SHORT AUDIO CLIPS FROM THE ALBUM
GUITARS ON LIFE (2026)
This recording captures Jack West and Walter Strauss in a duo format, both playing steel string acoustic guitar, with no overdubs. Most of the tracks were recorded live in the studio. The album showcases West in a paired down setting where he simultaneously plays bass, chords, and percussion lines. He’s a one-man rhythm section that seriously holds it down on funky grooves like 'Double Bounce' and airs it out on rocking tunes like ‘Youth'. Perfectly complementing West’s dynamic rhythm machine, Strauss weaves expertly filigreed melodies that layer on top. West also occasionally picks up his slide to add his trademark legato slide work. While the album demonstrates innovative virtuoso guitar technique from both West & Strauss, Guitars On Life is also brimming with emotion, and the intense pleasure that emanates from the duo’s interactions tells a vivid tale about two insistently idiosyncratic artists coming together to forge an intimately conversational sound. It is as if the two guitars were querying each other on the topic of life.
SHORT AUDIO CLIPS FROM THE ALBUM
ESSENTIAL CURVATURE - DOUBLE VINYL (2026)
Between 1996 and 2003, Jack West released five remarkable albums with his evolving band Curvature. Still fresh and alluring today, each of these recordings showcases West on 6 or 8-string acoustic guitar in a small, mostly acoustic ensemble that includes instruments such as marimba, a second acoustic guitar, sax, percussion, or pedal steel. Essential Curvature is a best-of collection from the five Curvature albums. All tunes are composed by Jack West (except one he co-wrote). West's music is regularly described in the press as “stunning”, “breathtaking”, and “extraordinary”, while NPR summed up his music as “a whole new sub-genre of jazz.” But it can also be said that his music with Curvature is a new genre of American acoustic music influenced by jazz, rock, folk, and funk, in equal doses—and one that features extraordinary acoustic guitar playing.
BIG COMET HEADED FOR EARTH (1998, Remastered in 2023)
In the 1996-97 period, Curvature was a working band with a reasonably stable lineup of Jack West on 6-string acoustic guitar along with Calder Spanier on soprano and alto saxophone, Joel Davel on marimba, and Ricky Carter on percussion. West brought this group into the studio in the summer of 1997 to record what became a defining album for this new style of rhythmically complex, acoustic groove music that West was inventing. Upon first listening, most musicians will notice West’s innovative use of odd time signatures that somehow feel natural and grooving. Yet the untrained ear will have plenty to connect with as well due to the deeply melodic and emotionally rich nature of West’s compositions. Many of these tunes became staples of West’s concert repertoire. Recorded live in the studio, the improvisational interplay and youthful exuberance captured here is totally infectious. The album is also sadly of note due to the fact that Calder Spanier died shortly after the session in a car accident. He was a close friend to West, and thankfully his amazing musical skills were fully captured on this recording.
AROUND ABOUT NOW (2003)
Between As the final Curvature album in West’s catalog, this record reveals yet another side to his music. Hinting at a little more rock and jam band-influence than other Curvature recordings—while not drifting too far from West’s original acoustic groove concept—this album features West on 8-string acoustic guitar along with David Phillips on pedal steel guitar, Joel Davel on an electric marimba called the Marimba Lumina, and Darian Gray on drums. This band performed regularly in the early 2000’s, including at many high profile festivals like High Sierra Music Festival and the Atlanta Jazz Festival. And this recording definitely captures the energetic live sound of the band. West and Davel would trade off on bass duty in this configuration, giving West more territory to explore when improvising. The opening track ‘Backwards Over Bend’ became something of a calling card for the band and it features West playing bass and slide guitar simultaneously, while an electronic bow on the pedal steel vocalizes the melody.
BIG IDEAS (2001)
Produced by legendary producer Lee Townsend—known for his work with other inventive guitar explorers like Bill Frisell, Charlie Hunter, Kelly Joe Phelps, and John Scofield—this album brings out a whole new dimension in West’s music. If you have heard earlier Curvature albums, then it is not surprising to learn that only one of the 8 songs on Big Ideas is in 4/4, but the texture and feel of this recording definitely showcases Townsend’s artful production chops. Recorded mostly live in the studio to 2” analog tape, the quartet here—West on 8-string acoustic guitar with Joel Davel on marimba, Mark Summer on cello, and Scott Amendola on drums/percussion—is captured with a lush and warm analog richness. The “hauntingly beautiful” (East Bay Express) opening track, ‘This Life May Be Monitored (for Quality Assurance)’, won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for that year. Though West is heard playing occasional slide on prior albums, this album showcases his highly unique approach to slide playing on numerous tunes. “A remarkable outing of cool curves, gently sloping musical parabolas, and wondrous bends in compositional structure. With rhythm at the fore West offers unusual sound colors, fluid slide work, and percussive attack.” (Downbeat)
AS WE KNOW IT (1999)
Recorded live in the studio, this album features the guitar pairing of West on 8-string acoustic guitar and Dean Magraw on 6-string acoustic guitar, in an ensemble context with Joel Davel on marimba and Peter Valsamis on drums. West’s 8-string, which he had custom built during this period, has one string lower than a normal guitar and one string higher. This instrument is what inspired West to invent his unique style of guitar playing—where he simultaneously covers the role of bass, percussion, and guitar. And songs here like ‘Quarter Past Stockton’ and ‘Nigel’s Dream’ showcase West playing in this newly minted style. Dean Magraw’s lead acoustic guitar work throughout is endlessly creative and totally engaging, and he occasionally takes over a rhythm section role like on ‘Interaction Shift’ where West throws down one of his best improvised solos on record. The guitarists are clearly inspiring each other and the tight ensemble playing from Davel and Valsamis is palpable. Stylistically, this album veers a bit away from jazz and more toward a folk/acoustic sound due to the heavy use of acoustic guitars and no saxophone, yet there is nothing traditional or folky here: the music alternately grooves and rocks on a bed of complex rhythms in time signatures like 6/4, 5/4, and 7/4.
CONTINUUM (1996)
As the first Curvature album, this record captured Jack West’s initial experiments in creating the acoustic guitar-based, rhythmically focused style of music that brought Curvature renown. This recording features West in various small ensemble contexts that typically include 2-3 other acoustic musicians. West also loops his guitar on some tracks to create a second guitar part, the same way that he did at shows during this period, and several decades ahead of the now commonplace technique of live looping. Several tracks feature the exceptional saxophone playing of Calder Spanier, and mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshal is featured on one track as well. This recording also captured West’s early use of the slide on his acoustic guitar, as heard on the funky opener ‘Slinky’, where the improvised conversation between West’s lead slide work and the morsing (South Indian version of a Jew’s harp) is as surprising texturally as it is remarkable musically.
SOUND PULLING CURVES IN TIME (1994)
Though West made some early recordings in his youth, some with jazz violinist Jenny Scheinman, this is the earliest of his albums that is still available. The recording is West in a solo acoustic guitar format, all recorded live to 2-track tape. The music on this record is somewhere between West’s early fingerpicking influences like Leo Kotke and Michael Hedges and the more innovative acoustic groove music that he became known for with his band Curvature. While this album is not representative of the bulk of West’s recorded output to date, it is nonetheless an interesting and unusual solo acoustic guitar effort recorded early in his career.