Insider Preview: Will Bernard in The Electric Annual

Odds are you're unfamiliar with Will Bernard, the wildly eclectic, mostly electric guitarist who is one of the artists profiled in our second edition of The Electric Annual (order your copy here, mailing soon!). Sadly, that seems to be the fate of many of the hardest working musicians, across all genres, particularly in the realm of jazz (and jazz-adjacent).

Regardless of the context, it’s hard to pin Bernard down. He plays a lot more slide than pretty much any jazz guitarist, his compositions are more complex and considered than most blues/rock guitarists’, and he grooves way more than your typical music school academic. While he is, in many ways, an heir to the expanded modern jazz guitar tradition embodied by the likes of Bill Frisell and John Scofield, he shares the more even more ecumenical interests of players like Adam Levy and Eric Krasno, at home in a traditional organ trio, improvising alongside a turntablist or in a supporting roll with a large ensemble.

What we have here is a broad selection from Will's work as a band leader, bandmate and sideman. It should serve to give you a fair notion of what kind of a guitar player Will is...