About
Brent Canter plays guitar. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Brent studied jazz with Blue Note legend Kenny Burrell at UCLA. Heeding Kenny’s advice and eager to play bebop changes in dark basements clubs and dive bars, Brent moved to New York City after graduation. Once settled in Brooklyn, Brent became a frequent performer in the city where he played all of the usual spots and several unusual ones too. Having conquered several winters and released his Posi-Tone Records album Urgency of Now, Brent returned to Los Angeles where he has become a fixture of the LA creative music scene and pop songwriting world.
Brent’s solo material is characterized by often-distorted guitar playing and legato lead lines. His ear leans toward deep grooves, dynamic harmony and the types of melodies you hum after a show. Influenced as much by Smashing Pumpkins, Bonnie Raitt and Joe Satriani as Michael Brecker, Joe Henderson and Pat Metheny, Brent’s music doesn’t fit nicely into the jazz playbook and he prefers it that way.
Encouraged by winning an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award early on, Brent has gone on to receive favorable coverage in publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Jazz Times. Brent’s bands have consistently featured some his favorite musicians (and maybe some of yours!) including Bob Reynolds, Ben Wendel, Sam Barsh, Linda Oh, Julian Pollack, Max Haymer, Seamus Blake and Pat Bianchi. Brent has performed across the US and in Europe at venues including the Kennedy Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Smalls Jazz Club and Le Duc des Lombards in Paris.
As a songwriter and producer, Brent was most recently featured in March of 2022 on the cover of Spotify’s Notable playlist alongside Cameron Forbes and Sean Meyer for their work on Forbes’ recent solo release, “Back To Me.” Brent’s music can be heard in a variety of campaigns for brands ranging from Sephora to Facebook and in numerous TV shows and trailers.
"Canter is creating a new vocabulary for jazz, the new jazz standards for his generation"
- Hollywood Weekly
Press Clippings
“The strong point of guitarist Brent Canter's quartet music, as heard on his new album Urgency of Now, is that you can come to it from any perspective: You don't need a degree in jazz studies or a deep understanding of John Coltrane to understand it. New listeners who've spent their lives listening to Tween Wave can relate no less than those of us who've explored every millimeter of the jazz continuum”
- The Wall Street Journal
“Brent Canter dials in warm distortion tones for an edgy stance on his hard-swinging debut… A modernist take on the organ trio [including] vibrant originals”
- Jazz Times
“For those who like their jazz-rock smart, strong, polished and chopsy, Canter’s clearly one to watch”
- Ottawa Citizen
“…this album shows Canter to be a craftsman of exciting, post-modern vehicles that stay away from conventional jazz grooves. Urgency Of Now eschews all the obvious, placing the guitar-organ combo in a new light, while spotlighting a promising up-and-comer in the jazz guitar category”
- All About Jazz
“Brent Canter’s ability to infuse strong melodies, the element of surprise, and outstanding technical faculties into his musicality becomes clearly evident on his debut album”
- EJazz News