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Brian Citro
A 2025 City of Chicago Individual Artists Program awardee, Brian Citro has been playing and writing music for 35 years. He studied with renowned guitarist and educator Fareed Haque and is a long-time member of The Drastics. He’s performed and toured with JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, Ted Sirota’s Heavyweight Dub!, Ackah Blay in Ghana, and many others. He leads a jazz quartet with Nick Mazzarella on saxophones, Quin Kirchner on drums, and Matt Ulery on bass, and he co-leads The Hey Lows with multi-instrumentalist and producer Lance Loiselle.
Brian’s new album, Keep Moving (Home), on Calligram Records features 14 original compositions performed by his quartet. Recorded to tape by engineer Dave Vettraino at Chicago’s Palisade Studio, the album presents an “emotionally resonant … convergence of composition, performance, sound, and visual presentation” (Paris Move). The music flows from Brian’s experiences as a musician and human rights lawyer living in India and traveling in Africa and beyond.
Brian’s previous album, Acoustic Pastime on ears&eyes Records, features Brian performing solo guitar arrangements of his compositions and Thelonious Monk tunes. In the past, Brian made music as Salamander and Video Gum Culture with Charles Gorczynski, Nate Lepine, and Mark Van Ziegler. Other projects include short video works with award-winning poet (and Brian’s uncle), Christopher Citro.
Brian is also a human rights lawyer and has lived, traveled, and played music in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
Awards
2025 City of Chicago Individual Artists Program
Gear
Gibson Custom 1964 ES-335 Reissue
1966 Fender Twin Reverb
Mogami cables
Tags
Brian Citro, Meg Okura, and Dinah Washington
by Jerome Wilson
This show has a couple of detours into the world of blues and includes music by Brian Citro, Ellen Rowe, Chris Rea, Meg Okura and Dinah Washington. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Conrad Herwig “Search for Peace" from The Latin Side of McCoy Tyner (Savant) 1:10 The Interplay Jazz Orchestra “Strasbourg / St. Denis" from Bite Your Tongue ...
Continue ReadingBrian Citro: Keep Moving (Home)
by Jack Bowers
The sound of Brian Citro's mellow guitar introduces “Stay Where You Feel," the first of his 14 original compositions on Keep Moving (Home), most of which began life as pieces for solo guitar and were revised by Citro to suit a quartet format. Citro's teammates on this generally pleasing yet largely anodyne session are alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella, bassist Matt Ulery and drummer Quin Kirchner. Mazzarella doubles on the seldom-heard Wurlitzer organ. About the only thing that could ...
Continue ReadingGuitarist Brian Citro Releases 'Keep Moving (Home)' On Calligram Records
Source:
Calligram Records
Guitarist and composer Brian Citro returns with Keep Moving (Home) (Calligram Records, 2026), his most ambitious recording to date — a fourteen-composition statement that fuses his life as a jazz musician with his parallel career as a human rights lawyer. The album documents Citro's reemergence on the Chicago jazz scene after years spent working abroad, performing Sufi music with Rajasthani musicians in New Delhi, Highlife music with Ghanaians in Accra, and his own music with a trio of Indian jazz ...
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“Brian Citro’s new album Keep Moving (Home) on Calligram Records is a great listen! Tasteful grooves, strong melodies, and Brian’s lyrical yet modern guitar playing set it apart from the pack.” Fareed Haque
“[T]here is something undeniably human in the music: a warmth, a sense of intimacy, a feeling of being invited into a space that is both reflective and generous.” Paris Move
