Lawson Rollins is an American guitarist from North Carolina noted for his virtuoso fingerstyle technique and melodic compositional skills.

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' was an American magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francis ...

magazine ranked him as one of the "50 Best Acoustic Guitarists of All Time". His music has risen to #1 on the Billboard charts and is generally classed as

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave (rhythm), clave, and Afro-Brazil ...

and

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

, with elements of

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

, bossa nova,

Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

, and

shred guitar Shred guitar is a virtuosic style of electric guitar performance. Categorized by its use of advanced techniques, shredding is a complex art form. Shred guitar includes fast alternate picking, sweep-picking, diminished and harmonic minor scales, t ...

. He often employs fast minor scales and diminished scale solo runs to his compositions which are executed in the flamenco ''picado'' style.

Career

He is best known for his compositions ''Free to Fly'', ''World of Wonder'', ''The Fire Cadenza'', ''Santa Ana Wind'', ''Flight'', ''Daybreak'', ''Infinita'', and ''Moonlight Samba'' and his albums ''Rise'', ''True North'', ''Dark Matter'', ''Airwaves: The Greatest Hits'', ''Infinite Chill (the remix sessions)'', ''3 Minutes To Midnight'', ''Traveler'', ''Infinita'', '' Espirito'', ''

Elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

'' and ''Full Circle'' which were all critically acclaimed by the jazz and guitar communities. He has reached a wide audience on both radio and the internet. Video performances of ''Locomotion'', ''The Fire Cadenza'' and ''Santa Ana Wind'' have been viewed millions of times on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. His songs "After Twilight", "Free to Fly", "Bluewave Bossanova", "World of Wonder", "Island Time", "Flight", "Daybreak", "Moonlight Samba," and "Infinita" have proven popular on jazz radio stations and landed on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top 30 contemporary jazz radio chart. His song "After Twilight" hit number 1 on the Billboard contemporary jazz radio chart. His album ''Full Circle'' landed on the ''Billboard'' Top 10 World Music album sales chart and he was a Top 100 Artist of the Year on radio as ranked by RadioWave. The song "Shifting Seasons" from ''Full Circle'' won the U.S. Songwriting Competition first place award for instrumental song of the year. Lawson was also awarded third place for Artist of the Year. In a separate year he received another first place award in the USA Songwriting Competition for the title track of his ''Traveler'' album. The ''Traveler'' album also won three Gold Medals in the Global Music Awards for Instrumentalist, Album, and Top 10 Albums of the Year. Influenced by Andrés Segovia from his mid-teens, he developed an interest in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, and improvisational Latin and Brazilian guitar styles in his early twenties. After graduating from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

he earned a graduate degree from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, then moved to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in 1998 where he met guitarist Daniel Young (Dan Young) at a local flamenco shop and formed the Latin guitar fusion group Young & Rollins. They released several albums together, including ''Salsa Flamenca'', which landed on the Billboard Chart in 2000, ''Sevilla'' (2001), ''Esperanza'' (2005) and ''Mosaic'' (2006) and played at venues such as the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

and

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

. Rollins was based in Washington until 2007 when he moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. His solo albums are characterized by an eclectic mix of Middle Eastern, Brazilian, and Arabic music fused with Spanish guitar and backed by an all-star cast of musicians from around the world including Israeli singer and composer Idan Raichel, Brazilian singer Flora Purim, percussionist

Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer, composer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a membe ...

, Cuban drummer

Horacio Hernandez Horacio \ho-ra-cio\, a masculine given name, is a variant of Horace (given name), Horace. The given name Horacio is found sporadically throughout all of Latin America. Horacio is a boy's name with Latin origins said to mean 'timekeeper'. The Portug ...

, Shahin Shahida of Shahin and Sepehr, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Iranian kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor, Grammy-winning violinists Mads Tolling and Charlie Bisharat, and electric guitarist

Buckethead Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative and virtuosic electric guitar playing. Buckethead's extensive solo discography currentl ...

, among others. Lawson is a voting member of

NARAS National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely kno ...

, a member of A2IM, and owner of the independent world music record label Infinita Records.

Discography

Studio lbums

As part of Young & Rollins * ''Salsa Flamenca'' (2000) * ''Sevilla'' (2001) * ''Esperanza'' (2005) * ''Mosaic'' (2006)

Compilation albums

Singles

Solo * ''The Fire Cadenza'' (Infinita Records, 2009) * ''Santa Ana Wind'' (Infinita Records, 2009) * ''Locomotion'' (Infinita Records, 2012) * ''Segovia Thru the Snow'' (Infinita Records, 2022) * ''The Calling'' (Infinita Records, 2022) * ''The Eternal Dance'' (Infinita Records, 2023) * ''Sunlight Bossa Nova'' (Infinita Records, 2023) Collaborations * Idan Raichel & Lawson Rollins: ''And If You Will Come To Me'' ( Cumbancha Records, 2018) * Idan Raichel & Lawson Rollins: ''And If You Will Come To Me coustic Version' ( Cumbancha Records, 2018)

Compilation appearances

Solo * ''Guitar Greats: The Best of New Flamenco – Volume I'' (2000) ( Baja/TSR) * ''Gypsy Spice: Best of New Flamenco'' (2009) (Baja/TSR) * ''Guitar Greats: The Best of New Flamenco – Volume III'' (2013) (Baja/TSR) As part of Young & Rollins * ''Tabu: Mondo Flamenco'' (2001) (

Narada Narada (, ), or Narada Muni, is a sage-divinity, famous in Hinduism, Hindu traditions as a travelling musician and storyteller, who carries news and enlightening wisdom. He is one of the Manasputra, mind-created children of Brahma, the creator ...

) * ''Musica del Sol'' (2001) (

Williams Sonoma Williams Sonoma is an American retailer of cookware, appliances, and home furnishings. It is owned by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and was founded by Chuck Williams (author), Charles E. (Chuck) Williams in 1956. History In 1947, Chuck Williams settle ...

/EMI-Capitol) * ''Guitar Greats: The Best of New Flamenco – Volume II'' (2002) (Baja/TSR) * ''Caravan: Passion and Magic'' (2005) (Sugo) * ''Bolero Gypsies: New Flamenco – Volume I'' (2005) (

Bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...

) * ''Bolero Gypsies: New Flamenco – Volume II'' (2006) (Bolero)

Awards

* USA Songwriting Competition – 2015, 1st Place Instrumental * Global Music Awards – 2015, three Gold Medals: Instrumentalist, Album & Top 10 Albums of the Year * USA Songwriting Competition – 2014, 1st Place Instrumental; 3rd Overall Best Artist * International Songwriting Competition – 2015, Finalist Instrumental

References

External links

Lawson Rollins official website

Lawson's guitar duo: Young & Rollins official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rollins, Lawson Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Guitarists from North Carolina Flamenco guitarists