eJazzNews Archive

Berklee’s “Guitar Week 2003” Is an Eclectic Mix

Originally published on eJazzNews ·

On April 14, 2003, eJazzNews ran Berklee College of Music’s announcement of Guitar Week 2003, four days of clinics, recitals and concerts presented by the college’s Guitar Department in Boston from April 15 to 18. The schedule moved from jazz and blues to Brazilian music, classical guitar, slide guitar and shred metal. More than two decades later, several of the faculty players on that bill, among them Joe Stump, David Tronzo, Abigail Aronson and Norman Zocher, are still on Berklee’s guitar faculty list.

What the 2003 announcement said

All events were open to the public. The afternoon clinics and early evening recitals in the David Friend Recital Hall at 921 Boylston Street were free, while the nightly concerts at the Berklee Performance Center cost $5, or $2 for seniors.

  • Tuesday, April 15: a creative improvisation clinic by Wayne Krantz, a recital of contemporary Brazilian music by the Ben Sher Group, and a jazz and rock concert led by Jim Kelly.
  • Wednesday, April 16: a blues clinic by Mike Williams, a jazz recital by John Wilkins, and an evening set by the Abby & Norm Group, the band of guitarists Abigail Aronson and Norm Zocher with pianist Mark Shilansky and drummer Brooke Sofferman, playing music from its new album Melodic Miner’s Daughter.
  • Thursday, April 17: the Back Bay Guitar Trio, a classical chamber group directed by Dave Newsam, a rock set by Joe Musella’s band, and a jazz and blues student showcase directed by Garrison Fewell and Curt Shumate.
  • Friday, April 18: a rock improvisation clinic by Joe Stump, a slide guitar recital by the David Tronzo Group, Jon Damian’s all-day Buddy System Marathon with a sale for Berklee scholarships, and a closing rock and pop student showcase directed by Jon Finn and Lauren Passarelli.

The release gave each teacher a short biography. It described Stump as a Berklee alumnus known for speed and technique, who had toured with or opened for Steve Vai, Dokken and Robin Trower. Krantz was introduced as a former sideman with Steely Dan, Michael Brecker and Billy Cobham, and Tronzo as a slide player who had worked with the Lounge Lizards and Sex Mob.

The department and its teachers

Berklee says it became the first institution of higher education to grant a degree with guitar as the principal instrument, in 1962, and it describes its Guitar Department as the largest guitar program in the world. The college lists both Krantz and Tronzo among its alumni who have taught there.

Joe Stump, a guitarist from Queens, New York, plays neoclassical and speed metal and names Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen and Uli Jon Roth among his main influences. His early solo albums, including Guitar Dominance! (1993), Night of the Living Shred (1994) and Supersonic Shred Machine (1996), came out on Leviathan Records, and he also led the band Reign of Terror. Wayne Krantz, a native of Corvallis, Oregon, had by 2003 recorded a run of trio albums, the later ones with bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Keith Carlock. David Tronzo, from Rochester, New York, is known for applying electric slide guitar to bebop, rock and experimental music, and played on the Lounge Lizards album Queen of All Ears (1998).

What happened next

In 2019 Stump joined a relaunched Alcatrazz, the hard rock band founded in 1983 by singer Graham Bonnet, keyboardist Jimmy Waldo and bassist Gary Shea, and played on Born Innocent, released on July 31, 2020. When the band split into two camps at the end of 2020, Stump stayed with Waldo and Shea, a lineup that released V in October 2021 with Doogie White singing and continued with Giles Lavery from March 2024. His own band, Joe Stump’s Tower of Babel, released Days of Thunder in 2025.

Krantz continued to lead his own groups and record, including Howie 61 (Abstract Logix, 2012), with guests such as John Patitucci and Vinnie Colaiuta. In October 2026, Berklee’s guitar faculty list includes Stump, Tronzo, Aronson, Zocher, Finn, Kelly, Williams, Newsam and Musella, all names from the 2003 schedule. For more on the instrument, see our guides to jazz guitar and to the greatest jazz guitarists.

Sources

This page is based on an article from the original eJazzNews archive (2001 to 2018), with background and sources added in 2026. The original text is not republished here. You can read the original as it appeared on eJazzNews via the Internet Archive.
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