Storm Nilson - Jazz Guitarist

Jazz guitarist Storm Nilson performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival

Storm Nilson is featured in the 2008 Monterey Jazz Festival Artist and Music Spotlight.

Storm Nilson performed at the 50th Monterey Jazz Festival on opening night, Friday, Sept. 21, 2007. Quoting from the Monterey Herald, "Nilson, in one amazingly swift and concise solo, distilled the essence of many of the influential jazz guitarists who have graced this festival, from Jim Hall and Kenny Burrell (both playing this weekend) to Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin, who played Friday night in the main arena". See the complete story.

Storm Nilson has been performing, recording, and educating throughout the United States and Canada for the past 13 years. His musical inspiration has been nurtured by opportunities to play with some of the world's top Jazz musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Charlie Haden, Steve Cardenas, and his ling time friend and mentor, Bruce Forman. As an educator, Storm has taught as a guest artist and traveling clinician for the Monterey Jazz Festival and JazzMaster's Workshops. He was also recently featured at last year's 50th Anniversary of the Monterey Jazz Festival and has performed extensively in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Montreal.

Storm was born in Monterey, California and spent much of his childhood aboard his parents' research vessel in Southeast Alaska. Born into an adventurous family, his unusual upbringing became the subject of numerous documentaries. He starred in his first film "Third Stone from the Sun" at the age of 4, and was subsequently featured in National Geographic.

Storm started playing guitar at 8, and by the age of 12 was a coveted performer at shows around the Bay Area. By 16, he had been a featured performer at the Monterey Blues Festival three years in a row. Storm performed with Otis Rush and Clarence Gatemouth Brown in a nationally televised performance in San Francisco, and was encouraged by many to pursue a career as a Blues prodigy. But Storm's interest in jazz was developing, enamored by the sounds of John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, and Jim Hall among others, and he decided to pursue his education in jazz rather than become a young star.

In 2001, Storm began pursuing his Bachelor's Degree at California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, where he had the great privilege of studying with Larry Koonse, Joe LaBarbera, David Roitstein, Miroslav Tadic, Darek Oles, and Jazz luminary Charlie Haden. During his time in Los Angeles, Storm also maintained a duo project with Kneebody pianist Adam Benjamin.

In 2007, Storm received the prestigious Schulich Merit Scholarship to attend McGill University in Montreal. While in Montreal, he studied and collaborated with famed Polish performer/composer Jan Jarczyk, as well as participated in numerous collaborations with acclaimed Canadian tenor players Chet Doxas and Joel Miller, assuming the guitar responsibilities from Kurt Rosenwinkel in Miller's band Mandala. Storm is currently completing his Master's Degree at McGill and will be returning to the west coast this year.