Pasquale Grasso

Hailed by Pat Metheny as "the best guitar player I've heard in maybe my entire life," Italian-born, New York-based guitarist Pasquale Grasso has redefined what solo guitar can be. Drawing not from guitarists but from bebop titans Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, and Art Tatum, he has transported the language of the piano onto six strings with breathtaking fluency and invention.

Winner of the 2015 Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition, Grasso has performed at the Kennedy Center's NEA Jazz Masters Tribute and recorded for Sony Masterworks. Mentored by bebop legend Barry Harris and shaped by classical study at the Conservatory of Bologna, his artistry — honed through years of solo residencies at New York's Mezzrow  — stands as one of jazz's most singular voices today.