Just before his recent two-night stint at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, local guitarist Brian Nova brought his world-class quartet to the KNKX studios to perform music from his latest album, and to chat about the Seattle music scene's lasting influence on his career.
In particular, Nova said that without his musical mentors in Seattle, he may never have toured around the globe with jazz guitar heavyweights, Herb Ellis and Joe Pass.
From the late 1980s into the early 2000s, Nova established himself as one of the top jazz musicians in the Seattle area. His career eventually led him to California, where he toured and recorded with iconic jazz musicians for many years.
Still, with lots of family in the area, Nova never lost his ties to the Northwest. In recent years, he settled back in Seattle and quickly reclaimed his reputation as one of the master musicians in the city’s ever-evolving jazz scene.
Being back in Seattle has led Nova to revisit the lasting impact of the Emerald City on his music career. Jazz Alley, for one, is the venue where his passion for jazz guitar was born.
After spending his early years focused on playing rock and funk with friends in high school, a friend’s mother took a teenaged Nova to Jazz Alley to see the great Herb Ellis play. It was a surprising, formative moment.
“I still have a mark where my chin hit the table. I just didn't know the guitar could be played that way. I was 19. I didn't know, and I’ve been chasing after it ever since," Nova said.
As Nova embraced jazz, he found mentors eager to teach the young guitarist how to succeed in the music business in Seattle. One of the most important to Nova was pianist Primo Kim, who taught Nova "thousands of songs."
"It's all about the songs. I don't care how many chops you've got or where you studied, or any of that. If you don't know songs, you don't understand the vernacular," Nova said.
It was Nova’s mastery of that jazz vernacular that led him to befriend the great guitarist Joe Pass, and eventually perform with him throughout Europe, Canada, and the U.S. In their first meeting, he said they walked together for hours, challenging each other's knowledge of the Great American Songbook.
Ellis, who Nova saw at Jazz Alley, also become a formative guitar mentor. Nova compared learning from a rhythm master like Ellis with heavyweight boxing.
“You don't really know how much it hurts to get punched till you're in the ring with someone that actually knows how to punch. There's nowhere to hide. And that's kind of the way Herbie was. He was just a freight train,” Nova said with a smile.
In the KNKX studios with a backing trio of the nation’s first call players — pianist Shelly Berg, bassist Terry Miller and drummer Gary Novak — Nova conducted his own musical freight train through the Cole Porter classic “Love for Sale,” and the title song of his just-released album, They Say It’s Wonderful.
Nova also confessed his love of the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, covering their hit ballad “From the Beginning.” While the tune choice acknowledged Nova's rock guitar origins, the performance spotlighted Nova, and pianist Berg’s, melodic approach.
After two nights with his quartet at Jazz Alley, Nova returns to his weekly solo performances at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
Musicians:
- Brian Nova - guitar, vocals
- Shelly Berg - piano
- Terry Miller - bass
- Gary Novak - drums
Songs:
- They Say It's Wonderful (Irving Berlin)
- From the Beginning (Greg Lake)
- Love for Sale (Cole Porter)
