About Kenji Herbert

Austrian-Japanese guitarist, Kenji Herbert, has distilled his unique background and diverse influences into a sound that is characteristically his own. Currently residing in Brooklyn, New York, he is active internationally in a wide range of creative music projects.

His debut release, "The Way The Light Falls" (Inner Circle Music, 2016) presents dialogues between esteemed collaborators that Kenji had envisioned working with for years. It unfolds in an intricate interplay of the voices to form a narrative with a chamber music-like aesthetic. The album features a quartet with Dan Blake , Chris Tordini and Devin Drobka and various trios featuring Alex Hargreaves, Maeve Gilchrist, Julia Easterlin and Yuhan Su.

Since his move to New York City in 2011, Kenji has joined a community of a new generation of musicians propelling jazz and improvised music into the 21st century, while also collaborating with artists across disciplines, composing music for dance and film. Aside from leading his own ensembles, he co-leads the Scruffy Herberts with his uncle, bassist/composer Peter Herbert and is a member of the Bakia Quartet. Over the years, Kenji has toured in 17 countries throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, performing at notable venues such as the Lincoln Center, Blue Note, Super Deluxe (Tokyo), Porgy and Bess (Vienna), Bregenzer Festspielhaus and the Panama Jazz Festival.

Kenji studied guitar under Wolfgang Muthspiel (Music Academy Basel, Switzerland 2006-2008), David Tronzo and Mick Goodrick (Berklee College of Music 2009-2011). Additionally, he was an inaugural member of the Berkee Global Jazz Institute, an honor program under the artistic direction of Danilo Perez with a highly distinguished faculty that included Joe Lovano, John Patitucci and Ben Street a.m.o. He graduated Berklee summa cum laude in 2011.