Jonathan S. Blues Guitar

Meet Jonathan, King of the Blues

Look out B. B. King. B&B officially has its very own resident “King of the Blues.” Jonathan Sloane is not only B&B’s newest all-star instructor, but he’s also winner of the Guitar Center’s 2011 Washington regional “King of the Blues” competition. And as a guitar instructor well-versed on teaching students how to read music notation, build chords, play scales, and learn rock and blues progressions, we couldn’t have asked for a better addition to the B&B team!

But if you think Jonathan’s only into Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, think again. He’s also plays lead guitar for Yellow Dubmarine, a reggae/dub Beatles tribute band that’s toured extensively throughout Canada and the U.S. The group, which also includes B&B’s own Robbie Cooper on drums, has even opened for the Wailers, Burning Spear, and Sonny Landreth. The band recently released their first recorded album, “Abbey Dub,” an imaginative interpretation of the Beatle’s classic, “Abbey Road.” To hear a few tracks from the album, check out their Web site: http://yellowdubmarine.com/

And then, be sure to take a look at Jonathan’s B&B teacher’s profile to see all of the other cool projects he’s been working on. If you’ve been thinking about guitar lessons for your child, he may just be the perfect teacher for you. After all, who better to teach students how to play guitar than the king?

It’s not easy to keep a group of jazz musicians together for long periods of time. This is too bad because the beauty of jazz is the interplay between the performers. As musicians grow together, they develop a sixth sense for which direction their band members will go. One group that has been together for over 15 years is the Unified Jazz Ensemble, or UJE.

The UJE is led by Mike Noonan, a versatile musician who can be seen playing the piano, vibraphone or even the trombone. He is joined by bassist John Pineda and drummer Dominic Smith. Their bios speak for themselves:

http://www.unifiedjazz.com/

In addition to being very busy as performing musicians, the UFE is also a group of dedicated educators and have recently teamed up with B&B Music Lessons. Their main goal in any teaching environment is to present jazz in an enlightening and engaging manner. Judging by their accomplishments in the world of pedagogy, they have more than met this goal.

Check out their web site and their music. This is the way a jazz group should sound after having performed together for so many years!

We were thrilled to have Scott with us on the bandstand last night at Sala Thai on U Street.  Scott is a great drum instructor who has been working with B&B for over two years.   I’ve been hoping to perform with him and finally had the opportunity last night.

Our weekly Saturday night gig at Sala Thai is a guitar trio, composed of guitar, bass and drums.  When we had a last minute need for a replacement drummer, I quickly called Scott.  He is versatile and can play jazz, R&B, Bossa Nova and Funk which is great for this band.  Needless to say he impressed us and will be with us next Saturday as well!

Scott began his jazz education at the University of Maine at Augusta in 1989 under David Dempsey, who has been running the jazz program at William Paterson University for over 10 years running. Scott received his Bachelor of Arts in Jazz and Contemporary Music from the University of Maine in 1993. He then moved to New York City to continue his career in music in 1994. He played with Ben Street, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Chris Potter, Ben Monder and was studying with Milford Graves, the avant-garde drummer that played and recorded many times with Cecil Taylor.

Scott currently resides in Northern Virginia where he teaches drums and is raising his two beautiful children.

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SNAP! is a rock band from the DC area who has been garnering increasing popularity as they continue to develop their sound.  From their first performance at a B&B recital, in which they stole the show with an amazing rendition of “Sweet Home Alabama“, SNAP! has continued to ‘wow’ local audiences. Their pristine vocal harmonies and crisp rhythms are a tribute to the fact that these girls have been a tightly knit unit for years.

The guitar is one of the most popular modern day instruments thanks to the advent of Rock and Roll and it’s myriad of hero’s such as Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen and Eddie Van Halen.  Of course it’s history began much earlier than MTV or the Rolling Stones.

As a stringed instrument, the guitar evolved from the lute and vihuela.  It took some time for the guitar to be considered a ‘legitimate’ instrument in the classical world.  The first ‘golden age’ of the guitar was in the late 1700’s and was made popular by composers such as Mauro Giuliani and Fernando Sor.  Andres Segovia was very helpful in bringing the guitar to the forefront of the musical world.

There are many ways to play the guitar, with styles ranging from rock, jazz, blues, classical, brazilian, funk, soul and country.  Performers can use a pick or their fingers.