Larry Stefl

Over the past few years I have become very interested in exploring Brazilian music. I've been studying guitar with Jack Gates and learning the open chord voicings and rhythms of bossa nova and samba. A great source for repertoire is the Songbook Series "Tom Jobim" and "Bossa Nova", by Almir Chediak and published in Brazil. The "Tom Jobim" book has fingerings by Jobim.

Currently I am learning to sing Portuguese with the talented Brazilian vocalist Claudia Villela who teaches at Jazz Camp West and is based in the San Francisco Bay area. It is so gratifying to learn the nuance and feeling of this rich music. I have also been fortunate to study at Jazz Camp West with Brazilian pianist Jovino Santos Neto. He is a master of the music and shares his wide knowledge with an inspiring enthusiasm.

My composing in recent years has leaned toward the Brazilian influence. The pieces are bossa nova and samba forms that utilize the open chord voicings and rhythms. My favorite Brazilian CD is Amoroso/Brasil with Joao Gilberto.

I primarily play three guitars, those being a Heritage 575 with an almond finish, a Heritage Eagle with a deep red finish, and a nylon-string Montalvo "Negra-Plus" Flamenco guitar. The 575 is great for gigs where I need highly amplified volume without feedback. The Eagle gives that big woody sound, amplified or acoustic. I use the Montalvo primarily for bossa nova.

I've been playing guitar for more than 25 years, growing up with jazz in the house, listening to Count Basie and Duke Ellington. My father was a jazz trumpeter and the trumpet was my first instrument.

I studied with Steve Erquiaga, Bruce Forman, Morris Acevedo, Jack Gates, and Adam Levy. I played in the Alameda College Big Band under the direction of Bill Bell for a number of years, and studied with Ed Kelly at Laney College. I also studied jazz theory with Mark Levine at the Jazz School in Berkeley.

I was a founding member of the Berkeley Jazz Guitar Ensemble, a group of five guitarists playing arrangements of compositions by Duke Ellington, Joe Henderson, Pat Metheny and others. The Berkeley Jazz Guitar Ensemble, directed by Morris Acevedo, played the show "Guitar Madness", produced by Dr. Herb Wong and including performances by Bruce Forman, Randy Vincent and others.

My own six-piece jazz group played at jerry Brown's inaugural celebration in January 1999, at the Oakland Museum. In addition to playing the standard jazz repertoire I write my own compositions, influenced by multicultural world-beat African and Brazilian sounds, a strong melodic sense, and the blues.

I have my Masters in Fine Art from the University of California at Berkeley and am a practicing visual artist as well as a jazz man.

From 1997 through 1999 I produced a series of annual concerts with The Larry Stefl Group at the "Speak Easy Theater" in Berkeley, featuring for the most part original compositions. The pieces I wrote explored African and World Beat sounds utilizing the shakuhachi, digeredoo, and native flutes as well as percussion, drums, bass, vibes, tenor saxophone, pocket trumpet and guitar. The group also performed the late Sun Ra’s "Lights on a Satellite" with dancers and also with poetry I wrote for free improvisation accompaniment.