Rez Abbasi biography
Date of birth : 1965-08-27
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Karachi, Pakistan
Nationality : Pakistani
Category : Arts and Entertainment
Last modified : 2011-07-14
Credited as : Guitarist, electric guitar, Bazaar album
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Moving with his family to the USA as a very small child, Abbasi was raised in southern California. He studied piano and also took up the guitar as a youth, later studying at the University of Southern California. Following this, he extended his studies by attending the Manhattan School of Music.
A flexible guitarist who plays mostly fusion but can also handle post-bop, hard bop and standards, Rez Abbasi showed a lot of promise playing around New York in the 1990s.
He was 22 when he moved to New York in 1987. Abbasi considers Jim Hall his earliest influence on guitar, and Pat Metheny influenced both his playing and writing when he recorded his first album, Third Ear, in 1991-1992. However, Metheny became less of an influence on Abbasi as the 1990s progressed. The mid- to late-'90s found Abbasi (who is also influenced by Bill Frisell) continuing to do a lot of writing and playing his share of Manhattan club dates, while paying the bills with "day gigs" as a music teacher; he recorded Modern Memory in 1996.
Bazaar album:
1.Bazaar
2.Leather
3.Thin Elephant
4.Life Goes
5.You People Intro
6.You People
7.Mid-Life
8.Hindu Myth
9.Destiny Owes You