Julian Lage, John Medeski, Jorge Roeder, Kenny Wollesen

Biography

Julian Lage, John Medeski, Jorge Roeder, and Kenny Wollesen are a jazz-rooted quartet configuration built around the long-running collaborations of guitarist Julian Lage with bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Kenny Wollesen, augmented at times by keyboardist and organist John Medeski. American guitarist and composer Julian Lage was born in Santa Rosa, California, in 1987 and gained attention as a child prodigy, becoming the subject of the Oscar‑nominated short documentary Jules at Eight and performing with Carlos Santana and vibraphonist Gary Burton before his teens. By age 12–13 he appeared on the Grammy Awards telecast, and at 15 he joined the faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop and recorded with Burton, setting the stage for a career that would bridge jazz, classical, bluegrass, and roots music. Lage’s leader debut Sounding Point (2009) established him as a major new guitar voice, followed by albums such as Gladwell, Arclight, Modern Lore, and Love Hurts, which showcased a highly melodic, rhythmically agile style that draws on bebop, country swing, early rock & roll, and American folk idioms. In 2021 he signed with Blue Note Records, releasing Squint, View With a Room, The Layers, and Speak to Me, further solidifying his reputation as one of the most influential guitarists of his generation.

Peruvian-born bassist Jorge Roeder, a key member of Lage’s ensembles since at least the early 2010s, brings a deep grounding in jazz, classical, and Latin traditions; he anchored Lage’s early quintet on Gladwell and later the working trios heard on Love Hurts and subsequent tours. Drummer Kenny Wollesen, an American percussionist associated with John Zorn and the New York downtown scene, joined Lage and bassist Scott Colley on Arclight and Modern Lore, giving those albums their loose, playful but precise rhythmic drive and contributing to Lage’s move toward twangier electric textures and early rock & roll influences. Keyboardist John Medeski, best known from the group Medeski Martin & Wood, has intersected with members of this circle through the broader avant‑jazz and improvising community, sharing affinities for groove‑based improvisation, organ‑driven textures, and genre‑blurring composition, even when not a fixed member of Lage’s regular touring trio. Collectively, the work of Lage with Roeder and Wollesen, and their occasional wider associations with figures like Medeski, exemplifies a contemporary jazz aesthetic that treats American roots music, new music, and free improvisation as a single, fluid language, influencing a younger generation of guitarists and improvisers who look to this group’s recordings as models of lyricism, interplay, and modern guitar‑trio design.

Fun Facts

• Julian Lage was the subject of an Oscar‑nominated documentary short, Jules at Eight, which chronicled his life and playing when he was only eight years old.
• Before he turned 10, Lage had already performed onstage with Carlos Santana and Gary Burton, placing him in professional settings typically reserved for established artists.
• At around 12–13 years old, Lage performed at the Grammy Awards in a youth jazz band, a moment that directly led to his mentorship and subsequent recordings with Gary Burton.
• Lage has said he rarely transcribes solos note‑for‑note; instead, he prefers to internalize the spirit and phrasing of his favorite players, having only fully transcribed two solos in his life according to a JazzTimes profile.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Gary Burton - Vibraphonist and educator who discovered Lage after his Grammy telecast appearance, mentored him, hired him for the Gary Burton Quartet, and featured him on multiple albums and high‑profile concerts including TED with Herbie Hancock. (Albums with Gary Burton beginning in 2003 (e.g., Generations and subsequent Burton projects) and live performances including the TED Conference appearance.) [Early 2000s–late 2000s]
• David Grisman - Newgrass and ‘Dawg music’ pioneer who gave Lage one of his first commercial recording opportunities and modeled a synthesis of bluegrass, jazz, and acoustic music. (Lage’s commercial‑recording debut on Grisman’s 1999 album Dawg Duos.) [Late 1990s–early 2000s]
• Carlos Santana - Legendary guitarist with whom a young Julian Lage performed, offering early exposure to high‑level professional performance and Latin rock influences. (Live performances when Lage was around eight years old, preceding his formal recording career.) [Mid‑1990s]
• Herbie Hancock - Jazz pianist who performed with Lage in a high‑profile concert context alongside Gary Burton, reinforcing Lage’s early entry into the top tier of jazz performance. (TED Conference performance with Gary Burton’s group featuring Herbie Hancock.) [Early 2000s]

Key Collaborators

• Jorge Roeder - Bassist who became one of Lage’s core rhythm‑section partners in both quintet and trio settings, known for flexible groove and melodic support. (Member of the quintet on Gladwell (2011) and later part of Lage’s trio on albums such as Love Hurts and subsequent tours.) [2011–present]
• Kenny Wollesen - Drummer who helped define the sound of Lage’s early electric trios with a loose, swinging, and rock‑inflected feel. (Drummer on Arclight (2016) and Modern Lore (2018), part of Lage’s trio with bassist Scott Colley.) [2016–2018 (and associated touring)]
• Scott Colley - Bassist in Lage’s earlier electric trio, pairing with Wollesen to provide a deep, earthy rhythmic foundation. (Arclight and Modern Lore as trio recordings with Lage and Wollesen.) [2016–2018]
• Chris Eldridge - Progressive bluegrass guitarist who partnered with Lage in acoustic guitar duos exploring bluegrass, folk, and jazz standards. (Duo albums Avalon (2014) and Mount Royal (2017), the latter Grammy‑nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.) [2014–2017]
• Nels Cline - Guitarist who collaborated with Lage in duo and quartet settings, bridging avant‑garde, rock, and jazz aesthetics. (Duo album Room (2014); Lage also joined Cline’s group on Lovers (2016) and Currents, Constellations (2018).) [Mid‑2010s–late 2010s]
• Fred Hersch - Pianist with whom Lage recorded an intimate duo album emphasizing lyrical interaction. (Duo album Free Flying (2013) on Palmetto Records.) [Early 2010s]
• Eric Harland - Drummer and bandleader whose group Voyager featured Lage, allowing him to experiment with effects and looping in a more expansive ensemble. (Performances and recordings with Harland’s band Voyager, where Lage used looping and electronic textures.) [Early–mid 2010s]
• John Zorn - Composer and saxophonist associated with the downtown New York scene; Lage has appeared in his projects and at his venue The Stone, as has Kenny Wollesen. (‘Skronky’ live sets with Zorn and a residency at Zorn’s venue The Stone, plus various recording sessions.) [2010s]
• Charles Lloyd - Saxophonist with whom Lage has recorded and performed, further broadening his exposure within modern jazz. (Collaborative work with Lloyd’s ensembles (Lage is credited on Lloyd projects as a guest guitarist).) [2010s–2020s]

Artists Influenced

• Younger contemporary jazz and acoustic guitarists - Lage’s blend of prodigious technique, genre‑fluid repertoire, and melodic focus is widely cited in criticism as a model for emerging guitarists, positioning him as an alternative to the dominant post‑Rosenwinkel harmonic style. (Albums such as Sounding Point, Arclight, Modern Lore, and Squint serve as reference points for modern jazz and roots‑inflected guitar playing.) [2010s–present]

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia