Faculty

Profile

2021 Guggenheim award-winning guitarist and composer Rez Abbasi is among a rare breed of artists that continue to push boundaries while preserving the traditions he has embraced. Consistently placing on DownBeat’s International Critics Poll alongside luminaries Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny since 2014, Abbasi continues to forge new ground with his many multi-dimensional projects.

 “Abbasi is living, breathing proof that jazz music can be as vital and boundary-pushing as ever.” AllAboutJazz.com.  


Born in Karachi, Pakistan, migrating to the vastness of Southern California at the age of four, schooled at the University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music in jazz and classical music, along with a pilgrimage in India under the guidance of master percussionist, Ustad Alla Rakha, Abbasi is a vivid synthesis of all the above stated influences and genres. Making New York home for the past 25 years, he has played with a host of great musicians including, Ruth Brown, Peter Erskine, Kenny Werner, Barre Phillips, Tim Berne, Michael Formanek, Billy Hart, Gary Thomas, Dave Douglas, Mike Clark, Tim Hagans, John Beasly, Ronu Majumdar, Kadri Gopalnath, Greg Osby, Howard Levy and many others

With fifteen albums, Rez Abbasi’s wide-ranging projects continue to capture provocative sounds rarely heard in today’s music. His 2020 project Django-shift, recasts legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt’s lesser-known compositions into a modern light, utilizing organ & synths, acoustic fretted & fretless guitars and drums. In 2017 he was commissioned by the New York Guitar Festival to create and perform a live score for the 1929 silent film A Throw of Dice. His Silent Ensemble recorded the score and released the album in 2019. Abbasi also received two highly coveted composition grants from Chamber Music America in order to complete a trilogy of albums with his acclaimed ensemble, Invocation. Each album of the trilogy developed a distinct side of South Asian music within the context of jazz. In 2018, Unfiltered Universe, featuring bandmates Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa, was released as the completion of the trilogy. As with the previous two albums, Things to Come and Suno Suno, Unfiltered Universe received several accolades worldwide. www.RezTone.com