Jam Central Station - Mark Stefani

Mark Stefani: Bio

Mark Stefani, child of noted West Coast jazz trombonist Roy Stefani, has committed the vast majority of his life to music. He started playing guitar in 1969 and was propelled by his dad alongside Bay Area jazz guitarist Eddie Duran. Imprint accepted his initial jazz schooling while at the same time concentrating with guitarist Dave Smith, and later started his old style preparing under the direction of George Sakellariou at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. 

Stefani is an exceptionally diverse guitarist, however best noted for his expertise in the mood and blues and jazz maxims. All through his vocation, his persuasions have been guitarists George Benson, Wes Montgomery, and Kenny Burrell, jazz piano player Oscar Peterson, saxophonists Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, in addition to various legends of jazz and blues. On the acoustic guitar, Mark has amassed a collection of more than 700 instrumental old-style, mainstream, jazz, and Latin guidelines. In 1986 he started creating unique music in an assortment of styles to coordinate with his different foundation. 

Mark possesses showed music full-energy for more than 30 years, and his ability as a music mentor has been felt by top experts the world over. In 1987, his profession was highlighted in Guitar Player Magazine ("flexible style on both electric and acoustic guitars" - "an expert's touch"). In 1996, Mark and saxophonist Dennis Marcellino delivered a jazz couple CD named "An Evening To Remember," which outlined well and sold more than 40,000 duplicates that year. 

In 1997 Stefani joined his initial love of composing and craftsmanship with his long melodic foundation by planning the profoundly well-known Vision Music instructive site (www.visionmusic.com), presently more than 800 pages profound and serving the requirements of just about 4000 distinct players every day. Only one year after commencement, it had effectively gotten top magazine surveys and awards from various expert artists and teachers. 

Other than the significant exercises and moving articles, probably the best component important to jazz improvisers is the creative "Jam Central Station" page, where players approach a "virtual" band nonstop, complete with excellent beat outlines appeared on screen while the music plays. Presently there are above and beyond 100 determinations accessible. 

Not long after the JCS dispatch, Stefani started welcoming outstanding guitarists and instructors, like George Benson, Hank Garland, Jimmy Bruno, Robert Conti, Joe Giglio, Liona Boyd, Chris Standring, Steve Laury, David Tanenbaum, Joe Diorio, Henry Johnson, Wolf Marshall, Muriel Anderson, and others, to share their insight at Vision Music's "Educator Feature" page. 

These days, other than extending the site, Mark keeps occupied with performing, forming, masterminding, and educating in the Portland (OR) region. He additionally composes consistently for both Just Jazz Guitar and Jazz Improv Magazines.

Mark Stefani and his website Vision Music

Besides being a really marvelous player, Mark Stefani has one of the most comprehensive guitar teaching website on the Internet. VisionMusic.com is the 'jazz guitar central station' of the web for those who are serious guitar students. The guest faculty reads like the who's who of jazz guitar (most of whom I have already done columns on). And, the online lesson material is deep. Enough 'juicy stuff' to keep any enthusiastic disciple of the guitar busy for years to come. 

There are free lessons, articles, songs, jam tracks, and even a forum on the Vision music website. Check it out!

Mark has added a number of new features to his website recently. The Monster Guitar Solo series has been very well-received, even by top pros:

http://www.visionmusic.com/monster/guitarsolos.html

Here's the current ad in Just Jazz Guitar magazine:

http://www.visionmusic.com/justjazzguitar/newvision.html

Then there's the ongoing Good Vibes Jazz Solo series, done in the spirit of the now late Hank Garland and his historic collaboration with vibist Gary Burton:

http://www.visionmusic.com/goodvibes.html

There's a lot of great learning resources for aspiring players on that page. Also, the Guitar Talk series (six editions to date), blending vocal narratives with appropriate performance tracks:

http://www.visionmusic.com/jukebox/guitartalk.html

And finally, the entire site was recently reconstructed and the home page sports a brand new look:

http://www.visionmusic.com

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