Brian Rolland
Encyclopedia
Brian Rolland is an American
guitarist
, composer
and songwriter
raised in Cambridge
, Massachusetts
. His instrumental sound is characterized by a mix of Latin/Spanish and North American guitar styles.
and rock
player, Rolland moved into formal training in jazz
through summer programs and lessons at New England Conservatory and Berklee School of Music while attending Cambridge Rindge and Latin high school. His first live performance was at age 14 with a rock band at the Club Casablanca in Harvard Square. Youthful influences included frequenting the Club 47 and The Boston Tea Party
in the later 1960s, and an appearance at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival
backing Jazz trumpeter Clark Terry
in a big band
setting.
His father was an amateur piano and cornet
player from Hannibal
, Missouri
who, as a teenager in the early 1940s, moonlighted playing jazz on Mississippi
riverboat
s, before moving East with his mother after World War II
to attend Harvard Medical School
under the GI Bill.
Rolland studied classical theory and composition with Douglas Leedy
at Reed College
, then completed a BA
degree at The University of New Hampshire
, where he studied under Mark DeVoto, graduating Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa nominated, in 1977.
An interest in classical guitar
led him to studies with a handful of Segovia
protégés including Abel Carlevaro
in Madrid in 1978, and Oscar Ghiglia
at the Aspen Music Festival in 1980.
In the early 1980s he co-led a band fronted by 7 time WC Handy Award nominee, Boston blues singer Toni Lynn Washington
, then released his first solo album, Guitar Bazaar, in 1982.
After a long period devoted to composing and an architectural
and construction
career, Rolland returned to performing in the 1990s with a stint as half of the guitar duo 'String Talk' alongside fellow player Sam Davis.
The Tide's In was named in Zone Music Reporter
's "Top 100 Airplay Chart for 2008" at #3, was nominated for "Best Instrumental Album – Acoustic" at the New Age Reporter Awards in 2006, peaked at #12 on Zone Music Reporter's "New Age / Ambient / World" charts in April 2006 and at #3 in April 2008.
The single "Doliber's Cove" spent 28 weeks on Sirius Satellite's "Top 10 New Age Singles" chart, from early May to mid-October 2008, reaching #1.
Awards include an Honorable Mention in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition for his instrumental single "Catch Me If You Can".
Brian Rolland has resided on the North Shore of Boston since 2000.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
raised in Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. His instrumental sound is characterized by a mix of Latin/Spanish and North American guitar styles.
Background
Starting out on piano and clarinet as a child, switching to folk guitar at age 12, and continuing as a largely self-taught bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
player, Rolland moved into formal training in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
through summer programs and lessons at New England Conservatory and Berklee School of Music while attending Cambridge Rindge and Latin high school. His first live performance was at age 14 with a rock band at the Club Casablanca in Harvard Square. Youthful influences included frequenting the Club 47 and The Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party (concert venue)
The Boston Tea Party was a concert venue located on 53 Berkeley Street in Boston, Massachusetts...
in the later 1960s, and an appearance at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...
backing Jazz trumpeter Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
in a big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
setting.
His father was an amateur piano and cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
player from Hannibal
Hannibal, Missouri
Hannibal is a city in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. Hannibal is located at the intersection of Interstate 72 and U.S. Routes 24, 36 and 61, approximately northwest of St. Louis. According to the 2010 U.S. Census the population was 17,606...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
who, as a teenager in the early 1940s, moonlighted playing jazz on Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
riverboat
Riverboat
A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such...
s, before moving East with his mother after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to attend Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
under the GI Bill.
Rolland studied classical theory and composition with Douglas Leedy
Douglas Leedy
Douglas Leedy is an American composer, performer and music scholar.-Biography:Born in Portland, Oregon, Leedy studied with Karl Kohn at Pomona College and at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was in a composition seminar with membership including La Monte Young and Terry Riley...
at Reed College
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
, then completed a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree at The University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire is a public university in the University System of New Hampshire , United States. The main campus is in Durham, New Hampshire. An additional campus is located in Manchester. With over 15,000 students, UNH is the largest university in New Hampshire. The university is...
, where he studied under Mark DeVoto, graduating Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa nominated, in 1977.
An interest in classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
led him to studies with a handful of Segovia
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
protégés including Abel Carlevaro
Abel Carlevaro
Abel Carlevaro was a virtuos performer, classical guitar composer and teacher born in Montevideo, Uruguay. He established a new school of instrumental technique, incorporating a fresh approach to seating and playing the guitar, based on anatomical principles.He had a successful career as a concert...
in Madrid in 1978, and Oscar Ghiglia
Oscar Ghiglia
Oscar Ghiglia is an Italian classical guitarist.Born of an artistic family - his father and grandfather were both famed painters, his mother an accomplished pianist – Oscar Ghiglia had to choose between a path strewn with brushes and colours and a world cut into harmony and melody.Though his early...
at the Aspen Music Festival in 1980.
In the early 1980s he co-led a band fronted by 7 time WC Handy Award nominee, Boston blues singer Toni Lynn Washington
Toni Lynn Washington
Toni Lynn Washington is an American blues singer.-Musical career:She took to music at an early age, singing with her school and church choirs....
, then released his first solo album, Guitar Bazaar, in 1982.
After a long period devoted to composing and an architectural
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
career, Rolland returned to performing in the 1990s with a stint as half of the guitar duo 'String Talk' alongside fellow player Sam Davis.
Recent work
He resumed recording with the release of a solo guitar album, Long Night's Moon (2000), followed by Dreams of Brazil (2002/2006), and The Tide's In (2007/2008).The Tide's In was named in Zone Music Reporter
Zone Music Reporter
Zone Music Reporter is a website tracking New Age, world, and instrumental music. The site features weekly playlist, monthly airplay charts, and album reviews...
's "Top 100 Airplay Chart for 2008" at #3, was nominated for "Best Instrumental Album – Acoustic" at the New Age Reporter Awards in 2006, peaked at #12 on Zone Music Reporter's "New Age / Ambient / World" charts in April 2006 and at #3 in April 2008.
The single "Doliber's Cove" spent 28 weeks on Sirius Satellite's "Top 10 New Age Singles" chart, from early May to mid-October 2008, reaching #1.
Awards include an Honorable Mention in the 2008 International Songwriting Competition for his instrumental single "Catch Me If You Can".
Brian Rolland has resided on the North Shore of Boston since 2000.
Selected discography
- The Tide's In (2007/2008)
- Dreams of Brazil (2002/2006)
- Long Night's Moon (2000)
- Guitar Bazaar (1982)