One of the world’s greatest guitarists is coming to Sydney.
Julian Lage, widely considered one of the best current guitarists by critics and colleagues alike, will perform at Sydney’s City Recital Hall on Thursday, September 17th (see full details below), in what’s sure to be an unmissable show.
Born in California and now based in New York City, Lage began his musical career at a very young age. The musician has since earned five Grammy nominations, including a nod for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for 2024’s acclaimed Speak to Me, as well as one Independent Music Award.
A keen collaborator, Lage has worked with such fellow musical heavyweights as Gary Burton, Yoko Ono, Jim Hall, John Zorn, and many more throughout his distinguished career.
On his first-ever tour of Australia, Lage is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his beloved 2015 solo acoustic album World’s Fair, which he recorded using a 1939 Martin 000-18.
The landmark anniversary is also being marked with a special vinyl release and an accompanying songbook.
Most recently, Lage released Scenes From Above earlier this year, a new collaborative album featuring keyboardist John Medeski, bassist Jorge Roeder, and drummer Kenny Wollesen.
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Scenes From Above was a wonderful showcase of the quartet’s dynamic interplay and impressive improvisation, and earned positive reviews from critics.
The Arts Desk hailed Scenes From Above as Lage’s best album since 2018, writing that “[t]he strength of Scenes From Above is that every track develops and really goes somewhere, in a way that the previous Blue Note album, the bitty Speak to Me, also produced by Joe Henry, essentially lacked. And don’t be put off by the new album’s inexplicably gloomy cover.
“Lage was born on Christmas Day, he was ‘spotted’ by Gary Burton when he was just 12 years old; it has never been any kind of secret that he is very special. But the listening ethos, the teamwork and the flow of Scenes From Above hopefully show him entering a new phase. It is a very classy album indeed,” the review concluded.
Julian Lage is playing City Recital Hall on Thursday, September 17th. Tickets are available here.
