Justin has played guitar professionally since the late 1980’s, appearing at venues from NYC’s Knitting Factory and Vision Festival to the Burlington Jazz Festival and the University of Madison Wisconsin. He’s also recorded and performed with Arthur Brooks, the So-Called Jazz Sextet, Jack Wright, and has worked & toured with the Middlebury College Dance Co.
Justin began playing at the age of 12 – initially influenced by everything from the Beatles and Donovan to The Who and Yes. He soon got “serious” and was studying classical guitar and composition in his early teens. Justin eventually studied improvisation, performance and composition at Bennington College with trumpters Bill Dixon and Arthur Brooks.
Self taught since then, his unique sound is in part related to his use of an unconventional guitar tuning (fourths: E-A-D-G-C-F, low to high) – which he switched to during his studies with Dixon, and has played in since 1990 and his Wes Montgomery-esque fingerstyle/thumb-picking technique.