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Alex Skolnick

Alex Skolnick's Genre:

Prog-Rock, Neo-Prog, Guitar Virtuoso

Biography

Although he first came to the attention of guitar fans worldwide as a member of thrash metallists Testament, Alex Skolnick has gone on to put his metal days largely behind him in favor of his true love: jazz fusion. Born in 1968 in Berkeley, California, Skolnick's interest in rock music and guitar came about due to his (and a zillion other youths at the time) admiration of glam metallists Kiss. By his late teens, Skolnick was taking lessons from a then-unknown Joe Satriani, before signing on with a local outfit, Legacy, which would soon after become known as Testament. The quintet followed in the same musical path of such thrash metal groundbreakers as Metallica, and soon built a following, resulting in a recording contract with Megaforce by the late '80s (just as thrash began to infiltrate the mainstream).

A string of well-received releases followed (each outselling its predecessor): 1987's Legacy, 1988's New Order, 1989's Practice What You Preach, 1990's Souls of Black, and 1992's The Ritual, as well as touring alongside the likes of Megadeth, Slayer, Judas Priest, and White Zombie, among others. It was also during this time that Skolnick began being recognized for his six-string talents, racking up awards in polls held by such renowned guitar publications as Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Guitar World (the latter for which Skolnick contributed an instructional column for a spell). Also during this time (1991), Skolnick supplied guitar demonstrations for a tour by bass master Stuart Hamm.

However, Skolnick began feeling more and more confined to just one style as a member of Testament, which eventually led to his exit in 1992 (Testament would carry on, subsequently, with different guitarists and varying results). Strangely, despite Skolnick's desire to try other musical styles, he joined Savatage -- a band that was quite similar to his former group -- soon after. However, his union with Savatage would last for only a single album, 1994's Handful of Rain, before he finally set out on his own. Skolnick immediately became a much in-demand guitarist, as he either performed or recorded with the likes of Primus bassist Les Claypool and Primus/Guns N' Roses drummer Brain, bassist Michael Manring, Ozzy Osbourne, Miles Davis, keyboardist Adam Holzman, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and even Les Miserables/Jekyll & Hyde Broadway actor Rob Evan, among others. Additionally, Skolnick released a pair of albums with the prog metal-fusion trio Attention Deficit (which featured former Primus drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander and Manring) -- 1998's Attention Deficit and 2001's The Idiot King.

Relocating to New York City during the late '90s, Skolnick began performing regularly in the area with the Alex Skolnick Trio, in addition to earning a B.F.A. in jazz performance from Manhattan's New School University (where he studied with Richie Beirach, George Garzone, Hal Galper, and Cecil McBee). Skolnick also composed music for other projects, including the home video game Hot Wheels Turbo Racing, the USA Network's broadcast of the 2002 Westminster Dog Show, and MTV's Makin' the Band. He toured and performed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and in 2005 reunited with Testament for a short European tour, appearing on Formation of Damnation, the group's first studio album with the guitarist since 1992's The Ritual. The Alex Skolnick Trio's Goodbye to Romance: Standards for a New Generation, a collection of metal covers given jazz makeovers, was released in 2001, while 2004’s Transformation featured radically reworked versions of Judas Priest, Pink Floyd, Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, and Ronnie James Dio tunes. Issued in 2007, Last Day in Paradise leaned harder on original compositions, and 2011’s well-received Veritas followed the same template. ~ Greg Prato

AOL Radio Stations Alex Skolnick is Featured on (1)

Alex Skolnick

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like T.J. Kirk, Rare Blend, Acoustic Junction, FM, Tony Grey, Jaimee Paul, Niacin, The Big Wu, Kevin Eubanks, Garaj Mahal and more.

