Will Bernard

Will Bernard is a guitarist and band leader from the San Francisco Bay Area,now living in Brooklyn NY. He has led the Will Bernard Band, Will Bernard Trio, Will Bernard 4-tet, and Motherbug. Bernard's first got national attention performing with Peter Apfelbaum's Hieroglyphics Ensemble. In the mid-1990s he joined guitarists Charlie Hunter and John Schott as T.J. Kirk. The band's name "James T. Kirk" combined the names James Brown, Thelonious Monk, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. If Four Was One received a 1997 Grammy Award nomination. Bernard also received a Grammy Award nomination for his album Party Hats in 2007. Bernard has worked with Jai Uttal, The Coup, Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Frequinox, Idris Muhammad, Lonnie Smith, Zigaboo Modeliste, Groundation, and the Stanton Moore Trio. In January 2008 he recorded Blue Plate Special with John Medeski on keyboards, Stanton Moore on drums, and Andy Hess on bass guitar. His latest CD is "Out and About" featuring Allison Miller, John Ellis and Ben Allison.