Juber will host birthday bash at McCabes

 Laurence Juber invites fans to his 60th birthday celebration this week at McCabes

Grammy artist Laurence Juber will celebrate a milestone in grand style with a birthday bash at a SoCal institution.

Family, friends, fans and well-wishers are invited to join Juber help ring in his 60^th birthday with a concert performance set for 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, 2012, at McCabes Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, Calif. Tickets are $20.

“I always look forward to my annual McCabes gig. I celebrate my birthday as the anniversary of first picking up the guitar,” says Juber. “I can’t imagine a more appropriate place to play than this legendary guitar store and concert venue.”

The former Wings lead guitarist and virtuoso just may be the busiest man in the music industry. In addition to recently playing a part on tribute albums to Bob Dylan and Linda McCartney, Juber performs almost 100 dates a year, has regular session work, conducts professional workshops, performs on soundtracks for feature films and television. His latest effort, “Soul of Light,” was released this past April. Early 2013 will see the release of two new projects: “Under An Indigo Sky” showcases the jazz/blues 'Noir' side of his playing; “Catch LJ Live” is a concert set CD/DVD combo.

A world-class guitar virtuoso solo artist, composer and arranger, Juber fuses folk, jazz, and pop styles and creates a dynamic multi-faceted performance that belies the use of only one instrument. As a studio musician, he can be heard on recent albums from artists as diverse as Barry Manilow, Donovan, Al Stewart and Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks. He is also featured on the soundtracks to hundreds of TV shows and movies including the Academy Award-winning “Good Will Hunting”, the James Bond thriller “The Spy Who Love Me”, the 1987 smash “Dirty Dancing” and most recently, “The Muppets”. He is also featured on the new Paul Williams digital single “Still Alive”, from the documentary film of the same name.

Known to his fans as ‘LJ’, Juber has released 20 acclaimed solo albums. His celebrated arranging skills are featured on two volumes of LJPlays The Beatles, the first of which was voted among the all-time top ten acoustic guitar records. Juber says fans never tire of hearing him play their songs and he remains endlessly fascinated by their catalog.

"Every time I hear a Beatles record I gain a new appreciation for them," Juber said. "Above and beyond the analytical part of it and creating the arrangements, when I start deconstructing Beatles songs, I find unexpected things. I can never listen to a Beatles record twice and hear exactly the same thing. There’s always something that I’ve missed, or a new discovery where you say, 'Wow, what was that little guitar lick?' Or the way in which the backing vocals come in…there’s always something new to discover in their work."

If you go:

What: Laurence Juber

Where: McCabes Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10

Information: 310-828-8037 or www.mccabes.com

Guitarmania to Beatlemania featuring Laurence Juber

Grammy guitarist Laurence Juber

The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) and C. F. Martin & Co. are proud to present in August “Guitarmania to Beatlemania: The Evolution of the Acoustic Guitar,” featuring renowned Grammy Award-winning guitarist Laurence Juber. 

The show begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, at the MIM Music Theater, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. Tickets range from $22.50 to $27.50 and can be purchased by calling 480.478.6000, visiting online at theMIM.org or visiting the MIM Ticket Office.

Acoustic guitar aficionados are in for a rare treat during an evening that will showcase one of America’s favorite instruments and feature a concert performance by a true guitar virtuoso. Presented by Dick Boak, Martin’s museum director and archivist, Juber will discuss his work composing, recording, and performing as the lead guitarist with Paul McCartney in his band Wings and Juber’s own successful solo career. 

LJ plays the Beatles' "Drive My Car"

“The Beatles inspired me play guitar. Martin build the guitar that I am inspired to play and it’s an honor that this historic company make my signature instrument,” Juber said. “I’ll look forward to performing my concert set at MIM and accompanying Dick Boak as he explores the history of the C.F.Martin company and of the acoustic guitar in America.” 

Juber embarked on a career as a solo artist, composer, and arranger after years spent playing lead guitar with Paul McCartney and Wings. Juber’s solo albums include "LJ Plays the Beatles", one of Acoustic Guitar magazine’s all-time top recordings. Boak, author of Martin Guitar Masterpieces and Martin Guitars: A History, is also a woodworker, draftsman, guitar designer and builder, Martin’s public relations liaison, guitarist, and is responsible for some of the most unique collaborations with top celebrity guitarists to design and build the finest instruments made at C. F. Martin & Co. 

LJ interviewed by Jim Deeming

This past April Juber released “Soul of Light” (Solid Air Records), his 20^th solo project. He recently contributed to “Chimes of Freedom”, an Amnesty International benefit disc on which he joins Seal and Jeff Beck for a version of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” Diablo 3, the latest version of the popular video game, features his music. An instructional app for the iPad is also in the works and he and his wife Hope, just inked a deal with a New York City producer bring “Gilligan’s Island: The Musical” to Broadway.

Juber closes out tour in SoCal

Two-time Grammy-Award winning guitar artist Laurence Juber will close his latest tour with a homecoming concert in Southern California.

Juber will play 8 p.m. Saturday, June 16, 2012, at Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City. Tickets are $17.50. Juber will also host a two-hour guitar workshop preceding the concert from 4 to 6 p.m. The cost is $40.

The workshop and concert appearance closes out a six-month tour, which started in January.

Known for playing lead guitar in Wings from 1978 to 1981, Juber, known as ‘LJ’, has since had a distinguished career as a solo finger-style guitarist. A world-class guitar virtuoso solo artist, composer and arranger, LJ fuses folk, jazz, and pop styles and creates a dynamic multi-faceted performance that belies the use of only one instrument. 

Laurence has released 20 acclaimed solo albums since Wings folded, including two volumes on The Beatles and one on his former group with McCartney. His latest, Soul of Light, is a retrospective collection of original compositions that span over 30 years of creative work on solo guitar. All newly recorded, some of these tunes may be familiar from being heard on TV and radio, while others have been touchstones of the solo guitar. 

“I started out as a composer for solo guitar and I’ve written well over a hundred tunes. The compositions on Soul of Light reflect a particular mood – one of romance,” Juber says. “Not only pure love songs, but also in the sense of using imagination and narrative to expand and transcend the traditional solo guitar genre. It also serves as a complement to the blues/jazz direction that my current composing and arranging is taking me.”

As a studio musician, he can be heard on recent albums from artists as diverse as Barry Manilow, Al Stewart and Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks. He is also featured on the soundtracks to hundreds of TV shows and movies including the Academy Award-winning Good Will Hunting and Dirty Dancing, the James Bond thriller The Spy Who Love Me and 2011's The Muppets.

For more information visit:

http://laurencejuber.com/

What: Laurence Juber 

Where: Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 16

Cost: $17.50

Information: 310-398-2583 or http://www.boulevardmusic.com/

Juber heads to Boulevard for next gig

Two-time Grammy-Award winning guitar artist Laurence Juber is heading to the Boulevard for his next gig.

Juber will play 8 p.m. Saturday, June 16, 2012, at Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City. Tickets are $17.50. Juber will also host a two-hour guitar workshop preceding the concert from 4 to 6 p.m. The cost is $40.

Known for playing lead guitar in Wings from 1978 to 1981, Juber, known as ‘LJ’, has since had a distinguished career as a solo finger-style guitarist. A world-class guitar virtuoso solo artist, composer and arranger, LJ fuses folk, jazz, and pop styles and creates a dynamic multi-faceted performance that belies the use of only one instrument. Laurence has released 20 acclaimed solo albums since Wings folded, including two volumes on The Beatles and one on his former group with McCartney.

His latest, Soul of Light, is a retrospective collection of original compositions that span over 30 years of creative work on solo guitar. All newly recorded, some of these tunes may be familiar from being heard on TV and radio, while others have been touchstones of the solo guitar. “I started out as a composer for solo guitar and I’ve written well over a hundred tunes. The compositions on Soul of Light reflect a particular mood – one of romance,” Juber says. “Not only pure love songs, but also in the sense of using imagination and narrative to expand and transcend the traditional solo guitar genre. It also serves as a complement to the blues/jazz direction that my current composing and arranging is taking me.”

As a studio musician, he can be heard on recent albums from artists as diverse as Barry Manilow, Al Stewart and Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks. He is also featured on the soundtracks to hundreds of TV shows and movies including the Academy Award-winning Good Will Hunting and Dirty Dancing, the James Bond thriller The Spy Who Love Me and most recently The Muppets Movie.

For more information visit: http://laurencejuber.com/

What: Laurence Juber Where: Boulevard Music, 4316 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City 
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 16 
Cost: $17.50 Information: 310-398-2583 or http://www.boulevardmusic.com/

LJ still on course and on the run

More than three decades after Wings folded, Laurence Juber is a man still on the run.

The former Wings guitarist and virtuoso just may be the busiest man in the music industry.

In addition to recently playing a part on tribute albums to Bob Dylan and Linda McCartney, Juber performs almost 100 dates a year, has regular session work, conducts professional workshops, performs on soundtracks for feature films and television and has three upcoming CD releases.

"There's always something going on. Knock on wood, I'm as busy these days as I've ever been, including my days with Wings," says the affable two-time Grammy Award-winning guitar artist.

Juber is scheduled to make an East Coast swing in early 2012 with a handful of appearances in New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

"This trip finds me playing at some new venues and making my solo Broadway debut. The jazz club ambiance of Times Square’s Iridium will no doubt encourage me to stretch out," Juber said. "I’m also looking forward to sharing the bill with Boston Blues Artist of the Year, guitar ace Johnny A, at a pair of shows at TCAN in Natick, Massachusetts. This will be my first time at New Hampshire’s excellent listening room the Tupelo Music Hall. I round out the run with an afternoon show at the Greenwich Library which I’m told has a fantastic concert hall.”

