Julian Lage

Early life and career

Lage was born in Santa Rosa, California, and is the youngest of five children. His father, Mario, is a visual artist, and his mother is of Jewish heritage (although he did not grow up in a religious household). A child prodigy, Lage was the subject of the 1996 short documentary film Jules at Eight. At 12, he performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards. Three years later, he became a faculty member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University. Classically trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he has studied at Sonoma State University and the Ali Akbar College of Music. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2008.

On March 24, 2009 EmArcy released his debut album Sounding Point to favorable reviews. It was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award Best Contemporary Jazz Album. His second album, Gladwell, was released April 26, 2011, to positive reviews. His first solo acoustic album, World's Fair, was released on March 2, 2015, and his fourth album, Arclight, was released on March 11, 2016.

In a 2016 interview promoting Arclight on the NPR program Fresh Air, Lage revealed that around the time of the release of World's Fair he struggled with focal dystonia, a neurological disorder resulting from the repeated performance of tasks. The disorder caused spasms in his left arm and hand while trying to play the guitar. He believed that the condition was brought on at age five from playing and gripping the neck of his guitar too hard, because the guitar was bigger than he was. At the time, he believed that was what he needed to do to "sound official... and [not] drop the guitar." He had to "re-learn how to play the guitar in a way that addressed these tendencies that got [him] in trouble in the first place."

He has worked in a trio with Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen and has recorded duo albums with guitarists Chris Eldridge, Gyan Riley, and Nels Cline. For the 2017 guitar duo album Mount Royal, Lage and Eldridge received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.

Lage is presently a faculty member at The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School in New York City, where he teaches ensembles and guitar. He has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music.

On March 17, 2021, it was announced that he signed to Blue Note Records. Along with the announcement, it was announced that his debut release on the label entitled Squint would be released on June 11. The lead single "Saint Rose" was released on that day as well.

View With a Room was released on September 16, 2022 The lead single, Auditorium, was released on June 21. Word for Word, the second single, was released on July 13. The third single, Tributary, was released on August 10. The fourth single, Chavez, was released on August 31.

On November 14, 2023, Lage released the single, Omission, continuing to use the acoustic instrumentation found on his EP The Layers, which was released on March 17, 2023.

Discography

As leader

• Sounding Point (EmArcy, 2009)
• Gladwell (EmArcy, 2011)
• Free Flying with Fred Hersch (Palmetto, 2013)
• • Close to Picture* with Chris Eldridge (Self-released, 2013)
• Avalon with Chris Eldridge (Modern Lore, 2014)
• Room with Nels Cline (Mack Avenue, 2014)
• World's Fair (Modern Lore, 2015)
• Arclight (Mack Avenue, 2016)
• Live in Los Angeles (Mack Avenue, 2017)
• Mount Royal with Chris Eldridge (Free Dirt, 2017)
• Modern Lore (Mack Avenue, 2018)
• Love Hurts (Mack Avenue, 2019)
• Squint (Blue Note, 2021)
• View with a Room (Blue Note, 2022)
• The Layers EP (Blue Note, 2023)
• Speak to Me (Blue Note, 2024)
• Scenes from Above (Blue Note, 2026)

As sideman

With Gary Burton

• Generations (Concord Jazz, 2004)
• Next Generation (Concord Jazz, 2005)
• Common Ground (Mack Avenue, 2011)
• Guided Tour (Mack Avenue, 2013)

With John Zorn

• Midsummer Moons (Tzadik, 2017)
• Insurrection (Tzadik, 2018)
• Salem 1692 (Tzadik, 2018)
• The Book Beri'ah Vol.4 – Chesed (Tzadik, 2018)
• Nove Cantici Per Francesco D'Assisi (Tzadik, 2019)
• Virtue (Tzadik, 2020)
• Songs for Petra (Tzadik, 2020)
• Teresa De Ávila (Tzadik, 2021)
• Parables (Tzadik, 2021)
• New Masada Quartet (Tzadik, 2021)
• John Zorn’s Bagatelles Vol.10 (Tzadik, 2022)
• A Garden Of Forking Paths (Tzadik, 2022)
• Incerto (Tzadik, 2022)
• New Masada Quartet Volume Two (Tzadik, 2023)
• Multiplicities II (Tzadik, 2023)
• Quatrain (Tzadik, 2023)
• Full Fathom Five (Tzadik, 2023)
• Homenaje A Remedios Varo (Tzadik, 2023)
• Nothing Is As Real As Nothing (Tzadik, 2023)
• Her Melodious Lay (Tzadik, 2024)
• Lamentations (Tzadik, 2024)
• New Masada Quartet, Vol. 3 (Tzadik, 2024)

