David Tronzo is an American guitarist, best known for his innovation of pairing the techniques of electric slide guitar to the genres of bebop, modern jazz, rock, downtown music

Downtown music

Downtown music is a subdivision of American music, closely related to experimental music. The scene the term describes began in 1960, when Yoko Ono—one of the Fluxus artists, at that time still seven years away from meeting John Lennon—opened her loft at 112 Chambers Street to be used...

 and experimental music

Experimental music

Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...

. He has recorded with former David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

 guitarist Reeves Gabrels

Reeves Gabrels

Reeves Gabrels is an American guitarist, known for virtuosity, versatility, and originality. His compositions and improvisations defy genre and "explore sonic extremes with a great, adaptive intuition for what each song needs most."...

, Wayne Horvitz

Wayne Horvitz

Wayne Horvitz is an American composer, keyboardist and record producer.-Biography:Horvitz, a "defiant cross-breeder of genres", has led the groups The President, Pigpen, Zony Mash, and the Four Plus One Ensemble...

 David Sanborn

David Sanborn

David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...

 and The Lounge Lizards

The Lounge Lizards

The Lounge Lizards are a jazz group formed in 1978 by saxophone player John Lurie.Initially a tongue in cheek "fake jazz" combo, drawing on punk rock and no wave as much as jazz, The Lounge Lizards have since become respected for their creative and distinctive sound.-History:Lounge Lizards were...

.

Early life

David Tronzo was drawn to music at age eleven and decided on guitar by age thirteen and taught himself. By age fifteen he was playing gigs. "I was playing five nights a week, though I really just had three good notes and five good chords."

Current career

He is an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...

Among is more known stuents is guitarist Dani Rabin of Marbin

Marbin

Marbin is a Jazz-Rock group based in Chicago IL.Marbin first started in 2007 as an improvised music duo consisting of Israeli-American guitarist Dani Rabin and Israeli saxophonist Danny Markovitch. Markovitch and Rabin met shortly after Markovitch had completed his military service as an infantry...

.

He appeared in the movie Talking Guitars as himself in 2007.

Albums

with the Tronzo Trio

1994 Roots

1996 Yo! Hey!

with David Tronzo and Reeves Gabrels

1995 Night in Amnesia

with Tronzo, Granelli and Epstein

1999 crunch

with Giacomo Merega, David Tronzo, and Noah Kaplan

2008 The Light and Other Things

Awards and honours

Year	Award / Recognition
1993	Voted one of the Top 100 Guitarists of the 20th Century in Musician's Magazine Press Poll
1994	Voted one of the Top Ten Jazz Guitarists by Musician magazine
1995	Voted second in its 1995 poll for Best Experimental Guitarist by Guitar Player magazine
1997	Voted one of the Dirty Thirty Pioneers and Trailblazers by Guitar Player magazine

External links

• Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians - entry on David Tronzo
• Laurence Donohue-Green's Open Ears column
• All About Jazz September 2008, No. 77 - contains Karla Cornejo's review of the album The Light and Other Things
• All About Jazz March 2008 - Phil DiPietro's review of The Light and Other Things