Josh Sager Quintet - Josh Sager (guitar), Chris Sletten (sax), Jonathan Barnes (trumpet), Matt Cusack (bass), Charlie Heim (drums)
Din Within - Josh Sager, Mark Gollihur
Influences
Jazz: Scott McGill, McGill/Manring/Stevens, Wes Montgomery, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Jimmy Bruno, Pat Metheny, Bucky Pizzarelli, Jimmy Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Larry Young, Herbie Hancock, Mulgrew Miller, Woody Shaw, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Hank Mobley, Bruce Forman, Allan Holdsworth, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt, Jesse van Ruller, Lee Morgan, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter
Progressive Rock and other stuff: Rush, Spock's Beard, Alan Morse, Neal Morse, Transatlantic, King's X, Ty Tabor, Jellyfish, Opeth, Kevin Gilbert, Bjork, BT, Duane Allman, Warren Haynes, The Beatles, Living Colour, Pantera, Porcupine Tree, Fates Warning, Genesis, Kansas, Pink Floyd, Nine Inch Nails
If you want to purchase the actual CD, you can order from us here, or from
CDBaby.
About Josh
It would be a disservice to label Josh Sager strictly as a jazz or rock guitar player. His history as a musician is as diverse as it gets, and his open-mindedness and appreciation for a wide variety of music has helped to shape his unique sound and approach to writing music and playing guitar.
Josh began playing guitar over 20 years ago at the age of 12 after learning and playing saxophone and the drums. Coming from a family where his mother, father, and sister were all musical, it seemed he could not escape his musical destiny. Some of the earliest influences on his development as a guitar player and songwriter were the band Rush, popular metal music of the time, and guitar players such as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Even before playing guitar, Josh was deeply involved in the study of martial arts. To Josh, both the martial arts and guitar playing go hand-in-hand and compliment each other exceptionally well. Both require exquisite timing, sense of rhythm, and an understanding of physical, textural, and conceptual space. Still training several times a week, he is a high-ranking instructor in the Japanese martial art of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu and travels around the world to train and teach.
In recognition of his efforts and musical abilities, Josh received a partial scholarship offer from Berklee College of Music, but decided not to attend college there. He also received a second partial scholarship to Rowan University (then Glassboro State College) for classical guitar, which he accepted, as a composition major. One of the highlights from his time at college was having some of his compositions performed by Julliard alumnus ensembles.
After college, Josh began to get frustrated with the local music scene. In his own words, "It was dead and very hard to 'make it.' I was also feeling a lot of personal pressure from not being able to play as well as I wanted. I lost touch with what was really important, which was playing guitar and music because I loved it." This frustration brought on a period of withdrawal from the music scene, and lots of introspection. But, what brought him back was remembering the reason why he started playing to begin with. "I fell in love with playing again, and now I feel more connected and inspired than I ever had been."
A turning point in his musical journey was meeting current teacher and guitar great, Scott McGill. Josh met Scott in 1991 after Scott was recommended by one of his martial arts teachers at the time. During this period of lessons with Scott, Josh had fallen in love with guitar players such as Wes Montgomery, Pat Metheny, Allan Holdsworth, and Frank Gambale, so he began including some jazz in his lessons with Scott to expand his playing and composition skills.
After spending a lot of time working with Scott on refining his harmonic language and technical ability on the guitar, and being turned onto players like John McLaughlin, Pat Martino, and Jimmy Bruno, Josh decided that he wanted to concentrate more on the hard-bop/post-bop jazz styles, and to this day continues to study with Scott, "the greatest guitar player alive in my opinion."
Josh continues to pursue both studies of music and martial arts concurrently, each study influencing and enhancing the other. He is a highly accomplished artist in both senses of the word.
hey man its great to see you on here the music sounds REALLY good !! i wish we lived closer it would fun to jam . maybe sometime when you come up for a seminar we could go to my studio and record an improv .
SPREAD THE WORD! Repost :D Dr. Sketchy's is pairing up with The Peek-a-Boo Revue on December 7th, 2007! You don't want to miss this. THREE models for your drawing and viewing pleasure! Mark your calendars and get your tickets soon!
nice meeting you at the old franklin schoolhouse. man, that was an amazing show! i will send you my e-mail address and also get a copy of the music wizard show to you. take care and best wishes... also, great music you have posted! excellent playing!
Isn't it funny how when it's someone else's project, I'm on it. When it's mine...it can wait. Here I am...almost 5PM on Saturday thinking, "I have tomorrow, I'll just relax today..."