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Alex Skolnick's Selected Discography (4)

Veritas

2011 Palmetto Records201111 Songs

Last Day in Paradise

2007 Magnatude Records200710 Songs

Transformation

2004 Magnatude Records200411 Songs

Goodbye to Romance: Standards for a New Generation

20049 Songs

All Albums

Artists Related to Alex Skolnick (50)

	T.J. Kirk	T.J. Kirk may not be remembered in the annals of jazz/fusion history, but the quartet's story is uniquely its own.
	Rare Blend
	Acoustic Junction	The jam band Acoustic Junction was formed in Boulder, CO in 1989 by singer/guitarist Reed Foehl; although the group endured endless lineup changes in the years that followed, other mainstays of the roster included multi-instrumentalist Tim Roper, bassist Curtis Thompson and drummer Matt Coconis.
	FM	British AOR veterans FM were formed around the trio of Steve Overland, his brother Chris, and Pete Jupp.
	Tony Grey
	Jaimee Paul
	Niacin	Having played straightforward hard rock with Mr. Big since the tail end of the '80s, bass virtuoso Billy Sheehan formed Niacin as an outlet for his jazz fusion and prog rock inclinations during the mid-'90s.
	The Big Wu	Jam band the Big Wu formed on the campus of St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN in 1992 around the nucleus of singer/guitarist Chris Castino, guitarist Jason Fladager and drummer Terry VanDeWalker.
	Kevin Eubanks	An adept guitarist with a bent toward contemporary jazz, Kevin Eubanks is best known for leading the Tonight Show Band with host Jay Leno.
	Garaj Mahal
	Alex Skolnick Trio
	Gryphon	Gryphon was one of the more unusual of the folk-rock groups to come out of England in the 1970s, mostly because they didn't confine their musical genre-melding to folk-rock.
	New Monsoon
	Grant Geissman	A guitarist, bandleader and fusion/instrumental pop musician, Grant Geissman has recorded several albums for Bluemoon/Mesa, mostly with small groups, though his last release was with a big band.
	Zilla	Colorado-based Zilla is an instrumental rock group with a heavy emphasis on improvisation featuring Michael Travis of the String Cheese Incident (drums, percussion, keyboards, mallet Kat); Jamie Janover (hammered dulcimer, mini-kit, percussion, sampler, electric kalimba, sitar), who formerly played with Travis in the band Zuvuya; and Aaron Holstein (guitar, bass, sampler, keyboards), former guitarist with Boogie Shoes and Vibe Squad.
	Moshav Band
	Moon Taxi	A five-piece jam and prog rock outfit hailing from Nashville, TN, Moon Taxi quickly built a local following, which soon led to a record deal with 12th South Records.
	Robert Hunter	Robert Hunter is best known as a non-performing lyricist for the Grateful Dead. He is also a recording artist in his own right, a poet, and a translator.
	Eddie Henderson	Eddie Henderson was one of the few trumpeters who was strongly influenced by Miles Davis' work of his early fusion period.
	Jordan Rudess	Jordan Rudess has the distinction of taking classical piano training at the Juilliard School of Music at nine years old.
	Alan White	It's one of the great ironies in Alan White's career that he came to fame in the shadow of the drummer he replaced in Yes, Bill Bruford.
	Greenslade	Dave Greenslade (keys) and Tony Reeves (bass) formed Greenslade in 1972. The two had previously played together in Colosseum and they recruited Dave Lawson (Episode Six) as vocalist.
	Mahavishnu Orchestra	One of the premiere fusion groups, the Mahavishnu Orchestra were considered by most observers during their prime to be a rock band, but their sophisticated improvisations actually put their high-powered music between rock and jazz.
	Everything	The six members of Everything met at Virginia's James Madison University. They formed the band in 1989 and started touring full-time in 1992.
	Mike Stern	Recognized as one of the finest guitarists among his peers, Mike Stern was born on January 10, 1953, in Boston, MA, but grew up in Washington, D.
	John McLaughlin	One of fusion's most virtuosic guitar soloists, John McLaughlin placed his blazing speed in the service of a searching spiritual passion that has kept his music evolving and open to new influences.
	Papa Grows Funk
	Amazing Blondel	One of England's more unusual rock outfits of the 1970s, Amazing Blondel were a trio whose members played instruments dating from medieval to Elizabethan times, and songs styled to those periods.
