Album Notes

Dave Askren - guitar

Mike Flick - bass

Steve Sykes - drums


Excerpts from the liner notes of "Re: Bill Evans" -

...Bill Evans' piano style on guitar...the guitar is capable of far fewer notes than the piano in a given voicing...resulting in a mimimalistic sound that still retains the overall intent and character of the original...

...the defining element of Evans¡¦style was the wonderful combination of rhythmic flexibility and swing which was heard in his own playing, and was an integral part of his trios...these musicians are familiar with the Evans tradition, while maintaining their own individuality...

...Evans showed his influences from the Romantic and Impressionistic schools of classical music with this piece, (Re Person I Knew) which consists entirely of a C pedal with a variety of shifting harmonies above...

...Time Remembered - Another Evans original, really influenced by Impressionism (Debussy and Ravel)... doesn't have a single dominant/tonic (five-one) harmonic cadence...the listener gets a feeling of floating from one tonality to the next - which also poses a unique challenge for the improvisor...

Los Angeles based guitarist Dave Askren has performed with a wide variety of artists including Bobby Shew, Bob Moses, Antonio Hart, Delfeayo Marsalis, Hendrik Muerkins, Stuart Hamm, Gray Sargent, Kevin Eubanks, Gary Foster, Tony Rizzi's "Wire Choir" with Pete Christlieb, Mike Vax, Jimmy Branly, as well as pop artists including Marilyn McCoo, Latoya Jackson, Linda Hopkins, Little Anthony, The Coasters, The Platters, The Drifters, The Marvelletes, and Brenton Wood.

Dave Askren began playing music at a young age. He grew up in a musical household, with a piano teacher/church organist mother. He had a few piano lessons and played clarinet and saxophone, but discovered the guitar as a teenager. Dave started out playing blues, rock and R&B, but credits guitarists George Benson and Pat Martino, who he saw at a local club in Ohio, with really turning him on to the jazz guitar. He soon moved to Boston, where he attended Berklee College of Music and studied privately with noted musicians such as saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi, pianist Charlie Banacos, guitarist Mick Goodrick and drummers Bob Moses and Bob Gullotti. After Graduation, Dave joined the faculty at Berklee as a guitar instructor and stayed in Boston for several years, teaching and performing up and down the East Coast before moving to Los Angeles, his current home base.