Guitars.  Don't worry, I'm still using the Comins too (Bill Comins is currently working with the D'Angelico people to redesign some of their line).  I got two of their Excel guitars a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying them.  You can see a picture of them on my Facebook.

Meanwhile I'm busy with an archiving project and am digitizing all of my old gig and jam session recordings (many hundreds of hours, mostly from cassettes).  Writing lots of chord solo arrangements and exercises for the new website.  Check out the current sample lesson, Bill Evans "Very Early."

November 21, 2009
As the holiday shopping season begins, I'd like to remind you that music makes a great gift, so if you love jazz guitar, why not share some with your friends?  My CDs are available at cdbaby.

I'm continuing to write instructional material and record lessons and videos for my new website jazzguitarlessons.com.  It's not quite ready for "official" launch, but as you can see, progress is being made.  Meanwhile, if you're in the NYC area and would like to arrange a private lesson, please email me at lessons@rickstone.com

The Jazzmobile Saturday Workshop Program begins its 2009-2010 season of  classes on Demember 12th at the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts, 215 West 114th Street.

My  trio continues to play monthly at the Garage Restaurant, and we've had several successful engagements at the Bar Next Door.  Check my calendar regularly for upcoming gigs.

The network I started jazzguitarny.ning.com has grown to several hundred members, mostly working musicians and is intended to promote live jazz guitar events.  I try to keep a current listing of regular jazz guitar gigs


I continue to be active on a number of social networks as well. Please join me at: myspace.com/rickstonemusic, facebook.com/rickstonemusic, twitter.com/rickstonemusic, linkedin.com/rickstonemusic (are you beginning to sense a pattern?) as well as reverbnation.com/rickstone, allaboutjazz.com/rickstoneand youtube.com/jazzand.

February 12, 2009
The past year has been a busy one.  The band is playing regularly at the Garage Restaurant, the Bar Next Door and did a successful concert at the Donnell Library Center.  I've got a great group of students at Hofstra University, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Jazzmobile, and my home studio.  We've done more renovations on the studio (we created a drum room for better separation).  I've also gotten pretty heavy into video recording and editing and you can see some of the results at www.youtube.com/jazzand (check out the clips from the Donnell concert!)  I also started posting some of my archival concert footage there (like the 1993 concert with Barry Harris, Ralph Lalama, Dennis Irwin, and Leroy Williams).  I'm writing a lot of new teaching materials also started recording some instructional video material for a new website I'll be unveiling later this year. If that wasn't enough, I've gotten very heavy into just about all the social networks (MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Plaxo, and just about everyplace else) so if you want to connect, just search on my name.

February 11, 2008
Official Rick Stone Music merchandise is now available!  Guitar students will enjoy our very functional and decorative Circle of Fifths clock. Hang one in your practice room where it will help you memorize keys and chord progressions, and get to the gig on-time! They make great gifts.  More products coming soon. Visit our store at www.CafePress.com/RickStoneMusic

February 1, 2008
Good things happening this month  For the many people outside of New York City who've expressed interest in online study (or those who just can't make the trek out to Brooklyn) I'll be doing my first online guitar clinic for www.mikesmasterclasses.com   Mike Gellar started this site a couple years ago and has had classes with Roni Ben-Hur, Lorne Lofsky, Jay Umble, Steve Herberman, Jack Wilkins, Frank DiBussolo, Sheryl Bailey, Randy Johnston, John Stowell, Paul Bollenbeck, and a host of others (I could go on, but you get the idea!).  Needless to say, I'm honored to be in such company.  My first class will cover my Chord Construction Workshop system that I wrote about for Just Jazz Guitar magazine a few years back (you can download copies of those articles from my "Lessons" page).  Here's the description:

Online Chord Construction Workshop,
Thursday, February 7th, 2008, 9:00am
A practical, hands-on approach to chord construction for the guitar.   Beginning with only a few chord forms you will learn how to build virtually any nameable chord through a system of chromatic alterations.  Most importantly, we will discuss practical applications and proper voice-leading.  You should expect to come away from this workshop with the knowledge necessary to move beyond the rote playing of chord "shapes" and bring your comping to a professional level.
 
Tuition: $39.95    Click Here to Sign Up

Videos Now Available On YouTube!
I've decided to start posting my videos to YouTube rather than keeping them here on this site (just a lot easier for me to maintain and they get more views).  To see what I've posted, click this link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jazzand

Jazzand Studio Renovations
The studio is now up and running smoothly.  My current group with pianist Ted Kooshian, bassist David Kingsnorth and drummer Tom Pollard has been rehearsing here over the past year.  We're working on lots of new material and tightening things up.  I'm trying to keep away from too many outside projects since that keeps me away from playing.

New Articles for Just Jazz Guitar
I'm currently working on a new series of articles for Just Jazz Guitar Magazine.  This series will address some of my ideas about composition and the guitar and will include lead sheets and transcriptions of my recent recorded work. The first was a guitar arrangement of my song "Rain Forest" which appeared in the August 2005 issue.

Visit Me on MySpace.com
If you haven't already visited my page on MySpace, I encourage you to check it out.  I've been uploading a lot of photos and such from my archive, including some pretty funny ones (like the picture from 1957 with my "Mickey Mouse" guitar, or my bands when I was in school and much hairier!)   Also a lot of things from gigs over the years, with Ralph Lalama, Barry Harris, Kenny Barron.  Go check it out at:
http://www.myspace.com/rickstonemusic



Samba de Novembro
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