Julian Lage

A child prodigy, guitarist Julian Lage – born in Santa Rosa, California on December 25, 1987 - was on stage jamming with Santana at the age of eight and, by 13, he was performing live at the Grammy Awards. He developed into a virtuoso player admired for his mastery of a range of styles. First shown the blues scales and taught the basics by his father, Julian Lage was performing on the Los Angeles music scene at six-years-old and, in 1997, had a documentary called Jules at Eight made about his extraordinary talent. Immersing himself in jazz and bluegrass and taking classical studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he made his first recordings on mandolin player David Grisman's album Dawg Duos in 1999. Julian Lage refrained from releasing solo material, learning his trade as a sideman for vibraphonist Gary Burton and jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, he finally released his debut solo album, Sounding Point, in 2009, which featured banjo picker Bela Fleck and Nickel Creek's Chris Thile. The album showcased Julian Lage as an Americana renaissance man, full of rootsy swing and ragtime spirit. The instrumental concept album Gladwell followed in 2011 and sought to blend classical composition with jazz improvisation. Julian Lage became inspired by Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia and recorded his first solo acoustic record, World's Fair, in 2015. Over the years, he continued to work regularly with artists such as jazz crooner Nicole Henry, Wilco's Nels Cline, and saxophonist Dayna Stephens. In 2017, Mount Royal - his collaboration with guitarist Chris Eldridge - was nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the Grammy Awards. His next studio album, Modern Lore, was released in 2018. It was followed by Love Hurts (2019) and Squint (2021), which was his first album for the Blue Note Records label. During this time, Julian Lage also began to work with avant-garde saxophonist John Zorn, appearing on over a dozen of Zorn’s albums between 2017 and 2023. In 2022, Julian Lage released View with a Room (2022), his second album for Blue Not Records. He followed that up with The Layers EP (2023) and Speaks to Me (2024), which received universal acclaim.