Jeremy Sagala

Guitarist and Composer Dr. Jeremy Sagala (b. 1974, USA) is an unusually versatile and experienced musician, with expertise in styles from jazz, fusion and rock, to contemporary composition and electronic sound design. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music (with Magna Cum Laude Honors), the Boston Conservatory and The University of Buffalo.  He earned his doctorate in 2006 from Brandeis University. He has over 40 years experience as a guitarist, and over 20 years of professional musical teaching experience.  Both as a guitarist and composer, his music has been played throughout the USA, Germany, Australia and Japan.  Jeremy has presented numerous workshops and courses throughout his career, particularly focusing on improvisation and new music.

The New York Times described his musical language as „rugged but not harsh, and the timbres and gestures he used here–bent pitches, quarter tones, juxtapositions of introspection and explosiveness–yielded an undeniably dramatic sound world„. Others have described his approach as „incredibly elegant“ with „gorgeous pitches and lovely orchestration„. He currently leads his own jazz trio (Jeremy Sagala Trio, or JST) for which he composes and performs.

As a multi-instrumentalist (he also plays bass, drums and keyboard), he draws influences from a wide variety of players, not just guitarists. He says: “I listen to a lot of drummers, I love great rhythm ideas. Jack Dejohnette has been very influential in my musical life.  ‚Pictures‘ is a strange but wonderful album of his, so musical and so spiritual.  Coltrane has been with me during my entire musical journey, where he went with music is on a whole different level.”

When asked to sum up his musical approach, he responds “I believe in being a musician before a guitarist.  It means that the impulse to express something is for me a basic necessity, wanting to come out through some medium.  In recent years I find that improvisation within a small group context gives the most freedom when expressing this kind of unspoken sharing of an artistic vision. It’s what I Iove most playing with the guys in JST”.