Gary Wittner

Gary Wittner first got turned on to jazz when he heard the Herb Ellis/Joe Pass album Seven Come Eleven. But the singular event which contributed most to the direction Wittner's career has taken was the Thelonious Monk recording of "Monk's Blues." Since then, Wittner has spent a major portion of his jazz career promoting Monk's music through performances, lectures, and teaching and has become one of the country's leading Monk experts. Wittnef put on his first all-Monk concert in Colorado in 1982. Sharing the performing platform with Clark Terry, he performed an all-Monk program at the 1994 International Association of Jazz Educators Convention. Wittner has carried his cause to Europe. He has appeared at the 1989 USA Days in St. Petersburg, Russia and at the 1994 Leeds International Music Festival in England. Over the years in his endeavor to proselytize the music of his favorite jazz figure, Wittner has worked with the likes of Richard Davis, Eddie Gomez, and Reggie Workman. In 1999, Roadway, Wittner's first album on the Invisible Music label, was released. It includes not only Monk compositions, but Wittner originals as well. The album is enhanced significantly by the presence of Howard Johnson playing tuba and contrabass clarinet, making this session a unique, lasting listening experience. Wittner has also produced a book of transcriptions, Thelonious Monk for Guitar, which has been published internationally. He continues to advance the music of Monk and jazz music in general, through solo jazz gigs at jazz clubs, festivals and at lectures up and down the East Coast, in Canada, and in Europe.