Banjo Masters: John Bullard and Adam Larrabee

John Bullard has attracted international attention for his work in developing and transcribing classical repertoire for the five-string banjo. His critically acclaimed CD releases include John Bullard - The Classical Banjo on the Dargason label and Bach on the Banjo on Albany Records. In 2005, he became the first classical banjoist to graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance. Graduating magna cum laude, John was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda, the prestigious national music honor society. Music from John’s recordings has been included in several feature films such as the DreamWorks animated film The Rise of the Guardians and the award winning The Edge of Heaven. John’s classical banjo playing was highlighted in the June 2005 issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine. He has published two books with Mel Bay Publications, Bach for the Banjo and Scales and Arpeggios for Classical Banjo. John is also included in Mel Bay Publication's popular book and CD collection Banjo 2000 featuring works by the world's finest banjoists. John’s virtuoso playing was the focus of a cover story and interview in the May 1993 issue of The Banjo Newsletter. John was on the faculty of the world-renowned Tennessee Banjo Institute along with such luminaries as Pete Seeger, Bela Fleck and Tony Trischka.  He has performed throughout the United States and has been featured on numerous radio and television programs. His most recent CD, Classical Banjo: The Perfect Southern Art, has been praised “as exceptionally brilliant as it is masterful.”

Adam Larrabee has appeared as a sideman on Bruce Hornsby's album Spirit Trail and has involved himself in a wide variety of projects in the past few years from playing banjo in the bluegrass group Joy Kills Sorrow, guitar in the chamber-jazz group Andromeda, classical mandolin with The Richmond Classical Guitar Quartet and mandocello with Enigmatica, recording and performing with rising jazz prodigy Grace Kelly, and his exploration of the music of Central France with Le Bon Vent. In 2006, he won an Independent Music Award for his composition Norwegian Slip in the world/fusion category. Most recently, Adam has released a duo CD with pianist Bob Hallahan entitled The Street Where You Live in addition to a recreation of Duke Ellington's classic "Money Jungle" recording with his current trio with drummer Brian Jones and bassist Randall Pharr. In October 2009, Adam played banjo with Love Canon, backing up rising pop/folk star Josh Ritter on a sold out two week tour of Ireland. In Oct 2010 Adam traveled to Ankara, Turkey for the Haceteppe Konservatory Jazz Festival and played in the premiere of Ben Seni Variations, a work for Orchestra and Jazz Octet by Doug Richards. Adam taught jazz theory, composition and arranging at The New England Conservatory in Boston for nine years and currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia and teaches classical and jazz guitar at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, banjo and mandolin at the University of Virginia and improv and small jazz ensemble at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.