With others

• Terri Lyne Carrington, More to Say (E1, 2009)
• Nels Cline, Lovers (Blue Note, 2016)
• Nels Cline, Currents, Constellations (Blue Note, 2018)
• Kris Davis, Duopoly (Pyroclastic, 2016)
• Virgil Donati, Ruination (Gildon Music, 2019)
• Dave Douglas, Uplift Twelve Pieces for Positive Action (Greenleaf Music, 2018)
• Taylor Eigsti, Lucky to Be Me (Concord Jazz, 2006)
• Taylor Eigsti, Let It Come to You (Concord Jazz, 2008)
• David Grisman, Dawg Duos (Acoustic Disc, 1999)
• Eric Harland, Voyager: Live by Night (Space Time, 2011)
• Eric Harland, Vipassana (GSI, 2014)
• Jesse Harris, No Wrong No Right (Dangerbird, 2015)
• Charles Lloyd, 8: Kindred Spirits (Live from the Lobero) (Blue Note, 2020)
• Charles Lloyd, Trios: Sacred Thread (Blue Note, 2022)
• Sophie Milman, in the Moonlight (E1, 2011)
• Yoko Ono, Take Me to the Land of Hell (Chimera Music, 2013)
• Dayna Stephens, Today Is Tomorrow (Criss Cross, 2012)
• Dayna Stephens, Peace (Sunnyside, 2014)

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. Peacock, Tim. (March 17, 2021). "Guitar Virtuoso Julian Lage Signs To Blue Note, Announces New Album, 'Squint'".
2. "AS IT WERE". American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
3. TAYLOR, DAN. (2022-09-21). "Jazz guitarist Julian Lage returns to Sonoma County with new album, live concert".
4. Gilbert, Andrew. (2024-01-16). "Catching Up with Julian Lage {{!}} KQED".
5. (3 August 2023). "'A cycle of love and curiosity': Julian Lage's lifetime of inspiration from his elders and peers".
6. (1 February 2018). "Julian Lage's Modern Lore".
7. Deluke, RJ. (2009-03-23). "Julian Lage: Stepping Into the Limelight".
8. "Stanford Jazz Festival, Jazz Camp & Jazz Residency: A swinging success!".
9. "Julian Lage's Modern Lore".
10. Nastos, Michael. "Sounding Point: Review".
11. Fordham, John. (2009-05-01). "Julian Lage: Sounding Point".
12. Henderson, Alex. "Gladwell: Review".
13. Alkyer, Frank. (2011-05-01). "Julian Lage Group, Gladwell".
14. Chinen, Nate. (2011-05-02). "Julian Lage "Gladwell"".
15. Gilbert, Andrew. (2011-04-22). "Noisy Neighbors, New sounds from close to home".
16. (April 13, 2016). "Jazz Guitarist Julian Lage On 'Arclight' And Shifting Musical Genres".
17. Perlmutter, Adam. (2018-02-24). "Julian Lage at 30: A Visit in San Francisco With the Jazz Guitar Phenomenon".
18. "Julian Lage".
19. Todd, Nate. (April 9, 2021). "Julian Lage Shares 'Boo's Blues' Single". [[JamBase]].
20. Feibel, Adam. (June 27, 2022). "Julian Lage teams up with Bill Frisell on new album View With a Room". Jazz.FM91.
21. Major, Michael. (June 21, 2022). "Julian Lage Announces New Album With Bill Frisell & Shares First Song". [[BroadwayWorld]].
22. Schube, Will. (July 13, 2022). "Julian Lage Shares New Single 'Word For Word'". [[uDiscoverMusic]].
23. Schube, Will. (August 10, 2022). "Listen To Julian Lage's New Song 'Tributary'". [[uDiscoverMusic]].
24. Horsely, Jonathan. (August 31, 2022). "Watch Julian Lage Dial Up the Virtuosity in the Video for Playful New Single, "Chavez"". [[Guitar Player]].
25. (November 14, 2023). "Julian Lage: New Single 'Omission' Out Now; Spring 2024 Tour Announced & a Grammy Nomination for 'The Layers'".
26. (March 17, 2023). "Julian Lage Releases 'The Layers' Featuring Bill Frisell, Jorge Roeder & Dave King".
27. "Julian Lage: Live in Los Angeles".
28. "Julian Lage & Chris Eldridge - Mount Royal".
29. (10 January 2017). "Bone Collector video from Julian & Chris". Bluegrass Today.
30. Feibel, Adam. (January 17, 2024). "Julian Lage announces new album Speak to Me". Jazz.FM91.