Bob Grillo

Bob Grillo, a native New Yorker, studied with Al Peterson, then Sal Salvador. At a New York gig in 1960, he met James D’Aquisto, who was a bass player and an apprentice to John D’Angelico. He visited D’Angelico’s shop on Kenmare Street and ordered a blonde New Yorker, which was finished in November 1961. After ten years of touring, Grillo’s guitar needed cosmetic repairs, and D’Aquisto re-lacquered and re-bound it in 1970. Grillo continues to play his D’Angelico New Yorker, most recently with the Andy Farber Orchestra, both in live performances and on the 2009 album This Could Be the Start of Something Big.

Mark Knopfler

A brief biography of Mark Knopfler is available at www.allmusic.com.

Woody Mann

Woody Mann is renowned both as a performer and as a teacher. He received his first musical schooling in the living room of the Reverend Gary Davis, the legendary blues, gospel, and ragtime guitarist. He has performed with modern-day blues musicians John Fahey, British great Jo-Ann Kelly, and early masters Bukka White and Son House. He complemented the tutelage of the Rev. Davis with formal training at the Juilliard School and a period of intense study with noted jazz pianist Lennie Tristano. He has toured the world, recorded eleven solo albums, been a faculty member at the New School in New York, and taught countless guitarists through his many books and DVDs. His close personal friendships with James D’Aquisto and John Monteleone have been a unique part of his life and music.

Steve Miller

A brief biography of Steve Miller is available at www.allmusic.com.

Jeffrey Mironov

Jeffrey Mironov is a Manhattan-based guitarist who has enjoyed a very active and prolific career in the New York recording scene. He has performed on numerous albums with Michael Franks, James Taylor, Art Garfunkel, Gladys Knight, Paul Simon, Dave Grusin, Herbie Mann, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and Natalie Cole, to name a few. He has also performed on many movie soundtracks, as well as for television and radio commercials. He has been awarded the noteworthy NARAS [National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences] Best Player Award for electric guitar performance a number of times. Throughout his career, Jeffrey has owned, played, and treasured several guitars made by John D’Angelico and James D’Aquisto. Of his relationship with James D’Aquisto he writes:

I came to own a number of Jimmy’s instruments and spent rare and wonderful days in his small Greenport, Long Island, workshop. While working on the guitars that needed adjusting or repairs, he shared many lovely, thoughtful, and sometimes humorous memories with me regarding his apprenticeship with John D’Angelico and the uninterruptible creative evolution and tradition he came to fulfill and extend. I am blessed and honored in knowing John D’Angelico through the guitar he made, which I played for many years, and then in knowing and being known by James D’Aquisto, whose friendship and trust continue to guide, influence, and change my life.

John Monteleone

Bucky Pizzarelli

For more than six decades, the legendary Bucky Pizzarelli has been a fixture in jazz since the early fifties. The list of big bands and vocalists with whom Bucky has performed and recorded reads like a veritable “Who’s Who” of jazz. One of the most solid rhythm players, Pizzarelli has always been in high demand, playing and touring early on with Benny Goodman, Zoot Sims, Bud Freeman, and Stephane Grappelli, and, later, recording with George Van Eps, Carl Kress, and George Barnes. His superior mastery of the seven-string guitar is unparalleled, and his very personal style sets him apart. [Adapted from "Bucky Pizzarelli" in All About Jazz www.allaboutjazz.com (February 2011).]

Paul Simon

A brief biography of Paul Simon is available at www.allmusic.com.