A Phil Brodie Band Tribute Page

Jeff Pevar
Connecticut, U.S.A.

Jeff Pevar is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, performer and guitarist who has worked and toured with a wide variety of music's finest as you will read on this page. Performing with his own band in New York City and throughout the Northeast, nicknamed "The Peev" Jeff sings & plays his unique blend of R & B, Jazz and Rock. The Hartford Advocate Readers' Poll has awarded him "Best Guitarist" and he and his band "Best Blues/Rock Band" for several years running.

Jeff Pevar in Solvang. '99. Photo taken by Tim Owen

PLAYED WITH
Just a few names from too many to mention Jeff had gigged with
Pat Simmons, Bonnie Rait, Marilyn McCoo, Carly Simon, Jeff Bridges, Christopher Cross, Wilson Pickett, Don Henley, Phil Collins, Michael Bolton, Tom Pirozzoli, B.B. King, Jim Barbaro.

TOURED WITH
Joe Cocker
Marc Cohn
Bonnie Raitt
Rickie Lee Jones
Ray Charles Quartet
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Ray Charles Orchestra
David Crosby & Graham Nash
Jonatha Brooke & The Story
Donald Fagen & N.Y. Soul
Phil Lesh and Friends
Michael Ruff
Glen Campbell
Art Garfunkle
CPR
and more

above: Chris Tofield & Jeff Pevar

PART INTERVIEW courtesy of .Tom Guerra

TG: Do you remember your first good guitar and amplifier?

JP: OK, well, a "so-called friend" did a Jimi Hendrix smashing act on my first electric guitar (laughs!). When I was growing up, the thing that I really was jonesing for, thinking about night and day, was a black Les Paul Custom.
I was about 13 years old and I would look at the shape of this guitar, like it was in a Playboy magazine or something- so I just waited and waited until I was able to get that guitar. Actually, my first Les Paul style guitar was an Aria that I put Gibson humbuckers in, and then I found a mid-60's Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. I was strictly a "Gibson guy" for many years. More recently I have tended to be more of a Strat guy. My preference is a strat outfitted with single AND double coil pickups. As I'm a big fan of dynamics and tonality, I like having access to the thinner single coil pickupsound as well as the fat humbucking sounds.
And there's something about that bell-like quality that you get from the in- between sound on a Strat. It's such an intimate sound. The single coils seem to bring out nuance. I've recently acquired a fantastic Tom Anderson guitar with single and double coil pickups which I like a lot. Their workmanship is incredible!
The first good amp of note was a 50 watt Marshall half-stack that sounded great, which I unfortunately sold because of the portability factor, and I've been kicking myself ever since. So now I have a tendency to keep everything I get, so I'm starting to amass a bit of a collection (laughs).

TG: How about your early influences? Was there anyone in particular you tried to emulate?

JP: Well, like everyone, I was a huge Beatles fan, but guitar player wise, believe it or not, it was John Fogerty I was first inspired by to learn to play lead. I was very into Creedence at the time. One of the things that was so striking to me about his playing was his simplistic, gut-level pentatonic approach. It really moved me. I could actually sit down and learn his lines, because they were so simple. He was such a great influence in the early years of my playing. I'm a self taught player, and I've never taken any lessons so my instruction was from listening and watching. I'm not a good sight-reader. When I was touring with Ray Charles, I had to sight-read charts, but the reason I got the gig was because of my playing ability, definitely not my sight-reading ability. Ray loved the blues and that was my forte.

TG: Wow Fogerty, I never would have guessed that! I would have said Jeff Beck or someone like that-

JP: Jeff Beck WAS a huge influence on me later on, but for playing lead it really started with Fogerty. I also listened to and was influenced by a number of other blues/rock style players, including Ten Years After's Alvin Lee, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, and OF COURSE I listened to Hendrix.
Later on I was attracted to the melodic vocabulary of certain jazz-rock players. I was enthralled by Larry Carlton and Robben Ford's use of melody, sound and technique, which really influenced my live and studio playing profoundly. Besides the R&B guitarists we all love, BB King, Albert King, Stevie Ray and the other REAL roots guys, I also love the cutting edge musicality of Eric Johnson, Steve Morse and Buzzy Feiten, to name a few..

TG: What are some of your all-time favorite "Desert Island" guitar solos, and what is it that you like about them?

JP: There are so many, but off the top of my head I'd have to say

1) "Kid Charlemagne" by Steely Dan, solo by Larry Carlton - the composition and the agility in his playing-one of the true masters, a huge influence on me

2) "Monmouth College Fight Song" off The YellowJackets' Casino Nights album,solo by Robben Ford - a beautiful tune with some astonishing melodic lines, played like a horn player

3) "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" by Jeff Beck, absolutely beautiful!

4) "Machine Gun" from Band of Gypsys, solo by Jimi Hendrix - there are places in his solo where it sounds like someone is screaming, being riddled by a machine gun-Amazing!

TG: How about your own solo, is there one that stands above the rest that makes you particularly proud?

