Record Label
Record Label
Guitarist, composer Joel Harrison has created a new label to explore cutting edge guitar-based music. The label partners with The Alternative Guitar Summit, the premiere organization for new guitar music in the USA. “Integrity beyond Genre” is our motto.
There are four new releases scheduled for 2024:
Max Light, Gregg Belisle-Chi, an AGS solos compilation, and classical guitar duos composed by Joel Harrison. Stay tuned for details.
The Middle of Everywhere: Guitar Solos Vol. I
Released: July 24, 2024
The Stardust Reunion Band is a vocal-centered record featuring four of New York city’s greatest singers, Everett Bradley, Nicki Richards, and Keith Fluitt, and Amanda Homi. The songs draw from R&B, jazz, rock, gospel, and much else, and feature a who’s who crew including Josh Dion (dr. and voice), Chulo Gatewood (bass), John Cowherd (keys), James Brandon Lewis (sax), and Jerry Marotta and Jamey Haddad (percussion.) The songs, all-groove-based, both lament and uplift with tear-your-heart out performances by vocalists and instrumentalists alike.
The lyrics speak of seizing the day, conflict and poison, mortality, and unity. It is a very personal work, and to me, one of the most powerful and universal of my 25 releases.
Hum by Gregg Belisle-Chi
Released May 23, 2024
A merging of allegedly opposing forces/sensibilities. A balancing act of sorts. An eloquent evocation of intricate imagination and thoughtful improvisation. A dalliance with intensity that somehow often ends up feeling like intimacy. These are sentence fragments attempting to describe in words that which is certainly beyond words. Ah, the nagging and seemingly inescapable conundrum…
Chaotic Neutral by Max Light
Released: April 26, 2024
Max Light – guitar, compositions
Julian Shore – Piano
Walter Stinson – Bass
Steven Crammer – Drums
Caleb Curtis – Stritch (trks 2, 6 & 8)
Brooklyn based guitarist/composer, Max Light, took 2nd place in the prestigious 2019 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Guitar Competition (judged by Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Lionel Loueke, etc.) His sophomore recording as a leader, Henceforth (released in 2023), was heralded by The New York City Jazz Record, as “Stunning,” and declared Light as, “one of the most promising young guitarists to arrive on the scene in recent years.” JazzTrail added that, “Max Light is a talented instrumentalist and composer to follow closely, and this well-planned album doesn’t disappoint.” His debut recording, Herplusme (released in 2020), garnered a four star review from UKVibe, who stated, “Herplusme gives the guitarist an excellent platform to showcase his talents and with superb interaction and support from Honor and Willson. The trio work intuitively well together . . .”. Most recently, Light and pianist Julian Shore released Duo, in the summer of 2023, and embarked on a successful tour of Japan.
The Great Mirage
Released March 15, 2023
A two guitar collaboration between Joel Harrison and Anthony Pirog.
Pirog and Harrison tend to finish each other sentences when they play. Twenty five years separate them in age, and yet they seem to have common ancestry. Both are from Wash. D.C., both love jazz, rock, fusion, avant garde, folk, funk, and country music, and both often do all of it all at once.
On The Great Mirage each composed and arranged music for the session, the music caterwauls between heavy and light, really loud and really soft, gorgeous, spiky, grooving and free. The record reaches towards a 21st century essay in what the guitar can do. The band’s sense of joy and adventure is palpable as they extend their range and reach deep into American guitar history and future.
The Stardust Reunion Band
Released February 3, 2023
The Stardust Reunion Band is a vocal-centered record featuring four of New York city’s greatest singers, Everett Bradley, Nicki Richards, and Keith Fluitt, and Amanda Homi. The songs draw from R&B, jazz, rock, gospel, and much else, and feature a who’s who crew including Josh Dion (dr. and voice), Chulo Gatewood (bass), John Cowherd (keys), James Brandon Lewis (sax), and Jerry Marotta and Jamey Haddad (percussion.) The songs, all-groove-based, both lament and uplift with tear-your-heart out performances by vocalists and instrumentalists alike.
The lyrics speak of seizing the day, conflict and poison, mortality, and unity. It is a very personal work, and to me, one of the most powerful and universal of my 25 releases.
Guitar Talk
Released May 28, 2021
Guitar Talk is a collection of intimate guitar duet recordings featuring Joel Harrison with Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas, Pete McCann, David Gilmore, and legendary bassist Steve Swallow. Joel Harrison penned nine of the original compositions in 2019. The other two cuts are solo efforts, a gem-like rendition of Eillington’s Reflections in D, and a haunting solo take on America the Beautiful.
All tracks were recorded with two amps in a room, no overdubs. Harrison is in the left speaker in all duos.
In Side
Released May 28, 2021
In Side is a collection combining newly composed pieces and material that Anthony Pirog has been performing live for many years. He has long been a fan of solo guitar recordings that don’t not shy away from the use of overdubbing (John Abercrombie – Characters, Sonny Sharrock – Guitar, Bill Frisell – Ghost Town) and he’s always wanted to create a release using this approach.
In Side was recorded at Pirog’s home in Washington, DC during the Summer of 2020 and was mixed and mastered by Mike Reina at The Brink in Centrevile, VA.