Acoustic Groove Master Jack West

A prolific musician, composer, and bandleader, percussive acoustic guitarist Jack West is a singular musician with an immediately recognizable sound. His early career saw the release six albums that received widespread critical acclaim, and included steady performances at leading festivals and venues including SXSW, Atlanta Jazz Festival, High Sierra Music Festival, and The Freight in Berkeley. In parallel with his music career, West is also an inventor and has patented various new musical instruments and solar technologies, pursuits that have born impressive fruit. Jack has recently ramped up his musical output with multiple projects, including two new albums and supporting tour dates in early 2026.

Characterized by uncommon rhythmic dexterity, exploratory slide guitar work and a uniquely grooving, percussive acoustic style, West’s playing was described by The Oakland Tribune as sounding “like something never heard before... nothing short of astounding.” His recordings with his band Curvature have elicited extravagant praise, with Cadence Magazine calling his music “subtle, sensuous, accomplished, and mature,” while NPR declared his output “a whole new sub-genre of jazz.”

Rather than a tributary to the mighty river of jazz, it might be more accurate to say West’s music represents a new stream of American acoustic music, an improvisation-laced sound influenced by jazz, but equally engaged with rock, folk, and funk. In many ways he was an early exemplar of the acoustic guitar virtuosi who followed in the percussive footsteps of Michael Hedges (1953 –1997), a world that’s expanded in recent years with YouTube sensations like Marcin, Alexandr Misko, and Luka Stricognoli. While West shares with these artists an expansive toolkit of impressive percussive techniques, his music is far less about blazing through fully composed pieces and more about innovative grooves and ensemble interplay, with space for impromptu invention.

With his stunning new acoustic guitar duo album, West offers fans of acoustic guitar virtuosity a jaw-dropping sojourn. Guitars On Life presents a captivating collection of steel string duets with fellow guitar explorer Walter Strauss, best known for his extensive work with Malian artists (particularly kora master Sidiki Diabaté and ngoni innovator Mamadou Sidibe). With West supplying the bass, chords, and percussion lines of an entire rhythm section, his bass notes popping due to a thumb pick of his own invention, Strauss overlays expertly filigreed melodies. The result is a surprisingly large, full band sound emanating from just two acoustic guitars.

For this concert at Kuumbwa, Jack West’s Slide Guitar Ensemble, featuring marimbist Lalo Crane, bassist Gary Brown, and drummer Josh Jones, will perform songs from the new double-LP retrospective Essential Curvature, and Jack West and Walter Strauss will perform as an acoustic duo in celebration of the new LP Guitars On Life.