A world-class guitar virtuoso solo artist, composer and arranger, Juber fuses folk, jazz, and pop styles and creates a dynamic multi-faceted performance that belies the use of only one instrument. As a studio musician, he can be heard on recent albums from artists as diverse as Barry Manilow and Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks. He is also featured on the soundtracks to hundreds of TV shows and movies including the Academy Award-winning Good Will Hunting, the James Bond thriller The Spy Who Love Me and most recently, The Muppet Movie.

Known to his fans as LJ, Juber has released 19 acclaimed solo albums. His celebrated arranging skills are featured on two volumes of LJ Plays The Beatles, the first of which was voted among the all-time top ten acoustic guitar records. Juber says fans never tire of hearing him play their songs and he remains endlessly fascinated by their catalog.

"Every time I hear a Beatles record I gain a new appreciation for them," Juber said. "Above and beyond the analytical part of it and creating the arrangements, when I start deconstructing Beatles songs, I find unexpected things. I can never listen to a Beatles record twice and hear exactly the same thing. There’s always something that I’ve missed, or a new discovery where you say, 'Wow, what was that little guitar lick?' Or the way in which the backing vocals come in…there’s always something new to discover in their work."

For more information visit: http://laurencejuber.com/

Tour dates are as follows:
1/11 NYC - The Iridium Jazz Club
1/12 Londonderry, NH - Tupelo Music Hall
1/13 & 1/14 Natick, MA - TCAN Center for the Arts
1/15/12 Greenwich, CT - Greenwich Library


Photo credit Randi Anglin - taken at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium Nov. 2011

Ronny Cox headlines at the Cave Creek Coffee Co.

Ronny Cox, musician and noted actor, will be joined by South Carolina-born singer-songwriter-guitarist Jack Williams on stage at Cave Creek Coffee Company in Cave Creek on Saturday, Nov. 19. Ronny and Jack have collaborated musically many times in recent years, touring together on the US folk circuit and recording/producing one of Ronny’s CDs. Each will present his own music and stories in two separate sets, with Jack joining Ronny to accompany him on guitar.

While Ronny started out as a musician and has emphasized that side of his career for the past few years, he is still one of the most respected and sought-after character actors in Hollywood. Since his debut as “Drew” in John Boorman's film "Deliverance" - including playing guitar in the famous "dueling banjos" scene - Ronny has appeared in over 50 films including "Beverly Hills Cop (I & II)", "Bound for Glory", "Robo Cop", "Total Recall,” and has played the president of the U.S. at least four times (including “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue”). In his recent recording, “How I Love Them Old Songs: Ronny Cox Sings Mickey Newbury”, produced by Jack Williams, Ronny pays tribute to the music of the legendary Texas songwriter. His additional recordings, “Songs with Repercussions,” "Ronny Cox Live," "Cowboy Savant" and "Acoustic Electricity" showcase Ronny’s home grown style of folk music and the lively story-telling that goes with it. Steadily increasing his following on the U.S. folk music circuit, he has headlined at such venues as the prestigious Old Town School of Folk in Chicago, the New Bedford SummerFest, and the Kerrville Folk Festival, a favorite of Ronny’s held annually in Kerrville, Texas.

Jack Williams is well known in the contemporary U.S. folk community as a Southern singer/ songwriter/storyteller, energetic performer, and unique guitarist. He continues to tour the U.S., as he has for the past 50 years, out of his love of music and performing. Jack books an annual circuit of approximately 100 U.S. festivals, house concerts and major folk venues each year, and has been a featured performer on the stages of the Philadelphia, SummerFest, Kerrville, Boston, and Newport Folk Festivals. In addition to his US audience, Jack has also become a favorite in England, Canada and Europe.

Jack Williams’ music – original Southern-American songwriting and performance at its best - draws deeply from the eclectic well of our musical heritage. Loaded with delightful influences from his career in jazz, classical, rock, blues, country and folk, Jack’s music is an easy, natural fusion of guitar, voice, songs, and stories. His original songs celebrating the characters, attitudes and life in the American South can be found on his DVD and nine CDs released on the Wind River / Folk Era label. His album, “Don’t Let Go”, is a tribute to some of the writers and songs that had the greatest impact on his musical development.

WHAT: RONNY COX and JACK WILLIAMS in Concert

WHEN: Saturday, Nov, 19, 2011, 7:30-10:30pm

WHERE: Cave Creek Coffee Co., 6033 E. Cave Creek Road, Cave Creek

COST: $22 in advance online or $25 at the door

CONTACT: For more information call 480.488.0603 or visit www.cavecreekcoffee.com