Ann Arbor Guitar Trio

The Ann Arbor Guitar Trio (A2G3) was formed in 2016 with Adam Kahana and Alex Anest at the University of Michigan. Alex conceived of the original idea for the group and contacted Adam and I. Pretty shortly thereafter we started rehearsing and playing shows. The primary concept of this ensemble was exploring what the guitar can do, seeing as it was a guitar only ensemble. Initially Alex was doing all of the arranging for the group, but as time went on Adam and I started to contribute some arrangements as well.

I think one of the unique things I learned from this group is what I value as a player and what sets me apart. All three of us brought such different influences and skills to the table. Alex is super precise and detail oriented, he always put the solidity of the group sound over his individual performance, I think he was really the foundation of the whole group. He also has a brilliant understanding of musical concepts which he would frequently bring into his arrangements and compositions. Adam was kind of the wild card of the group. He has amazing ears and is a super intuitive player, and he fearlessly commits to ideas. When we all played together he often would throw curveballs at us and drastically change the direction that an improvisation was going, you would just need to hope you could keep up! As for me, I think that I was probably the one most focused on texture and melody, and using the guitar as a tool to fill out the group sound. Some performance highlights include playing the Ann Arbor Jazz Festival, performing at Bowling Green State University, Recording our album Tides, and performing a conceptual piece of music written specifically for the group titled “Never a Rip” at the Ypsilanti Freight House. The guitar trio went on an indefinite hiatus at the end of 2018 as we all became busy with other musical endeavors, but I still use many of the skills I developed with this group in my work today.