Steve Khan Guitar Tab Books, Instruction DVDs, Pentatonic Scales, Chords, Lessons

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Steve Khan - Mainstream Jazz & Fusion Guitar Legend!
Compiled & Edited By Steven Herron

    Steve Khan was born on April 28, 1947 in Los Angeles, California. He is a fantastic guitar player who at first became famous for his rock-jazz fusion playing but is actually quite well-rounded as many of Steve's albums fit more into the hard to classify area of post-bop. The son of the famous lyricist Sammy Cahn, he studied piano for 7 years beginning when he was 5 years old and likewise played drums with the instrumental guitar surf music group The Chantays who had the hit song "Pipeline" in the early 1960s.

    Because his father enjoyed hearing recordings of any and all variations of his own original hit tunes, jazz was constantly around in Steve Khan's home. Steve remembers when Bob Spickard, The Chantays' lead guitar player, turned him on to The Jazz Crusaders' "Tough Talk" and Wes Montgomery's "Boss Guitar" albums. However it was years later, when he acquired Wes Montgomery's "Movin' Wes" recording and heard "Caravan" that he realized he would never ever be a drummer who could play on the level of Grady Tate!

    At the age of 17 Steve Khan changed over to guitar and was soon playing gigs in the Los Angeles area. Through an unforeseen set of situations and his working with the R & B group The Friends Of Distinction he ended up playing and recording with keyboardist Phil Moore, Jr. That led him to performing on Wilton Felder's solo LP, "Bullitt". Steve could not believe that he was doing something with one of the members of The Jazz Crusaders whom he so admired.

    Steve Khan graduated from U.C.L.A. in 1969 with a B.A. in composition and theory. His father attempted to guide him away from the possible pain of creative mediocrity and towards a life as an attorney. But naturally, Steve didn't and wouldn't pay attention to any of that. After having performed with vibraphonist David Friedman and bassist John Miller while on a gig with Tim Buckley, Khan was invited to come to New York for the summer season of 1969 and perform live for a couple of weeks at The Music Inn. He soon moved there for good.

    A member of The Brecker Brothers by 1971, Steve Khan starting playing acoustic guitar duets with Larry Coryell between 1974 - 1975. Bob James and Bobby Colomby signed him to Columbia Records in 1977 which gave Steve the opportunity to shine as a solo artist when no one else seemed to be thinking about hearing him play. On his first recordings as a leader, "Tightrope", "The Blue Man", and "Arrows", Steve was all by himself attempting to keep alive the sound of the original Brecker Brothers Band.

    It interesting to note that at one particular point in time during the 1970s, in or near the Chelsea region of Manhattan, the following legendary guitarists who were all friends with one another lived within a couple of blocks of each other: John McLaughlin, Ralph Towner, John Abercrombie, Bill Connors, John Scofield, and Steve Khan.

    Ever since that time Steve Khan has gone on to record a solo guitar set "Evidence" highlighted by an extended Thelonious Monk assortment of songs, founded and performed with the quartet Eyewitness during 1981 - 1985, toured with Joe Zawinul's Weather Update in 1986, performed with a variety of trios including Ron Carter and Al Foster throughout 1991 - 1992, and performed with Dave Samuel's Caribbean Jazz Project throughout 1999 - 2002. Steve has also performed as a guest guitar player on many other dates with everyone from Miles Davis to Gil Evans and Freddie Hubbard in addition to leading his own various bands.