Sheryl Baileyguitar
"I had been playing for 18 years. I had finished Berklee College of Music. No guitar players had ever discussed tone with me!" recalls New York City guitarist, Sheryl Bailey. A sonic world was waiting to be explored, and Bailey got it right. Today, this world-class performer and educator has "one of the warmest and most compelling tones of her generation", to quote jazz guitarist Adam Levy (Guitar Player August 1999) - Just Jazz Guitar Magazine (August 2001) considers Bailey to be "among the best bop guitar players - she comes to each performance with a fresh approach and something new." "I believe tone is your calling card", she responds. "Touch is more important than equipment, and whatever you do to develop that, should be your focus." Bailey is also committed to bridging the gap between traditional and contemporary improvisation. Since 1995, when she placed third in Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition, she has performed with jazz masters such as George Garzone, Dwayne Burno, Billy Drewes, Dennis Chambers, Dena ReRose, Rob Bargad, and Gary Grainger. But it was rock that got Bailey hooked on the guitar per se. "Yeah, Peter Frampton did it" she laughs, "I wanted to be a rock star." And she still plays everything from fusion to folk as a performer and sideman on the New York Club circuit, nationally and internationally.
"I don't want to be in just one scene - I'm involved with a wide variety of music." Internationally, Bailey has toured Japan with Gary Thomas and bass virtuoso, Richard Bona. She spent two weeks as Artist-in-Residence at St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. In 1999, she toured South America as a Kennedy Center Department of State Jazz Ambassador - in honor of Duke Ellington.
"Audiences abroad are so open - in South America I received so many positive comments from people who had never heard Ellington on electric guitar, they were so receptive and warm."
Bailey not only has a passion for playing jazz, she also spends a lot of time teaching it. "Everyone has the ability to appreciate the art form, if not play it on different levels", she contends - "I cue my students into the process" After receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee in 1988, Bailey moved to Baltimore, Maryland and began teaching privately. She has taught at the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus and the Towson University, where she developed the course of study for the Jazz Guitar major.
Today, Sheryl lives and performs in New York City and is teaching at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Current projects include a new release, "The Power of Three!" - featuring Ian Froman on drums and Gary Versace on Hammond B3 - this session is reminiscent of the Grant Green Trio with Larry Young and Elvin Jones - on her own Pure Music label.
Sheryl also keeps a hectic pace touring with Richard Bona, David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness, and KJ Denhert - she is also in demand as a clinician at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, The Jazz Masters Workshop, and the National Guitar Summer Workshop.
