Julian Lage is a true genius of the guitar, and nothing could be more evident of this truth than his recent Oct. 13 performance with his eponymous trio at the legendary Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village.
I attended the 8 p.m. show on the last night of Julian’s six consecutive night stint at the Vanguard, where he performed with the Julian Lage Trio, his long-time accomplices Scott Colley on bass, and Dave King on drums.
A Master of Surprises
What I love most about Julian Lage is that his playing and compositions are always full of surprises. However, if you know anything of Julian’s musical background, perhaps this should come as no surprise.
Julian Lage (born in 1987) was a child prodigy musician and was the subject of the 1996 short documentary film Jules at Eight. At 12, he performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards. At age 15, he became a faculty member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University.
After studying classical guitar at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he attended other prestigious universities, before graduating from the Berklee College of Music in 2008. The following year he released his debut album Sounding Point, which was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.
Julian’s career was off and running and has been ever since.
There have been several child prodigies over the decades who failed to carry their precocious abilities over and translate them into adult success. After great promise, they either flamed out or went in a different direction. What sets Julian apart from these others is his work ethic, musical curiosity, and a constant desire for greater excellence.
As he has matured, through his tireless dedication toward mastering vastly different musical genres from jazz to bluegrass, to classical on the guitar, and in the process becoming a prolific composer, his nascent talent has evolved into a juggernaut of consistent overflowing creativity.
The Tone Master
Welcome to the musical world of Julian Lage, where jazz meets old world Americana, bluegrass, rock and the spaces that exist between them. There are few musicians in the world who can transport you to temporal places, sonically arrest you with blurred visions of earthy landscapes, mesmerize you with stacked cascading notes that sound like fast dripping water, and then suddenly with one intentionally-placed awkward note, cut you up into uproarious laughter!
As unbelievable as this may seem, all of these aforementioned traits were evident early on during the Oct. 13 concert when Julian performed a beautiful rendition of Tributary, the first song off of his 2022 View with a Room album.
In concert and on the 2022 record, Tributary has one of the best clean guitar tones you will ever hear. With such purity in tone and his use of empty spaces between the notes, it’s an extraordinary work that exudes the radiant quality and temperament which defines Julian’s playing.
Perhaps I can best explain my feeling this way.
Imagine that you feel a beautiful out-of-body sensation of being uplifted by a strong tailwind blowing through an open corn field. Then, while taking a wild ride through the countryside on a Sunday afternoon on the open road, you are suddenly jolted by out-of-tune police sirens mixed with the droning sound of a Tibetan horn. As you enter an old western town, you continue driving past abandoned houses when you are suddenly jolted by the shriek of a blowing whistle of an owner standing by the side of his antique shop.
Such surreal and at times comical images of the imagination have been conjured by the sublimely beautiful, often clashing, but ever emotive tones coming from a Fender Telecaster wielded by a master musical craftsman and innovator who has a penchant to bend space, time, and reality with his axe.
Julian ended the night with two of his most gorgeous compositions: Emily off his 2021 Squint album, followed by Omission off his latest 2024 Speak to Me album.
Open chords, triads, pedal tones, percussive arpeggios and glissandos, mixed with the occasional out-of-tune bend, all made for a wonderful concoction of guitar goodness. During these final compositions, Julian displayed a range of expression with his instrument that even exceeded his staggering technical skills. Indeed, these are all the qualities that make Julian Lage a true musical artist. Like a painter, he paints aural landscapes with his guitar that evoke deep human emotions.
A Rare Sighting
Immediately following the Julian Lage Trio’s masterful performance, I was given clearance to enter the famous back kitchen of the Village Vanguard. It was a truly exciting moment for me when the manager quickly ushered me into this hallowed space that has been the Green Room of Legends!
That’s when I was fortunate to capture a rare sighting. I turned to my right, and unaware of my presence, the amazing Julian and his talented musicians were acting giddy, embracing each other, high fiving, ostensibly validating that even by their own high standards, this was a very special performance. Did I just witness one of the greatest guitar performances by one of the great guitarists of his generation? I very well could have.
Within a few minutes Julian caught me standing there and quickly came over and after introducing myself, we exchanged a long friendly conversation. He was super nice, and we both know some of the same musicians.
What an amazing ending to a standout performance!
Follow the Julian Lage Trio’s 2024 International World Tour and beyond at:
julianlage.com/tour
Read this article where I originally wrote it in The Village View:
Julian Lage: A True Guitar Genius Plays the Village Vanguard
Kaju Roberto is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify.