BIO

Born in Sioux Falls South Dakota, Bruce Arnold began his music training at the University of South Dakota. After three years of study he transferred to the Berklee College of Music to complete a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition. While doing undergraduate work there, he received the Harris Stanton award for outstanding guitarist of the year. He continued his inquiries further study into improvisational and compositional methods studying with the jazz gurus Charlie Banacos and Jerry Bergonzi, and received the outstanding teacher of the year award at Berklee in 1984. He subsequently taught at the New England Conservatory of Music, and Dartmouth College.

Upon moving to New York City, Mr. Arnold found himself preoccupied with the possibilities of applying the twelve tone theoretical constructs of Schoenberg and Berg to American improvised music. His fi rst CD, "Blue Eleven" contained the seeds of those ideas he was to develop further in his following critically acclaimed works: "A Few Dozen" and "Give 'Em Some." In this vein, his music is remarkably tonal, and the results give proof that inventive improvisation is possible within this format.

Bruce currently plays with his own band, "The Bruce Arnold Trio" and with "Spooky Actions" a jazz quartet that performs his transcriptions of Webern. In addition, he has performed with such diverse musicians as Gary Burton, Joe Pass, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, Stuart Hamm, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and The Absolute Ensemble under the baton of Kristjan Järvi.

At present Mr. Arnold teaches at Princeton University, New York University and the New School. Mr. Arnold is also the director of New York University's Summer Jazz Guitar Instensive program which employees some of the greatest living guitarists and offers cutting edge music education for the intermediate to advanced musician. He has also writing the books for this program which add to a list of over 50 music education books he has written in the past 10 years. These books cover many of the important aspects of mastering high performance skills for both the advanced music student with professional goals, and the dedicated beginner.