Guy Strazz

Biography

Born in 1955 in the mediterranean port city of Bari, into a musical family. By age 7 he finds his passion in the guitar.    At seventeen, lured by the London music scene of the 70s, he moves to London where he plays gigs on bass, 5 night a week for two years, in his brother's band whilst honing his jazz guitar skills with George Adie from the Royal Academy of Music.  What begins as an Australian holiday, turns into Guy establishing new roots in Sydney, where he attends the NSW Conservatorium of Music. There he receives a Diploma in Jazz under Don Burrows, and quickly develops status as an emerging jazz artist, he is invited by pianist/mentor Roger Frampton, to undertake a tour of  India in 1984.  This includes several performances, including  Jazz Yatra in New Delhi and Mumbai, where Guy is exposed to Woody Shaw, Don Cherry, Henry Threadgill, Ravi Shankar and many others. He knows Shakti and Oregon, but this experience, before the term "World" was ever used, is a musical epiphany and a realisation that cross-cultural jazz is vibrant and exciting in masterful hands. Downbeat critic Ira Gitler writes that Guy has " a voice on the acoustic guitar", a comment echoed by fellow guitarist Mike Stern in 2000 when he is special guest on Guy's Frangipani album. On a lighter note, after Mr Gitler introduces Guy to Don Cherry, the trumpet legend says: "I never read critiques, Ira's cool, but most others are far off the mark, and that stuff takes you away from the music inside you" (1984). 

Collaborations

These include: Don Burrows, Vince Jones, Bruce Cale, Dale Barlow, David Jones, Steve Hunter, Sandy Evans, Slava Grigoryan, Riley Lee, Andrew Gander and Matt McMahon (Aus); Mark Atkins and Matthew Doyle (Aus Aborigenies); Furio DiCastri & Francesco D'Auria (Italy); Martin Taylor and Ike Isaacs (UK).  Ernie Watts, Don Rader, Daryl Pratt and MikeStern (US);Rodrigo Galvao (Brazil); Iwayan Balawan, Dwiki Darmawan & Ade Rudiana (Indonesia); Valanga Khosa (West Africa).  Pt Ashok Roy, Sandip Chatterjee, Adrian McNeil, Bobby Singh and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (India).

Tours

South East Asia, India, South Africa, Europe and Australasia; performing at Jazz Yatra, Melbourne Jazz Festival, Jak Jazz, Johannesburg Film Festival, Adelaide Arts Festival, Aout Jazz, Sydney Opera House, Clusone Jazz Festival in Italy, Japan Expo, Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Olympic Jazz Festival Sydney, and the Adelaide International Guitar Festival.  electro-acoustic classical

Studies

Scholarship holder PhD Music Macquarie University
MA (Hons) by research University Western Sydney.
B.Mus composition AIM with Brian Chat Po Ku (Hong Kong)
Diploma Jazz Studies NSW Conservatorium of Music
Classical guitar with John Della Torre and Greg Pickler
Indian classical music with Pt. Ashok Roy
Jazz guitar lessons with George Adie, George Golla, Pat Martino and Mike Stern
Studies in chromaticism Charlie Banacos (Boston)
guest lecturer at several universities in Australia. Teaching & Education. 

Miscellaneous

2009-2012 PhD An Inquiry into Improvisation

2012 Published in TWANG, a book about the history of the guitar in Australasia

2008  CD 2@1 receives an AIR Nomination for Best Jazz Release. 

2006 CD Calcutta Express is Finalist in the US IAP.   

 APRA Nominations in 1999 and 2004 and Jazz APRA Award in 2000. 

2001-03.  Australia Council Music Fellowship. He is also the recipient of several OzCo grants.  

Current bands

 Guy Strazz Quartet and Passionfruit Trio