Peter Bernstein

**yebdox** · 05-11-2014, 05:34 PM

I never hear a wrong note from Peter, and ALWAYS hear great time, feel, etc. His solo album is fun, as well. I have to start transcribing some of those chord inversions that start on the low E. A lot going on with just 6 strings.

**Groyniad** · 02-26-2015, 07:20 AM

i played with peter bernstein in a masterclass in louisiana before i had even HEARD (of) him - he was doing a blue note celebration tour.

the more i hear him (e.g. live at smalls; signs of life) the more amazed i am by his playing. my latest discovery on youtube is a series of very direct duets with a piano player playing fantastic standards (my ideal is a favourite).

i love his sound above all - but i also love his conception which seems to me heavily influenced by bill evans.

after years and years of worshiping barney kessel, wes, jim hall, kenny burrell, django it is really odd for me to feel this way about a man my age - about a contemporary. but i think there is no doubt he is right up there with the real greats. in fact, because his conception is so modern and fresh and his sound is so beautiful, i'm finding myself listening to him more than i'm listening to anyone else now. he's more masculine and direct than jim hall but has almost all of his sophistication. boy i love his playing.

do others rate him as highly as i do i wonder - a true jazz giant of the guitar (up there with the usual glorious suspects)?

**robertm2000** · 02-26-2015, 11:42 AM

Peter Bernstein is an amazing guitarist - a great mix of contemporary musical ideas and continuing the heritage of the past. Bernstein plays occasionally at Smalls' Jazz Club and it's always a treat when he does. I keep a pretty close watch on the club's website (SMALLS JAZZ CLUB 183 W. 10TH ST. NYC) and watch it whenever he is on.

**docbop** · 02-26-2015, 11:50 AM

Yes Bernstein is great from playing solo guitar to getting funky with Lonnie Smith he does it all with great lines and rhythm parts. He is a legend in the making.

**ingeneri** · 02-26-2015, 12:23 PM

Considering the breadth and depth of his side man gigs, you'd have to consider him among today's top players. But, he also seems to be, nfairly, a musicians' musician. It's odd Blue Note picked him for their anniversary tour, but never actually signed him to the label. He should also be a leader at top festivals like Newport, headlining at the Vanguard, and on the cover of Jazztimes and Downbeat. Personally, I wished he toured nationally more, so I could catch him here in DC like Bobby Broom, Jimmy Bruno, or Pat Martino.

To me, Bernstein adds the muscular swing and blues missing from Jim Hall. It's a thoroughly modern stew that avoids the excessive cerebralism of much contemporary post-Young Lions Jazz. I've got all his Smalls recordings and half the Criss Cross 90's records, and never heard a disappointing performance.

**Cunamara** · 02-28-2015, 12:59 PM

Pete's a great jazz musician. I was going to say he is my favorite of the "new crop of players" but he's been around for 25 years on the scene. He performed in a duo with Jim Hall in 1990 at the age of 23, according to Wikipedia! He's new-to-me, I first heard him just 3-4 years ago.

Listening to Pete has significantly changed my conceptions of

(1) jazz guitar sound. Formerly I was seeking a tone along the Jim Hall-Pat Metheny spectrum. Pete's open, clear sound really resonated with me

(2) phrasing. For years I had listened to guys like Joe Pass and Tal Farlow in particular, aiming at the bebop style of phrasing. I was never very good at it- get off by one eighth note and the line can sound like crap because the chord tones are on the wrong beats, and I seem to be good at getting off by an eighth note. Listening to Jim Hall and Pete Bernstein (and Ed Bickert and Paul Desmond) showed me that there is a much wider vista for jazz phrasing that is, to my ears more emotional and compelling. Pete's phrasing is so well chosen and his ideas flow so well that I have been studying him a lot for the past couple of years.

I have to admit I don't seem to have the ears to get his current Monk-ish stuff so that will take some more work (I don't particularly get Monk, for that matter- I get his compositions interpreted by others more easily than when played by himself).

Pete has become one of the masters of the music, not just guitar but of jazz.

**grahambop** · 02-28-2015, 01:54 PM

I saw Peter a few weeks ago here in the UK with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart - he was great.

He was playing through a Fender Deluxe and at first, I thought his sound was a bit disappointing, sort of muddy. But after the first tune he reached back and tweaked a couple of controls, and that was it - his usual clear, singing sound just leapt out of the amp.

He played a really nice new tune of his, I think it was called 'Why wouldn't you', a minor key waltz if I recall correctly. I asked him afterwards if he'd recorded it yet, and he said no. I said "when you record it, I'll buy it!"

**jtizzle** · 03-01-2015, 04:59 PM

You're probably referring to the videos with Mike Kanan, great person.

I've gotten to study with Peter quite a bit, and it's funny how much you can learn from the guy by just playing with him. We usually just play for the hour and everything he tells me is never about theory or anything. It's just like "what does that sound like to you? this is how it sounds to me"

**Groyniad** · 03-02-2015, 12:45 PM

oh mr jtizzle you can't talk about things like that so casually - at least not without breaking the hearts of hundreds of jazz guitarists who DON"T LIVE IN NEW YORK - ahhhhhhh!!!!! - arggghhhhhh!!!!!

he was very nice to me about my playing - we played 'out of nowhere'.

does he divulge anything about who he's listened to most? i can't help feeling his phrases are shaped in a very bill evansy sort of way - even though i don't hear any actual bill-phrases

but the more i listen to him the more i love what he's doing

and grahambop - i had no idea he was in the country - i listen to the youtube gig with that trio regularly - what a group!

and cunamara - i know just what you're talking about with the eighth notes. i want to say that peter b. has a very 'intervalic' approach to improvisation. i think many of his lines involve a lot of triads - so bigger gaps between the notes than someone who plays in a very scalar way. i've been getting into this a lot recently - it enables you to play phrases that cover more ground more quickly (or that go a long way quite quickly from low to high or high to low).

the over-riding thing is surely his glorious sound. after you've listened to him a lot many many other (great) guitarists don't sound so appealing. its a strong sound - but lush and soft at the same time - hard to imagine better.

**docbop** · 03-02-2015, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by jtizzle

You're probably referring to the videos with Mike Kanan, great person.

I've gotten to study with Peter quite a bit, and it's funny how much you can learn from the guy by just playing with him. We usually just play for the hour and everything he tells me is never about theory or anything. It's just like "what does that sound like to you? this is how it sounds to me"

Lage Lund talks about taking a lesson from Peter and now they just get together and play all the time. Lage says he learning a lot from playing with Peter.

**David B** · 03-02-2015, 02:43 PM

Peter is, by a country mile, my favourite guitarist on the scene today. I've presented a couple of workshops with him recently, so I can say that as well as being a brilliant musician, he is a lovely guy and very easy to work with. That in itself is worth a great deal in the business!

He is, without fail, admired by every professional musician I've mentioned his name in front of.

Here's a photo of a workshop I put on with Peter in January. Half the audience were busy pros from the jazz and session scenes.

Peter Bernstein-bernstein2015a-jpg

**monkmiles** · 03-02-2015, 03:14 PM

I do love Peter Bernstein, he has become my very favorite player with a beautiful tone/voice on the instrument. He can be so under stated in a great way with no over playing. I love the work he does with Goldings and Stewart and unfortunately missed them on their last Boston visit...ugh.

Does anyone happen to have any charts of Peter's tunes? I was thinking of taking one to my band to try, probably one of the Bernstein/Golding/Stewart organ trio tunes.

**Groyniad** · 03-17-2015, 05:59 PM

too quiet this thread on a jazz guitar forum methinks

and to prove that get your lugs round this little beauty - this is a singing sound:

**pushkar000** · 03-17-2015, 06:57 PM

He is absolutely one of the greats. A wonderful inspiration. He has a great concept, I just can't get enough of his playing. I love the guy. If I ever get a chance to go to America, one of the first things I'm gonna do is find him, watch a show and wrangle a lesson out of him!

**Groyniad** · 03-22-2015, 03:34 PM

Originally Posted by pushkar000

He is absolutely one of the greats. A wonderful inspiration. He has a great concept, I just can't get enough of his playing. I love the guy. If I ever get a chance to go to America, one of the first things I'm gonna do is find him, watch a show and wrangle a lesson out of him!

just right - i can't stop listening - he's so lyrical without sacrificing the tiniest bit of - i want to say - masculinity (that's right - but i'm not very happy to put it that way). jh is lyrical - but a bit feminine. feminine is great of course (in pretty much any sense you care to think of) - but i think i slightly favour a more masculine thing in jazz.

e.g. sonny rollins

bill evans does this too - and perhaps the perfect blend of lyricism and masculinity is bird

he is renewing my faith in jazz guitar - he shows us how to make the music work (on guitar in 2015) without abandoning the mainstream of the tradition for something else. again like bill evans did in 1958

(have you heard those duets with michael kanan?)