Steve Masakowski

Steve Masakowski (born September 2, 1954) is jazz guitarist, educator, and inventor. He invented the guitar-based keytar and the switch pick and has designed three, custom-built seven-string guitars. He developed an approach to playing the guitar by using his pick design, allowing him to switch from fingerpicking to flatpicking.
He has released solo albums and has worked with Johnny Adams, Mose Allison, Dave Liebman, Ellis Marsalis, Jr., Carl Fontana, Rick Margitza, Bobby McFerrin, Nicholas Payton, Dianne Reeves, Sam Rivers, Woody Shaw, Alvin Tyler, and Bennie Wallace. Since 1987, he has been a member of the band Astral Project.
He has twice been voted Best Guitarist and included as a member of Astral Project in the Best Contemporary Jazz Group three times by Gambit and Offbeat magazines in their annual reader's polls. He has published lessons in Guitar Player magazine and wrote the book Jazz Ear Training – Learning to Hear Your Way Through Music for Mel Bay Publications. He has also been recognized by Down Beat magazine as Guitar Talent Deserving Wider Recognition.

Early life and education

Stephen Alphonse Masakowski was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on September 2, 1954. He became interested in music at the age of 14, when he took up the bass guitar in order to play in Truth, a rock band he co-founded which was based on Cream. In high school, having become attracted to composing, he also started to play guitar to learn harmony. At age 17, and having been exposed to the album Spaces by Larry Coryell, he began taking guitar lessons. His teacher introduced him to the music of Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, and Lenny Breau, who he considers his influences.

In 1974, Masakowski went to Berklee College of Music, studying jazz theory, arranging, and composition. After getting his degree in a year and a half, he returned to New Orleans, taking with him his then-girlfriend, jazz guitarist Emily Remler. Masakowski and Remler founded the group Fourplay (not to be confused with the later jazz group of the same name).From 1976 to 1978, he studied classical composition and orchestration with Bert Braud, a teacher at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts who also taught Terence Blanchard, Harry Connick, Jr., Branford Marsalis, and Wynton Marsalis.

Professional career

In the early 1980s, Masakowski played regularly with local New Orleans musicians such as Earl Turbinton, Jr., Alvin Tyler, and Willie Tee. With Singleton and drummer Johnny Vidacovich, he accompanied visiting musicians such as Randy Brecker, Tom Harrell, Art Baron, and Dave Liebman. He formed an instant friendship with Liebman, who played on the first Mars album (Mars, 1983). Masakowski founded the group Mars with Larry Sieberth (keyboards and synthesizer), James Singleton (bass), and James Black (drums). The band played a mixture of jazz and electronic music, sometimes combined with visual art created by Jon Graubarth.

In 1982, Masakowski founded the Composers Recording Studio, with the harpist Patrice Fisher, guitarist Jimmy Robinson, and violinist Denise Villere. He often acted as recording engineer and sometimes as producer. The studio lasted about ten years and recorded such local musicians as Harry Connick, Jr., Tony Dagradi, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, pianist James Drew, and Ellis Marsalis, Jr.

For three years, Masakowski worked in a duet with pianist Ellis Marsalis, Jr. In 1987, he joined Astral Project. From 1993–1996, he toured with singer Dianne Reeves. He leads the band Nova NOLA, whose members include his son, Martin, and his daughter, Sasha Masakowski. He released two albums for Blue Note Records: What It Was (1994) and Direct AXEcess (1995). New Orleans guitarist, banjoist, and historian Danny Barker wrote the liner notes for What It Was. When Barker died in 1994, he bequeathed his acoustic guitar to Masakowski.

He was hired by Marsalis as part-time instructor for the new jazz program he was heading at the University of New Orleans. In 1991, he became a full-time faculty member. After the retirement of Marsalis and a short tenure by Terence Blanchard, he became Chair of Jazz Studies and director of the jazz program in 2004.

Inventions

Masakowski playing his keytar above a seven-string guitar

Masakowski's switch pick

In 1978, Masakowski invented the keytar, a guitar-like instrument with seven rows of keys instead of strings, one key at each fret. This pre-MIDI controller was hardwired to a Moog synthesizer. One advantage of such an instrument was that it allowed playing more than one note in a row of keys at the same time, the equivalent on the guitar of playing multiple simultaneous notes on one string. Masakowski's song "Stepping Stone" was composed on the keytar, which allowed for the cluster-type chord voicings. For the duration of the Mars era, his rig included a Gretsch seven-string guitar, with the keytar fastened to the top. He chose not to pursue a patent for the keytar, opting to concentrate on a revised prototype of the instrument that failed due to lack of funding.

In 1987, Masakowski invented the switch pick to help when switching from fingers to plectrum. "I invented something I call a switch-pick, which is a sort of thumb pick...[made] in such a way that if I slide it up my finger, the support part doesn't come in contact with my thumb, so it feels like a normal pick. And then if I want to use it as a thumb pick, I just slide it up my finger, and I can play finger style with the thumb pick using all five fingers." He told an interviewer, "The pick is more efficient and has a better sound on fast lines where I need swing drive, but certain ideas, like fast diatonic-fourth runs, are easier to play fingerstyle."

Inspired by a visit to New Orleans by the renowned seven-string guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, Masakowski began to explore the seven-string guitar, first finding an early Gretsch, and later designing his own models which have the expanded range of a normal guitar and bass guitar combined. His custom-designed guitars were crafted by luthiers Jimmy Foster and Salvador Giardina.

Personal life

Masakowski Family performing

In 1982, Masakowski married the German pianist Ulrike Antonie Sprenger. The couple have two children, both professional musicians: Alexandra (Sasha Masakowski) (b. 1986) and Martin (Tino) (b. 1990). They have been honored with compositions by Masakowski: "Alexandra" (on What It Was) and "Tino's Blues" (on What It Was and (For Joe)).

Since 2007, the Masakowski family have been playing gigs together, including as the basis of the group Nova NOLA, which fuses New Orleans and Brazilian music. The group's album Wetland celebrates both Masakowski's of Brazilian music and the rebirth of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

• 10 best guitarists list, Wavelength magazine (1991)
• Big Easy Award, Astral Project (1993, 1994, 2000)
• Best Guitarist (1994–1998, 2002) OffBeat magazine
• Best Contemporary Jazz Group (1994–2002), Astral Project, OffBeat magazine
• Keeping the Music Alive Award, Danny Barker Estate (2003)
• Global Excellence Award, Summers Multicultural Institute (2005)
• Germaine Bazzle Award for Music Education and Performance (2014)

As leader

With Astral Project

As sideman