Educators

Jamie Findlay

Guitar • Bass

Biography

Originally from Seattle, Washington, Jamie is one of the masters of contemporary acoustic guitar. With three CD’s under his own name, “Wings of Light,” “Amigos del Corazón,’ and “Reflections” Jamie is a very busy performer and composer, both in the States and abroad. His music is flavored by many styles from jazz and blues to pop and funk. More recently, Jamie has helped form the Acoustic Jazz Quartet, an L.A. based jazz band that features Jamie’s compositions. Their first Naxos Jazz release was distributed worldwide in April, ’99, and a second Acoustic Jazz Quartet “Organic” released in 2001. In 2002 Jamie formed a guitar duo with Duck Baker, and the pair recorded an adventurous and critically acclaimed record of jazz guitar duos titled “Out of the Past”. Jamie continues to perform solo as well.

Education

He has three DVD’s published, two instructional DVD’s out with Hal Leonard Publishing, “Acoustic Fingerpicking” and “Acoustic Guitar Soloing,” and one concert DVD from the “Open Strings” Festival from Osnabrück, Germany, distributed in the states by Mel Bay. He’s written eight books; one featuring his own compositions from the Acoustic Music Records “Amigos del Corazón,” a book of fingerstyle arrangements of jazz standards, a book on harmonic technique, one on Chord Shapes for Hal Leonard, and a series of arrangement books for Solo Guitar; Miles Davis, Standards, Broadway, and Christmas Classics, and was part of the faculty of Musicians Institute in Hollywood for over 30 years, and USC for 7 years.

Jamie contributes to several guitar magazines throughout the world, has taught Jazz Guitar at the University of Southern California and Musicians Institute in Hollywood, Ca. At the Summer NAMM show in Nashville, he was the host for Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s “Acoustic Magic” event at Cafe Milano, and he’s been featured in Chitarre, Italy’s premier guitar magazine as well as Acoustic Guitar in Germany and the US. Jamie is currently preparing material for three new solo records, one on material from the Beatles, one on “Folk Remedies”, and one featuring original material. Since the 80’s, an impressive personal career has been developed, with travel and performance throughout almost all parts of the United States, as well as to Asia and Central America, Brazil, and eight tours of Europe, performing and giving clinics.

Partial Discography

Wings of Light (Acoustic Music Records, Germany)
Amigos del Corazón (Acoustic Music Records, Germany)
Acoustic Jazz Quartet (Naxos Jazz)
Organic – Acoustic Jazz Quartet (Origin)
Tierney Sutton Unsung Heros (Telarc)
Out of the Past with Duck Baker (Day Job Records)
Steve Huffsteter Big Band, Live at Café 322 (SH Records)
Reflections – Jamie Findlay, Solo Guitar (TribalGlobal Records)
This Moment To Be Free – Cris Barber (37 Records)
question marks – élena (élena records)

DVD/Video

Acoustic Finger Picking (Starlicks, dist. Hal Leonard)
Acoustic Guitar Soloing (Starlicks, dist. Hal Leonard)
Jamie Findlay /Woody Mann Open String Festival – Germany ’98 (Acoustic Music Records/Video)
Gathered ‘Round – Steve Huffsteter Big Band (AIXrecords)

Books Published

Jazz Standards for Fingerstyle Guitar (Hal Leonard)
Creative Chord Concepts: Open String Chord Shapes for Guitar (Hal Leonard)
Harmonics for Guitar (Hal Leonard)
Amigos del Corazón -Transcriptions for Solo Guitar (Acoustic Music Records, Germany)
Miles Davis for Solo Jazz Guitar (Hal Leonard)
Jazz Standards for Solo Guitar (Hal Leonard)
Broadway Classics for Solo Guitar (Hal Leonard)
Christmas Classics for Solo Guitar (Hal Leonard)
New Online Harmony/Theory and Eartraining Curriculum (MI Press)

Sample Work

Cal Poly Jazz Band

In an Original Performance for the Cal Poly Jazz Band Fall 2009 show, Dr. Kopplin and Jamie Findlay play Rogers and Hammersteins My Favorite Things (1959) as an Improvisational Duet tinged with the Colors of Coltrane and the Afro-Cuban Style of the Buena Vista Social Club. Pure Genius!