One of Amsterdam’s Superb Jazz Guitarists, Jesse van Ruller

Guitarist Jesse van Ruller keeps himself busy gigging around the Netherlands, Europe, and elsewhere.

Jesse has performed with some of the greatest jazz guitarists of this day, such as Pat Metheny, Jim Hall, and Peter Bernstein, to name a few.

JB:  Could you talk about what inspired you to play jazz guitar?

JVR:  After Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mark Knopfler, Queen’s Brian May, and Santana, I heard George Benson when I was about fifteen. Then Scofield, Metheny, Wes. I went from there. It was clear from the first moment that was my music.

JB:  Talk about the things you appreciated most about your musical studies at the Hilversum Conservatory.

JVR:  I had a great player as a teacher. His name was Wim Overgaauw. He was self-taught and taught me to use my ears.

JB:  To you, what are three of the most influential jazz guitar albums and why? 

 JVR:  I have no idea, but I can tell you the three albums most influential to me personally because they were the first ones I heard. It was John Scofield’s Still Warm, Pat Metheny’s Travels, Jim Hall Live, and Grant Green’s First Stand. That’s four.

 JB:  Talk about the gig that became the Live at Murphy’s Law album.

JVR:  I was contracted to record an album of Great American Songbook Standards for 55 Records in Japan. I didn’t feel like recording Standards in a studio, so I did a live recording. I play better with an audience present. So, we played two consecutive nights, and the record is a compilation of those nights.

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JB:  Tell us about your goals in making your album European Quintet.

JVR:  It was my first record. I won the Monk Competition and didn’t have a record out yet. I thought it would be a nice idea to do an album with other European musicians. The originals on the album are the first compositions I wrote. It’s so long ago, 1996, I don’t really remember much of it.

JB:  Let me ask about some of the guitarists you have performed with…

 Pat Metheny:   

JVR:  Pat did a tour in Europe where he played with European musicians. We had met at the Monk Competition years before, and I was very honored that he invited me to play with him. We played his tunes, and it was an amazing experience. He is one of the very first jazz guitarists I listened to, and of course, he is an icon. Playing with him in a duo was like playing a part in a classic movie.

Philip Catherine:  

JVR:  Philip is a very communicative player and connects very well with an audience. It was a learning experience to see that it’s really “how you play” and much less about “what you play.”  Back in those days, I needed to understand that!  This was also in the 1990s.

Peter Bernstein: 

JVR:  When I was nineteen and visiting New York, my friends and I were walking in the west village and heard music coming from the club Visiones. We went in and it was a young Peter with his organ trio with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart. At the time, it was the best music I had ever heard live, and I have been an enormous fan of Peter’s ever since. We occasionally played for many years, and after touring together this year, we are doing our second European tour as a duo in March 2025.

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Jim Hall: 

JVR:  I had the privilege to program a jazz festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and I took the opportunity to program myself with Jim Hall as a duo. I had met Jim before, and I was so happy that he agreed to come and play with me. His playing was so deep and rich. He pursued melody and never tried to impress with technique or prepared material. His recordings are still an example and an inspiration to me.

JB:  What do you appreciate most about the Gibson ES 150D and the Elferink guitars you play?  

JVR:  I first played the 150, then the Elferink guitar I played about 20 years ago. Now, I mostly play my Westville Aruba model constructed by Masaki Nishimura, a magnificent luthier in Tokyo, Japan.

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JB:  You live in the Netherlands. As a gigging musician, talk about the jazz scene in Northern Europe.

 JVR:  Everything is close by, so I play around Europe mostly. There still is a good amount of clubs and festivals, even though there used to be more.

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