Sam First Solo Sessions | Gilad Hekselman 07.11.20

Sam First opened in October 2017, committed to showcasing the best in jazz on the Westside of Los Angeles. Two and a half years later, with your vital support, Sam First’s diverse jazz programming is five nights a week, and Sam First is established as a west coast home of this uniquely creative, joyous and progressive music.
Now, while the coronavirus requires that we live apart, Sam First is moving online to bring us back together again, with weekly performances live from musicians' homes.​ These performances are completely free and will be broadcast on our homepage.
Saturday, July 11 at 11am (PT), we will be joined by one of the most sought after musicians in today's world, guitarist ad composer, Gilad Hekselman.
Gilad Hekselman has established himself as one of the leading voices in jazz guitar. Only a few years after his arrival to NY in 2004, this native Israeli was already sharing stages with some of the greatest artists in the New York City jazz scene including Chris Potter, Eric Harland, Mark Turner, Anat Cohen, Ari Hoenig, Esperanza Spalding, Jeff Ballard, Ben Wendel, Gretchen Parlato, Avishai Cohen, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Tigran Hamasyan, Aaron Parks, Becca Stevens, John Scofield, Terri Lyne Carrington, Danilo Perez and Peter Bernstein among many others.
In May 2019, Hekselman featured his quartet at the legendary NYC venue The Village Vanguard. He has also been playing all other major jazz clubs in New York City, including the Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, Dizzy's Club and Smalls. He is constantly touring world-wide and has played most noteworthy jazz festivals and venues including Montreux, North Sea, Montreal & SFJazz to name a few.
Ask For Chaos, Gilad's most recent full length album, was released on Sep 7th, 2018 on his new label, Hexophonic Music in collaboration with Motema Music label. It features both of his new working bands: ZuperOctave (feat. Aaron Parks on piano and keys and Kush Abadey on drums) which is a bass-less band that explores electronics with the goal of keeping the music organic and flexible, and the gHex Trio (feat. Rick Rosato on bass and Jonathan Pinson on drums) which continues the classic guitar trio sound that Gilad has become known for while also bringing something fresh to the music. This record was followed by an EP named Further Chaos, released in May 2019 and featuring the same personnel.
Gilad is the recipient of several prestigious awards and recognitions. In 2017, Gilad placed first in the Rising Star category of Downbeat Magazine. That same year, he won the 7 Virtual Jazz Club international competition 2017. In 2018 Gilad was asked by guitar legend Pat Metheny to perform as part of his NEA Award ceremony at The Kennedy Center, alongside some of Metheny's other favorite young guitar players. Gilad is also the winner of the 2005 Gibson Montreux International Guitar Competition, which led to a string of performances including opening for guitar legend Paco de Lucia with his trio at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006.
It is our hope that these “sessions” will bring musical joy to you at your homes, and that they will play a small part in helping the jazz community to continue and to persevere in this disorienting time.
Please consider contributing what you can to support the musician you are watching here, as well as the musicians who were scheduled to perform live at Sam First during these days of the coronavirus. Your contribution will also be shared with the staff who sets the background for these remarkable performances. Donations can be made easily through the "Tip Jar" button at samfirstbar.com. (When you click the PayPal link on the following page, you will also have the option to pay with credit or debit card).
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR UA-cam CHANNEL in order to stay up-to-date with all our live streams and rare concert footage we will be uploading over the coming weeks. All you have to do if hit the red SUBSCRIBE button in the bottom right corner of the the live stream window.
Special thanks to DPA Microphones for the gear and the support. More information about these amazing microphones can be found by visiting: www.DPAmicropho...

[@hexo-mobius]

Undoubtedly the most underrated jazz guitarist of the 21st century. He will go down as one of the greats. His understanding of melody is beyond the understanding of most accomplished jazz musicians. He's not playing guitar, he's painting in the quantum universe of melodic tones.

[@Johaneeeek]

How is he underrated if hes known in the jazz world? People like to throw around that word

[@hexo-mobius]

@@Johaneeeek underrated in context, is directly. in reference to Mainstream music popularity in general. Not just limited to the jazz world. Hope that helps.

[@Johaneeeek]

@@hexo-mobius you can't compare jazz to mainstream music though. Most people dont care about music and just listen to what is given to them on the radio

[@hexo-mobius]

@@Johaneeeek excellent. I'm glad you have your own opinion. 👍🏼

[@PureToneAmps]

I love it....amazing feeling...

[@brandoncoventry5662]

This is absolutely incredible. Gilad is such a killer player!

[@bikergeekgd]

Amazing performance, Gilad.

[@maggle1891]

What a master

[@milko3990]

The loop starting at 23:40 is beautiful! Bravo from France! What is the effect used at 25:23? and at 26:40?

[@heidegger101]

Wow

[@ryanpetersonguitar]

17:35 I'll Be Seeing You