Initially drawn to Muddy Waters and the blues as well as old time acoustic guitar and bluegrass, Julian Lage started on guitar at age 5. He sat in with Carlos Santana at age 8 and by 11 was discovered by Gary Burton when he played on the Grammy Awards telecast. Lage spent his teens learning and touring with Gary Burton’s Generations and Next Generation bands, with whom he first played at the Dakota in 2005. He’s also appeared on a Grammy-nominated album by Nnenna Freelon and has long collaborated with pianist Taylor Eigsti, appearing on Eigsit’s Grammy-nominated Lucky to Be Me. Along the way he’s also performed with such modern jazz greats as Lee Konitz, Charles Lloyd, Martin Taylor, Christian McBride, Herbie Hancock, Billy Hart and the late Billy Higgins; he was a guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz in December 2005. A classical graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory and a jazz graduate of Sonoma State University, Lage is now enrolled in post-graduate classical composition studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Despite his talent and growing recognition, Lage did not rush into the studio, waiting until this spring to release Sounding Point on EmArcy. The music ranges from through-composed works and impromptu improvisations in duo and trio settings to solos journeys, covering such territory as Miles Davis’s “All Blues,” Elliott Smith’s “Alameda” and Neil Hefti ’s “Lil ’ Darlin.” “I’ve been in a position where I could have recorded an album when I was younger but was never in a rush, because I wanted to allow these compositions to grow and evolve in their own time.” says Lage. “And within the past four years, I have felt the music really take shape in the way I had always imagined. I feel grateful that there were no pressures on me to make a record until I felt it was time.”  

On Sounding Point and on his current tour, Lage leads his own band, including saxophonist Ben Roseth, cellist Aristides Rivas, bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer/percussionist Tupac Mantilla. The recording also features special guests Taylor Eigsti, Bela Fleck and mandolinist Chris Thile (Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers). “The point of this record was to express the underlying movement within the music,” says Lage. “I have an affinity for the guitar, and I’ve committed myself to being a student of the instrument. I have always been drawn to a technique that allows the music to take on a visual shape as well as a wide emotional spectrum.”  

Julian Lage plays both acoustic and electric, using a Martin D-18GE and a Linda Manzer archtop, respectively. In an interview with Stuart Nicholson for Jazz.com, he noted that his approach to music is eclectic, not bound by genre. “I think everyone in our generation is in the mood to make music that reaches a lot of people, breaks down barriers. It’s happening politically and socially, and all these kind of things all around the world. I think we’re trying to be present and do whatever is appropriate for the time.” 

And his approach to bandleading is definitely influenced by his years with Gary Burton. “I played in Gary Burton’s Quintet on and off from when I was twelve to when I was eighteen. It was important, because he was a great bandleader and I saw how important it was to him to have a band, rather than star soloists and just getting a lot of hot shots. So that's my framework. I knew that it worked and I knew that a band grew better because he had this collective group mentality rather than ‘I’m going to take that great solo that just knocks everyone off!’ I picked [my] band of people who were all great at different things. I wasn’t looking for the greatest drummer in the world, the best bassist in the world, even though to me they are and I treat them that way. I wanted people who are great at things I couldn’t provide myself.” 

I first heard Julian Lage with Gary Burton in 2005, and again with the Billy Hart Quartet at the 2006 Healdsburg Jazz Festival. He already played with the poise and artistry of a veteran, still a teenager. With the unusual instrumentation of his quintet and the eclectic excitement of his new release, Lage has moved well beyond prodigy status, into the realm of a master who promises to keep the music moving ever forward. 

The Dakota Jazz Club is located at 1010 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis; tickets available at www.dakotacooks.com or 612-332-1010. Shows at 7 and 9:30 pm on July 14; at 7 pm only on July 15th. See www.julianlage.com