Artist description Jesse Sulzer: Not Just Another Guitar Slinger If you haven't heard of him yet, you will. Great talent has a way of rising to the surface. When I was approached to write a bio for Jesse's website I jumped at the opportunity to help bring Jesse to a broader audience, and to introduce the world to a very gifted guitarist (and one heck of a nice guy). Jesse was born April 15, 1984 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Raised in a house with guitars always laying about (his dad was a frustrated picker), Jesse heard music early and often. As a youngster he would pluck at the strings, but didn't really start tinkering with the guitar until the age of twelve. When he was fourteen, Jesse became truly dedicated to the guitar, and proved a quick study. "I've never seen anyone with a more natural gift for the guitar. I'd show Jess a chord progression, and he'd improve on it. I'd play some riff, and he'd play it right back, embellishing it. Within the space of a couple of years Jesse covered everything I had learned in twenty-five years of playing, and just kept on going," says Jesse's dad. Having mastered all his father could offer by way of informal lessons, Jesse set out on an intensive (if not somewhat obsessive) course of self-instruction, playing every day for hours on end, listening to and absorbing and incorporating styles from a wide variety of musical sources. Jesse was influenced early by such blues greats as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy, but was particularly drawn to the freer, more expressive approach to the guitar taken by Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. "Jesse has never had a problem getting locked into sounding like anyone else, or playing in patterns. He approaches the guitar with a sense of freedom and experimentation that I never could cultivate. I guess some have it and some don't," offers Jesse's dad. Jesse definitely has "it". There is a line in the movie "Crossroads", something to the effect of every good bluesman having a duty to "take the blues to a new place". Jesse seems committed to this proposition, and is more than capable of making the journey. The occasion of Jesse's first public appearance was an open party for his sixteenth birthday at Tequila & Peppers in Mandeville, Louisiana. Fronting a band consisting mostly of his dad's friends and musical acquaintances, Jesse discovered the magic of performing live, drawing inspiration and emotion from an appreciative audience and giving them back even more in return. He was hooked. Next came several high school benefits, where most of the other bands offered typical teenage punk-angst-slash and burn fare. Jesse won over the crowds with his own original material, as well as his versions of such guitar classics as Red House and All Along the Watchtower, sending the young audiences into frenzied applause playing with his teeth or behind his back. The fact that he could truly captivate an audience while playing his style of music was a powerful and fortunate lesson for Jesse to learn at such an early age, and has helped Jesse stay true to his considerable musical instincts. Since these rather humble beginnings, Jesse has entertained crowds at such venues as "The Parish" House of Blues, the Maple Leaf and Howlin' Wolf in New Orleans, Ruby's Roadhouse and the TapRoom on the Northshore, the Varsity in Baton Rouge, as well as various clubs and festivals around Louisiana. Jesse has shared the stage with such notables as Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, the Batiste Brothers, progressive pop-rock band "beatin path", the Benjy Davis Group, the Usual Suspects and Soul Revival, among others. His fluid playing style and intuitive improvisational skills allow Jesse to plug seamlessly into virtually any musical genre, from straight-on blues to rock, pop, soul and everything in between. In light of his proficiency with the instrument, it might be easy to think of Jesse as just another member in the ranks of young guitar slingers such as Kenny Wayne Shepard and Johnny Lang. In truth, such facile classification would do a disservice to the depth and substance of Jesse's music. Although more than comfortable as a guitar showman, Jesse writes and arranges songs which blur the lines between musical styles, and plays with an intensity and honesty that set him apart from other hotshot guitarists. And, while Jesse's roots may be in the blues, his music transcends the traditional narrow definition of "blues" music. Jesse's songwriting is just as likely to reflect James Taylor or Lyle Lovett as Eric Clapton or the Allman Brothers. Still, at the heart of it all, is the guitar. Jesse's dad, with unabashed pride, summed it up thusly: "Listening to Jesse play you hear the influences of Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Duane Allman and other guitar greats, but mostly what you hear is pure Jesse. That's the best part." Yes, it is.

Location New Orleans, Louisiana - USA

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