Jazz guitarists Steve Abshire and Steve Herberman celebrate the release of their new duo guitar recording at the Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland on Saturday June 6 at 8:00 p.m. The recording is the second on the Mainstay Music label. Admission is $15. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website www.mainstayrockhall.org.
Steve Abshire (6 string guitar) and Steve Herberman (7-string guitar) will celebrate the release of their new CD “Between Friends” (the second recording on the Mainstay Music label) with a concert at The Mainstay. The CD is a live concert recording made last summer in Annapolis.
At the Mainstay, they will play some of the selections from the CD, songs from the Great American Songbook, some well-known Brazilian standards and will be joined by 16-year-old jazz guitar phenom Jan Knutson.
Steve Abshire is no stranger to The Mainstay. He is a regular in Max’s Mainstay All-Stars, the Mainstay house band and his holiday recording with Vince Lewis “Tis the Season”, was the first on the Mainstay Music label. He performed with various Navy Bands for 24 years and was the guitarist/featured soloist with the Commodores, the Navy’s premiere jazz ensemble, for 18 of those years. He retired in 1997. Twice he went to Europe to perform at the famed “Jazz In Marciac” jazz festival in Marciac, France.
Abshire has taught at the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C. and currently teaches guitar privately. As a clinician, he has given Master Classes in guitar and rhythm section technique at the Armed Forces School of Music, James Madison University, Elon University, and various other local colleges and high schools.
Abshire can be found on numerous recordings, including six of his own. In 1987, his first recording, “Big Brass Bed Blues” received a 4 1/2-star rating from Downbeat Magazine, which called him “…fluent, assured, directly communicative…definitely one to watch”.
Steve Herberman is a graduate of Berklee College Of Music who adoped the seven-string guitar in 1993. He has performed at major jazz venues across the country and at European Jazz Festivals including a slot recently as featured guest artist at the North Wales jazz guitar weekend in the U.K. Closer to home he has performed at Blues Alley, the Smithsonian Jazz Cafe, and the Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts.
Herberman has recorded three CDs as a leader; “Thoughtlines” (2001) “Action:Reaction” (2006) and “Ideals” (2008.) His recordings have received wide critical acclaim in JazzTimes, Downbeat, Jazz Improv and many others.
Herberman has taught at Towson University in Baltimore since 1999, has presented masterclasses in the U.K. and at many universities across the U.S. and has written instructional material for Downbeat magazine, Mel Bay’s Guitar Sessions, Just Jazz Guitar, the National Guitar Workshop newsletter and columns for the Modern Guitars webzine. He is an online instructor for www.mikesmasterclasses.com where he has taught dozens of popular jazz video lessons. He was featured on the cover of Just Jazz Guitar Magazine (Feb. 2009) with his Comins guitar that he has endorsed for many years.
Both Steve Abshire and Steve Herberman play regularly in the DC area.
Sixteen-year-old jazz guitar phenom Jan Knutson from College Park, MD has studied with both Steve Abshire and Frank Vignola. He recorded his first CD, “Out of Nowhere,” produced by Frank Vignola in August of last year at Sweetfoot Studio in Easton MD. The recording has been played on radio stations across the country and was reviewed in Just Jazz Guitar magazine. In April, 2015 Knutson was selected as one of six artists in Residence for the Strathmore Music Center in Rockville, MD.
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. For information and reservations call the Mainstay at 410-639-9133. More information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
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