On June 19, Mike Stern will release All Over the Place, his latest recording for the Heads Up International imprint. The 11-track disc finds the well-traveled guitarist mixing it up with an impressive array of guests, including trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonist Kenny Garrett, and drummers Dave Weckl, Keith Carlock and Lionel Cordew. Also present are A-list bass players Victor Wooten, Anthony Jackson, Esperanza Spalding, Dave Holland, Tom Kennedy, Will Lee, Victor Bailey and Richard Bona.

“I’ve been playing a lot of different kinds of great music with a lot of different musicians on some of my more recent records,” says Stern. “I love bebop, swing, rock, all the stuff that a lot of guitar players—especially jazz players—tend to include in their music. It’s the nature of the instrument, but very much a part of my nature as well. There’s a lot of music that really inspires me, and it usually covers quite a few territories.”

Indeed, Stern and his cohorts cover a lot of stylistic territory on the aptly titled All Over the Place. “The guitar tends to keep you open-minded because you hear it in so many places,” Stern says. “You hear it in rock, in country, in pop, in funk, in classical, you hear it in jazz, you hear it in so many kinds of music that you can immediately identify it on one level or another. … Music, to me, is a language of the heart. I hope people will get some emotional payoff from what I’ve done on this recording. That’s the vibe that I continue to go for with all of my music.”

Look for an interview with Mike Stern in the July digital issue of JAZZIZ.

Tags: Esperanza, Kenny Garrett, Mike Stern, Randy Brecker