# Julian Lage

Julian Price Lage (/lɑːʒ/ LAHZH; born December 25, 1987) is an American guitarist and composer.
A child prodigy, he excelled in jazz at a very young age, winning the praise of greats such as Jim Hall. At 12, he performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards and at 15 he became a faculty member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University. He released his debut album Sounding Point in 2009 on the EmArcy Records label. He was signed to Blue Note Records in 2021, with whom he has released the albums Squint (2021), View with a Room (2022), The Layers EP (2023) and Speak to Me (2024).
Unlike most of his contemporaries, Lage often favors playing a Fender Telecaster and acoustic guitars for his playing, which fuses jazz with a melting pot of other musical influences. Lage presently teaches ensembles and guitar at The New School's School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City.

## Early life and career

Lage was born in Santa Rosa, California, and is the youngest of five children. His father, Mario, is a visual artist, and his mother is of Jewish heritage (although he did not grow up in a religious household). A child prodigy, Lage was the subject of the 1996 short documentary film Jules at Eight. At 12, he performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards. Three years later, he became a faculty member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University. Classically trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he has studied at Sonoma State University and the Ali Akbar College of Music. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 2008.
On March 24, 2009 EmArcy released his debut album Sounding Point to favorable reviews. It was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award Best Contemporary Jazz Album. His second album, Gladwell, was released April 26, 2011, to positive reviews. His first solo acoustic album, World's Fair, was released on March 2, 2015, and his fourth album, Arclight, was released on March 11, 2016.
In a 2016 interview promoting Arclight on the NPR program Fresh Air, Lage revealed that around the time of the release of World's Fair he struggled with focal dystonia, a neurological disorder resulting from the repeated performance of tasks. The disorder caused spasms in his left arm and hand while trying to play the guitar. He believed that the condition was brought on at age five from playing and gripping the neck of his guitar too hard, because the guitar was bigger than he was. At the time, he believed that was what he needed to do to "sound official... and [not] drop the guitar." He had to "re-learn how to play the guitar in a way that addressed these tendencies that got [him] in trouble in the first place."
He has worked in a trio with Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen and has recorded duo albums with guitarists Chris Eldridge, Gyan Riley, and Nels Cline. For the 2017 guitar duo album Mount Royal, Lage and Eldridge received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.
Lage is presently a faculty member at The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School in New York City, where he teaches ensembles and guitar. He has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music.
On March 17, 2021, it was announced that he signed to Blue Note Records. Along with the announcement, it was announced that his debut release on the label entitled Squint would be released on June 11. The lead single "Saint Rose" was released on that day as well. April 9 saw the release on the second single "Boo's Blues."
View With a Room was released on September 16, 2022 The lead single, Auditorium, was released on June 21. Word for Word, the second single, was released on July 13. The third single, Tributary, was released on August 10. The fourth single, Chavez, was released on August 31.
On November 14, 2023, Lage release the single, Omission, continuing to use the acoustic instrumentation found on his EP The Layers, which was released on March 17, 2023.

## Discography
### As leader

* Sounding Point (EmArcy, 2009)
* Gladwell (EmArcy, 2011)
* Free Flying with Fred Hersch (Palmetto, 2013)
* Close to Picture with Chris Eldridge (Self-released, 2013)
* Avalon with Chris Eldridge (Modern Lore, 2014)
* Room with Nels Cline (Mack Avenue, 2014)
* World's Fair (Modern Lore, 2015)
* Arclight (Mack Avenue, 2016)
* Live in Los Angeles (Mack Avenue, 2017)
* Mount Royal with Chris Eldridge (Free Dirt, 2017)
* Modern Lore (Mack Avenue, 2018)
* Love Hurts (Mack Avenue, 2019)
* Squint (Blue Note, 2021)
* View with a Room (Blue Note, 2022)
* The Layers EP (Blue Note, 2023)
* Speak to Me (Blue Note, 2024)

### As sideman

With Gary Burton
* Generations (Concord Jazz, 2004)
* Next Generation (Concord Jazz, 2005)
* Common Ground (Mack Avenue, 2011)
* Guided Tour (Mack Avenue, 2013)
With John Zorn
* Midsummer Moons (Tzadik, 2017)
* Insurrection (Tzadik, 2018)
* Salem 1692 (Tzadik, 2018)
* The Book Beri'ah Vol.4 – Chesed (Tzadik, 2018)
* Nove Cantici Per Francesco D'Assisi (Tzadik, 2019)
* Virtue (Tzadik, 2020)
* Songs for Petra (Tzadik, 2020)
* Teresa De Ávila (Tzadik, 2021)
* Parables (Tzadik, 2021)
* New Masada Quartet (Tzadik, 2021)
* John Zorn’s Bagatelles Vol.10 (Tzadik, 2022)
* A Garden Of Forking Paths (Tzadik, 2022)
* Incerto (Tzadik, 2022)
* New Masada Quartet Volume Two (Tzadik, 2023)
* Multiplicities II (Tzadik, 2023)
* Quatrain (Tzadik, 2023)
* Full Fathom Five (Tzadik, 2023)
* Homenaje A Remedios Varo (Tzadik, 2023)
* Nothing Is As Real As Nothing (Tzadik, 2023)
* Her Melodious Lay (Tzadik, 2024)
* Lamentations (Tzadik, 2024)
* New Masada Quartet, Vol. 3 (Tzadik, 2024)
With others
* Terri Lyne Carrington, More to Say (E1, 2009)
* Nels Cline, Lovers (Blue Note, 2016)
* Nels Cline, Currents, Constellations (Blue Note, 2018)
* Kris Davis, Duopoly (Pyroclastic, 2016)
* Virgil Donati, Ruination (Gildon Music, 2019)
* Dave Douglas, Uplift Twelve Pieces for Positive Action (Greenleaf Music, 2018)
* Taylor Eigsti, Lucky to Be Me (Concord Jazz, 2006)
* David Grisman, Dawg Duos (Acoustic Disc, 1999)
* Eric Harland, Voyager: Live by Night (Space Time, 2011)
* Eric Harland, Vipassana (GSI, 2014)
* Jesse Harris, No Wrong No Right (Dangerbird, 2015)
* Charles Lloyd, 8: Kindred Spirits (Live from the Lobero) (Blue Note, 2020)
* Charles Lloyd, Trios: Sacred Thread (Blue Note, 2022)
* Sophie Milman, in the Moonlight (E1, 2011)
* Yoko Ono, Take Me to the Land of Hell (Chimera Music, 2013)
* Dayna Stephens, Today Is Tomorrow (Criss Cross, 2012)
* Dayna Stephens, Peace (Sunnyside, 2014)

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Nominated work | Event | Award | Result |
| 2010 | Sounding Point | Grammy Awards | Best Contemporary Jazz Album | Nominated |
| 2018 | Mount Royal (with Chris Eldridge) | Grammy Awards | Best Contemporary Instrumental Album | Nominated |
| 2018 | Mount Royal (with Chris Eldridge) | Independent Music Awards | Best Instrumental Album | Won |
| 2019 | Modern Lore | Grammy Awards | Best Contemporary Instrumental Album | Nominated |
| 2024 | The Layers | Grammy Awards | Best Contemporary Instrumental Album | Nominated |
| 2025 | Speak to Me | Grammy Awards | Best Contemporary Instrumental Album | Nominated |