"She plays with tremendous fire. She can do pretty much
anything she wants on the guitar."  — Joe Pass
 
With her seventh release as a leader, the ambitious two-CD set Perpetually Hip, Mimi Fox once again displays the masterful command of the fretboard that has led to her being named a“Rising Star” in four consecutive Down Beat International Critics Polls (2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006). She was also profiled in that magazine’s special feature, “66 Hot 6-Stringers: Down Beat’s Look at the Guitarists Making Today’s Scene,” which presented “66 guitarists in the worlds of jazz, blues and beyond whose work is innovating, invigorating and perpetuating the guitar tradition.”

On her eagerly-awaited followup to last year’s acclaimed She’s The Woman, her debut on Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label, Fox distinguishes herself in both group and solo settings. Accompanied by a stellar cast of New York players in pianist Xavier Davis, bassist Harvie S. and drummer Billy Hart, Mimi displays her warm, clean tone in a variety of moods on disc one, ranging from urgent bop-fueled romps and earthy blues to gorgeous ballads, alluring bossas and sensuous sambas, while also showcasing her own originals. In the more intimate and revealing solo disc, she takes great liberties in interpreting some well known jazz standards while also preserving the melodic integrity of these timeless gems from the great American songbook such as Cole Porter’s “Night and Day,” George Gershwin’s “Someone To Watch Over Me” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark.” Throughout Perpetually Hip, Fox offers a fresh take on the jazz guitar tradition while also paying respect to her biggest six-string influences -- Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery and Grant Green.

A seasoned player who has performed with fellow guitarists Charlie Byrd and Charlie Hunter as well as with Grammy award winning saxophonist David Sanchez, saxophonist Don Lanphere, Manhattan Transfer's Janis Siegel, Hammond B3 organ virtuosos Barbara Dennerlien and Dr. Lonnie Smith and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, Fox has shared the bill with a wide array of artists including Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder, Kenny Burrell and John Sebastian. She has also appeared as guest soloist with several orchestras, including Orchestra Sonoma, performing her original scores, and has composed music for theater and film as well as appearing on numerous television and radio shows such as BET on Jazz and Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” program on NPR.

Mimi maintains a whirlwind touring schedule, playing major jazz clubs and festivals from New York to Tokyo, including tours of the Caribbean, Japan, Thailand, and Australia. She has performed at The Village Gate in New York City; Blues Alley in Washington, D.C.; Jazz Alley in Seattle; and Yoshi's, the Great American Music Hall, and Kimball's East in the San Francisco area. She is a favorite at jazz and music festivals such as the Jazz on the Water Festival, The Guinness Cork Ireland Jazz Festival, the Britt Festival, the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival, The San Francisco & San Jose Jazz Festivals, The Perth International Jazz Festival, Bumbershoot, Port Townsend, and Monterey Jazz Festivals. Phil Elwood, dean of the San Francisco music critics, singled her out: "Outstanding performer. From the galaxy of stars at the JazzFest, guitarist Mimi Fox came across as the brightest."

Mimi received glowing accolades for two previous releases. In its 4-star review, Down Beat said She’s The Woman was “everything guitar jazz is supposed to be,” while Guitar Player cited Mimi as “a prodigious talent who has not only mastered the traditional forms, but has managed to reinvigorate them.” In Cadence magazine, writer Jim Josselyn said of 2001’s Standards, "This may be the finest solo jazz guitar playing I have ever heard.” Her prior release, 1999’s Kicks (with Hammond B-3 monster Joey DeFrancesco and featuring guitarist Charlie Hunter and Yellowjackets bandmates Russell Ferrante on piano and Will Kennedy on drums) quickly rose to fifth place on jazz radio charts and number 20 on Billboard jazz charts. Allaboutjazz.com awarded Kicks four stars out of four in its rave review, stating, "This is a strongly melodic collection, and one that swings out stylishly...Mimi Fox is a major talent...strongly recommended."

Born in New York City, Mimi started playing drums at nine, and then guitar when she was ten. She was inspired by the wide variety of music enjoyed by her family — show tunes, classical, Dixieland, Motown — and her own youthful inclination toward pop, folk, and R. When she was fourteen, she bought her first jazz album "because it was on sale." The one she chose had no guitarist, but she was "blown away" by it. That album, John Coltrane's classic “Giant Steps,” changed the course of her musical life. She began touring right out of high school and eventually moved to San Francisco in 1979, where she became a sought-after musician. She is Chair of the Guitar Department at the innovative Jazzschool in Berkeley, California and adjunct professor at New York University. Mimi has appeared as guest clinician at the University of Southern California, Musician’s Institute of Technology, CalArts, University of Connecticut, University of Oregon, the Britt Music Festival, and others.  She has written a book on jazz guitar studies published by Mel Bay Publications and recently completed and interactive cd-rom for True Fire Music entitled Jazz Anatomy. 

Mimi is also a featured player in a current tour of women guitarists billed as “La Guitara,” which explores the contribution of women to the evolution of modern guitar. The brainchild of Patty Larkin, this highly anticipated tour coincided with a compilation CD on Vanguard Records featuring 12-14 female guitarists of varied genres. Partial proceeds will benefit music education. "The goal of La Guitara is to better define the contribution of women to the history of modern guitar," explains Ms. Larkin."I have been asked repeatedly, Why are there no great female guitar players? The answer is, There are. Demographics are changing as young girls and women take up the instrument with increasing dedication and commitment to technique and repertoire. It is my belief that women guitarists of the past played a part in the evolution of the instrument and that their story is largely untold. I also believe that there are women guitarists today who are actively changing our preconceptions about gender and guitar heroes. This project is dedicated to these artists, past and present, waiting to be discovered, needing to be heard." Other women guitarists featured on the La Guitara tour include Sharon Isbin, Kaki King, Badi Assad, Rory Block, Ellen McIlwaine and Muriel Anderson.

Meanwhile, Mimi asserts her place among the jazz guitar elite with the release of Perpetually Hip, her most daring and fully realized project to date.

Aside from the towering influence of Pass, which is most pronounced here on the solo material, touches of Grant Green, Pat Martino and Wes Montgomery can also be heard in Fox’s fluent linear playing throughout Perpetually Hip. Mimi is definitely part of that hip six-string lineage. “I’m a jazzer,” she maintains with a tone of pride, having paid her dues and broken her way into the boy’s club of jazz guitar long ago. “Pretty much everybody that I enjoy listening to has been a big influence on my playing.”


Contact information
Ed Dunsavage Management/Global Productions
541-488-3869 ~ jazzbookings@opendoor.com