Harvey Valdes

A guitarist of searching, sophisticated musicality, Harvey Valdes can traverse styles from avant-jazz and Middle Eastern/Balkan music to improvised film scores and the compositions of Bach. Harvey has an intrepid curiosity about the guitar’s sonic and expressive range; he is also a trained player of the Arabic oud, as well as the Turkish cümbüş. To date, he has released three albums as a soloist/ leader: Solitude Intones Its Echo (Destiny, 2019), a set of concise, engaging solo improvisations; Roundabout (2015), his solo debut featuring lyrically inventive takes on jazz standards; and PointCounterPoint (2015), a bristling, Mahavishnu-meets-math-rock trio album with violinist Sana Nagano and drummer Joe Hertenstein. Harvey’s newest album: Novare: J.S. Bach Lute Works on Electric Guitar has received high praise from Andy Summers of the Police.

Harvey earned a BFA degree from The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music. He has worked with artists from Butch Morris, Karl Berger and Rhys Chatham to Daniel Carter, Bombay Rickey and the Middle Eastern/Balkan ensemble Anistar, among many others. Along with playing on some of the most esteemed stages and national broadcasts, Harvey has performed extensively in the New York theater. Most notably, he held the guitar/oud chair as onstage musician and cast member for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical The Band’s Visit. He played on the show’s 2019 Grammy-winning cast album, and he received an Emmy for his broadcast performance with the ensemble, along with participating in the 10 Tony wins as a cast member.
Harvey’s venturesome work in the studio and on stage has garnered praise from the indie press. The Free Jazz Collective described the beautiful unfolding of the solo improvisations on Solitude Intones Its Echo as being “like a time-lapse video of a flower blooming,” while Harvey’s individualist takes on standards for Roundabout were judged by the New York City Jazz Record as “consistently intriguing, giving listeners a completely different look at these songs.” And All About Jazz dubbed the powerhouse sounds of his trio album PointCounterPoint as “cosmic.”
Harvey’s artistry has also earned him fans among iconic guitarists. Marveling over the Bach interpretations of Novare, Andy Summers of The Police has said: “Harvey Valdes is a fantastic guitarist – musical to the nth degree and with chops to spare, as anyone knows who has heard the way he handles standards and ballads with astonishing contrapuntal virtuosity. Now, with this new album, the special logic in his playing of Bach is wonderfully revealed.” And veteran ECM luminary David Torn, who has worked with Harvey in the studio, sums up the younger guitarist as an artist “who really has something to say, both musically and sonically.”