Artist of the Week

Steve Herberman, Artist of the Week

Published

4 years ago

October 28, 2019

JGT Newsroom

“The clarity and balance Steve gets with his right hand is amazing.” – Jim Hall, 2000

» A LITTLE ABOUT

Steve is a graduate of Berklee College Of Music and resides in the Washington DC metro area. His original composition What We Do won first place in the jazz category of the 2018. USA Songwriting Competition. Steve has produced over 50 full-length educational videos for Mike’s Masterclasses and has toured across the US and Europe performing and teaching. He is featured in the book The Great Jazz Guitarists by Scott Yanow. Steve is an endorser for Comins Guitars.

» HIS GUITAR STYLE…

Herberman favors a fingerstyle technique often applied to contrapuntal-style improvisation on his 7 string archtop guitar. His main influences are George Van Eps, Lenny Breau and Ted Greene. He is equally adept as an ensemble player, favoring the smaller configuration of the duo or the classic guitar/bass/drums format.

» BIRTHDAY

September 10 – Bethesda, Maryland

» WHERE TO FIND HIM

Steve has been a part of the fertile Washington DC jazz scene for over 30 years. His regular weekly gig is at the Tabard Inn where he is joined by either another guitarist, vocalist, bassist or pianist.

» RECORDINGS

Steve Herberman has recorded four CDs as a leader and two CD’s as co-leader; Thoughtlines (2001) Action:Reaction (2006) Ideals (2008) Between Friends (2015) A Little Closer (2018) and Counterbalance (2019.) His recordings have received wide critical acclaim in JazzTimes and Downbeat. Steve’s CD, Ideals, reached the Top 10 on the JazzWeek chart for national airplay remaining on the chart for 16 weeks. Action:Reaction, a CD of Steve’s original music, was chosen as one of the top 50 CD’s of the year by Jazz Improv magazine.