JP: I don't think I've recorded it yet! One of my problems is that I'm very self critical and that's often got in the way of me putting my own record out, but I'm more recently I'm realizing that music isn't meant to be perfect - its about capturing a moment and moving on. I'm currently building my own studio and I do plan on recording my own CD in the very near future!
www.tomguerra.com/jeff-pevar.htm for full interview

Jeff play with 'One Kind Favor' photo courtesy of www.spanishladyranch

GEAR
Jeff has a large collection of guitars made up of 23 solid electrics, 16 acoustic guitars,
3 mandolins, 4 lap steels, 3 dobro/ resonator guitars and 4 basses. You can see his whole
collection on his website [link at end of page]. Below is a list of his solid electric collage.

ELECTRIC GUITARS
Anderson Swamp Ash Strat
Brian Moore i2
Danelectro
ESP "JP" Custom Strat
'61Fender Esquire
'61 Fender Jazzmaster
'64 Fender Strat (White)
'65 Fender Strat (Sunburst)
'53 Gibson ES-125
'68 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe
'68 Gibson ES-345 (Brown)
'68 Gibson ES-345 (Sunburst)
'65 Gibson ES-335TD (Cherry)
'68 Gibson ES-150
'65 Gretch Country Gentleman
'68 Gretch Nashville
'76 Gretch RockJet
G&L ASAT Tele
'66 Guild Starfire 12-string (Cherry)
Hamer Duo-Tone
'60 Harmony Rocket
Stump Preacher V-6 (Prototype)
Tacoma Papoose Electric

above Jeff with Victor The Snakeman

DISCOGRAPHY [part]

Rickie Lee Jones "The Magazine" Warner Bros. - 1984
Michael Ruff "Once In A Lifetime" Warner Bros. - 1984

Ray Charles "The Spirit Of Christmas" Columbia - 1985
James Taylor "That's Why I'm Here" Columbia - 1985

Ray Charles "Just Between Us" Columbia - 1988

Joe Cocker "One Night Of Sin" Capitol - 1989

Cliff Eberhardt "The Long Road" Windham Hill - 1990

Gary & the Moodswingers "Treat Me Like a Job" Blue Light - 1991
Devonsquare "Bye Bye Route 66" Warner Bros. - 1991

Jenny Muldaur "Jenny Muldaur" Warner Bros. - 1992
Jeremy Wall "Stepping To The New World" Amherst - 1992
Shawn Colvin " Fat City " Columbia - 1992
Chaka Khan "The Woman I Am" Warner Bros - 1992

Aztec Two-Step "Of Age" Beacon - 1993
Carly Simon "Romulus Hunt" Angel Records - 1993
David Crosby "Thousand Roads" Atlantic - 1993

David Wilcox "Big Horizon" A&M - 1994

David Crosby "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" Atlantic - 1995
Cliff Eberhardt "Mona Lisa Cafe" Shanachie - 1995
John Sheldon "Boneyard" Signature Sound - 1995
Dana Pomfret"Talk" Dakini Music - 1995 (co-production too)

Peter Gallway "Yes,Yes,Yes" Gadfly - 1996
Medicine Band "Dangerous Kingdom" Prime - 1996 (co-production too)
Pete Nelson "Restless Boy's Club" Signature Sound - 1996
Lenny LeBlanc "Bridge" Integrity - 1996

Robbie Dupree "Smoke & Mirrors" Polystar - 1997
Little Blue "Angels , Horses & Pirates" Renegade - 1997
Michael Ruff "Shake A Little" (Indie) - 1997
Carly Simon "Film Noir" Arista - 1997

Meatloaf "Greatest Hits" A&M records - 1998
Anastasia & John "That's You and Me" Gonzomatic - 1998
Dana Pomfret "Soul Collage" Warner Bros. Intl - 1998 (co-production too)
Crosby, Pevar & Raymond "CPR" Samson Music - 1998 (co-production too)
Crosby, Pevar & Raymond "Live at Cuesta College" CPR Records - 1998 (co-production too)

Doug Ingoldsby "Can't Do This Alone" Cathedral Peak - 1999 (co-production too)
Tom Dean "My Own Backyard" Dev Prod - 1999
Samite "Stars To Share"(compilation CD) Windham Hill Records - 1999
Crosby, Pevar & Raymond "Live at The Wiltern" CPR Records - 1999 (co-production too)

Tony Levin "Waters of Eden" Narada - 2000

Prefab Sprout "The Gunman and Other Stories" EMI Records Ltd. - 2001
Crosby, Pevar & Raymond "Just Like Gravity" Gold Circle - 2001 (co-production too)

Dana Pomfret "Realtime" (Indie) - 2002
John Coster "The World Has Changed" Sakkara Records - 2002 (co-production too)

Jackson Browne "Prophets & Virtues" - instrumental duet Windham Hill (yet to be released)
Laura Nyro "Angel in the Dark" Rounder Records
Yoko Ono "Warzone" Unreleased as of yet

above: Jeff, 1980 with The James Mongomery Band.

Also appearing on these foreign releases:

Thomas Fersen "Le Bal Des Oiseux" Wea (French Release)
Thomas Fersen "Rond Des Carrot" Wea (French Release)
Baby Miss Julia "Roomful of Gardenia" CMC (Scandinavian Release)
5Th Avenue Band "Really" Pony Canyon (Japanese Release)
Gerrard Blanc "A Cette Seconde La" Dreyfus (French Release)
Bread & Butter "Marie" Fun House (Japanese Release)
Clement Masdongar African Dance Artist Released In UK

below: photo by Tim Owen

VISIT. . JEFF . PEVAR'S . .SITE