JJ SAN SAV ER I NO

over the world instead of the usual smooth jazz cats for this, and it gave the sound a different feel. If the song had a Caribbean or reggae vibe, I wanted musicians who play that so we bring out the true essence of the genre.”

Soul energy is an apt way to describe Sansaverino, who is an engaging and lively conversationalist. He is good humored, humble and genuine. Throughout an engaging extended conversation, he talked on numerous topics, including his love for the New York Yankees, Knicks and Giants, and his experiences as a bartender in two Manhattan bars, where he used to work 80 hours a week during fallow times in his music career.

What stands out on all of Sansaverino’s albums is his distinct, clean and brisk playing with a rich guitar tone. He’s a savvy musician with style and grace. His leads elevate the songs––they are free of gratuitous grandstanding that calls attention to itself.

“My two favorite guitar players are George Benson and Carlos Santana, and the two of them couldn’t play more differently from each other,” he said.

“But they had a huge influence on me. For me, it’s been a constant parallel approach with maybe a rock sound with some blues or fusion or jazz with blues or smooth jazz. Merging two sounds together because you are essentially creating moods.

“A mood of a song might be a little bit more mellow; it doesn’t need a crunchier sound, so it needs something smoother or delicate. I try to get a clean sound that breathes. It depends on the song––I approach them differently. If the music hits harder, you add a little more dirt to it.”

Before becoming a solo artist, Sansaverino worked extensively with artists in the hiphop and reggae communities. He has toured the world with Priest and played with Shaggy and New York hip-hop bands in the 1990s.

“I love reggae, and found myself sitting in with reggae bands in the ’90s and playing with some of the best musicians. I ended up touring with The Meditations, and that led to playing with Freddie McGregor, Junior Reid and Dennis Brown,” he reminisced.

“I started with Maxi Priest and did 22 years on tour with him. We played every corner of the world. To me, it’s the most international music in the world. You could

“ I t’s t he most internati onal music in the world. You could travel anywhere, and if you walk into a cave someplace, there would be a caveman with a club. If you say, ‘Bob Marley,’ he’s going to say, ‘Yeah, ‘mon.’” travel anywhere, and if you walk into a cave someplace, there would be a caveman with a club. If you say, ‘Bob Marley,’ he’s going to say, ‘Yeah, ‘mon,’” he said, laughing. “The music is loved everywhere.”

The guitarist has music in his Italian American blood. He grew up in New York in a household filled with music and a family of accomplished musicians.

“My grandmother on my mother’s side was an opera singer who studied at Juilliard. And, my grandfather on my father’s side was a well-known singer in New York,” he said. “A lot of my uncles were doo-wop singers. I always heard music in the house.

“You’d have thought I’d have been a singer, but I ended up playing guitar. There was this old, beat-up guitar in the closet. I just started messing around with it, playing along to records and taking a few lessons.”

He took a deep breath after recalling childhood memories. “I realized I wanted to be a musician,” said the honors graduate of Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of

Music. “Of course, my parents didn’t think that was a feasible job because all of the doo-wop singers in my family had other jobs like bus driver to support themselves. But I felt like I could make a career out of music.”

And he made good on that promise. He’s been a remarkably prolific recording artist over the past few years, and he tours as often as he can in the vanishing jazz club circuit across the country. The guitarist has also been playing festivals, and will appear at the Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest in March.

Sansaverino said he is constantly writing and recording. He has two CDs ready to be released––one is a reggae album.

“I had 50 songs to choose from for this CD––some just didn’t fit the soul energy sound I was going for,” he said about his intense productivity. “I’m always writing. I probably have another 50, 60 songs that are nearly finished or completed.

“I told my record company [Innervision Records] that I want to put out a CD every year. I don’t want to put out five songs a

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