	Al Di Meola	Guitarist Al di Meola first rose to prominence as a blazing jazz fusion player before his playing matured and he began to conquer other styles, such as acoustic Latin music.
	Flash	After Peter Banks found himself replaced in Yes by Steve Howe, he set his sights on creating a new band.
	Kaipa	Before the seeds of the Flower Kings were planted, Kings' guitarist/vocalist Roine Stolt was working in the band Kaipa.
	Eloy	One of the most popular German bands of the '70s, Eloy went through several stages in their long career, with the only constant member being guitarist/vocalist Frank Bornemann.
	Larry Coryell	As one of the pioneers of jazz-rock -- perhaps the pioneer in the ears of some -- Larry Coryell deserves a special place in the history books.
	RAQ	A progressive rock jam band from Burlington, Vermont, RAQ first came together in 2001. Original members Jay Burwick(bass), Chris Michetti(guitars), Marc Scortino(keyboards), and Greg Stukey(drums) released their first album, Shed Tech in 2001.
	Triumvirat	German '70s art rock band à la Focus................................................................
	Echolyn	Echolyn's style has been termed updated progressive rock, due to the band's classically trained, highly professional members -- vocalist Ray Weston, guitarist/vocalist Brett Kull, keyboard player Chris Buzby, bassist Tom Hyatt and drummer Paul Ramsey.
	Happy the Man	Often compared to Yes for their melodicism and Gentle Giant for the complexity of their compositions, Happy the Man added their own high-caliber musicianship, a sense of symphonic drama, odd time signatures, spacy sound, and occasional whimsy to their brand of progressive rock.
	Pseudopod	Although the quartet of Pseudopod began in 1999 with an array of college rock elements that include funk, jazz fusion, and prog rock, the quartet eventually incorporated jam improvisations into their live set.
	Steel Train	Much like Southern rock revivalists My Morning Jacket and Kings of Leon, Steel Train take a post-punk approach to the hoary sounds of '70s album-oriented rock.
	Crack the Sky	Progressive rock group Crack the Sky was formed in the Ohio River Valley region in 1975 by frontman John Palumbo, guitarists Jim Griffiths and Rick Witkowski, bassist Joe Macre, and drummer Joey D'Amico.
	Robert Bradley	An anachronism in the world of late-'90s rock & roll, Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise consists of the group's namesake, a wizened Detroit street singer, plus three relatively fresh-faced alterna-kids as a backing band.
	U.K.	Featuring members of Yes, King Crimson, Roxy Music, and Soft Machine, U.K. was one of the most prominent progressive rock supergroups of the late '70s.
	Nektar	The four Englishmen who formed the initial incarnation of Nektar met in Germany and formed the band there in 1969.
	Renaissance	The history of Renaissance is essentially the history of two separate groups, rather similar to the two phases of the Moody Blues or the Drifters.
	Brian Bromberg	A very versatile acoustic and electric bassist capable of playing straight-ahead jazz, funk, and fusion, Brian Bromberg is also one of the few bassists to master the tapping technique made famous by Stanley Jordan, sometimes sounding like three bassists at once during his often-thunderous solos.
	IQ	Formed in the 1980s, IQ is comprised of Martin Orford, Paul Cook, Mike Holmes, Peter Nicholls, and John Jowitt.
	Jean-Luc Ponty	It has been a long, fascinating odyssey for Jean-Luc Ponty, who started out as a straight jazz violinist only to become a pioneer of the electric violin in jazz-rock in the '70s and an inspired manipulator of sequencers and synthesizers in the '80s.
	Klaatu	In August of 1976, the self-titled debut album by an unknown group called Klaatu was released on Capitol Records to little notice.
	Starcastle	Starcastle (along with Styx, Fireballet, and Kansas) were part of a belated stateside response to British progressive rock.
	Curved Air	One of the most dramatically accomplished of all the bands lumped into Britain's late-'60s prog explosion, Curved Air was formed in early 1970 by violinist Darryl Way, a graduate of the Royal College of Music, and two former members of Sisyphus, keyboard player Francis Monkman and drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa.