N.Y. touring guitarist, composer, and educator, Joshua Breakstone and his Trio make a rare appearance playing the music of Jazz Drum Legend, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. On Bass is stand-out Mike Gurrola, and on Drums is the legendary Roy McCurdy. The Trio will play favorites from a vast selection of Modern Jazz Be-Bop, Hard Bop, and Cool Jazz music.
Guitarist Joshua Breakstone plays clean, fiery, up-tempo lines, is a first rate improvisor, and plays sensitive ballads with great finesse. Joshua began playing guitar at the age of 14, and was exposed to Broadway Show music and the N.Y. Philharmonic Orchestra by his musical parents. Breakstone worked at Fillmore East where he heard and admired artists like Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa. Joshua was heavily influenced by the music and playing of Jazz greats Lee Morgan, Charlie Parker, and Clifford Brown, and emulated their styles in his playing. Breakstone studied in Manhattan with musician Sal Salvador, received a degree at the New College of the University South Florida and the Berklee College of Music, did graduate studies at N.Y.U., and taught at the Rhode Island Conservatory of Music. Joshua has made over 20 recordings in the last 40 years, and has played guitar for 50 years. Breakstone has worked with Jazz legends Tommy Flannigan, Barry Harris, Kenny Barron, Pepper Adams, Jimmy Knepper, Joanne Brackeen, Cecil McBee, Billy Hart, Lew Tabackin, Eliot Zigmund, Keith Copeland, Al Harewood, Ray Drummond, Jack McDuff, Kenny Washington, Dennis Irwin, Herb Ellis, Mike Richmond, Warne Marsh, Emily Remler and others. Joshua’s other music influences include Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Raney, Tal Farlow, Charlie Christian, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, John Scofield, Irving Berlin, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Pearson, and Japanese music.
Bassist Mike Gurrola is in the lineage of Bass greats Ray Brown and John Clayton. As a high schooler, Mike received the first Ray Brown Scholarship through the L.A. County High School For The Arts Program, mentored by Ray Brown protege, John Clayton, and also studied at the Colburn School of Music. Mike has worked with Jazz artists Eric Reed, Mary Stallings, Jeff Hamilton, Houston Person, Benny Green, Larry Goldings, Ralph Moore, Willie Jones III, Harry Allen, Jane Monheit, Kenny Burrell, and Roy McCurdy and Teri Lyne Carrington. As a young player, Mike plays with a mature musicianship like that of a professional veteran, and supports the harmonic and melodic creativity of the other musicians, playing musical notes and rhythms that propel the band onward and upward with strength, humility, respect and even humor. Gurrola won competitions performing at the Berklee School of Music and the Monterey Jazz Festival with the Monterey Jazz Festival Next Generation Orchestra and also performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Kennedy Center. Mike is a bassist who swings with creative ease making him a first call bassist in both L.A. and N.Y.
Drum legend, Roy McCurdy, has been a vibrant performer on the Jazz scene for over 6 decades. Roy studied at the Eastman School of Music and began playing professionally at the age of 16. Roy has played with 100’s of Jazz artists like the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Sextet, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, Betty Carter, Bobby Timmons, Roy Eldridge, Eddie Vinson, The Mangione Brothers, and for over 10 years with Cannonball Adderley’s Quintet. Roy’s influences include drummers Louie Bellson, Shelley Manne, Sam Woodyard, Buddy Rich, Papa Jo Jones, Philly Joe Jones, and the bands of Duke Ellington, Jimmy Lunceford, and Lionel Hampton. Roy teaches at both U.S.C.’s Thornton School of Music and the Pasadena Conservatory. McCurdy appeared on 25 of Cannonball and Nat Adderley’s recordings, and has played on over 50 recordings of dozens of artists. Roy McCurdy has worked in the NBC studios, both live and in movies, and has played and toured with over 60 different jazz groups.
