Widely heralded as a gifted young player with a passionate sound, jazz-guitarist Corey Christiansen took up the instrument at the age of five under the direction of his father, Mike Christiansen, Chairman of Guitar Studies at Utah State University. Corey earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Utah State and a master’s degree in jazz performance from the University of South Florida. Awakening, Corey’s first CD as a leader, spent twelve weeks on the JazzWeek chart reaching number sixteen in March 2005. His first performance DVD, Vic Juris & Corey Christiansen: Live at the Smithsonian Jazz Café, was released in July 2006. Jazzwise reviewer Mike Flynn gave the recording four stars, noting “Christiansen is well versed in the guitar’s sonic heritage and his judicious sense of phrasing finds him light-fingered even on the densest of changes and positively euphoric on his ballad work.” His 2006 release, MB3 / Jazz Hits / Volume One, a guitar-trio CD featuring Corey, Vic and fellow Mel Bay guitarist Jimmy Bruno, spent three weeks in January 2007 as the #1 jazz recording on jazz radio in North America.
Corey has played the Syracuse Jazz Festival, the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, the Festival of the Midnight Sun (Helsinki, Finland), the Umbria Jazz Festival (Perugia, Italy), Gerald Veasley‟s Jazz Base (Reading, PA), Jazz in June (Lincoln, NE), The Northwest Arkansas Summer Jazz Series, the Clearwater Jazz Festival, the St. Louis Jazz Festival, the Daytona Beach Jazz Festival, the Whitaker Music Festival (St. Louis), the Classic American Guitar Show (Long Island, NY), John Pisano‟s Guitar Night (Los Angeles), Chris‟ Jazz Café (Philadelphia), the Blue Wisp (Cincinnati), Dazzle (Denver) and the Bistro at Grand Center (St. Louis). He has played or recorded with an impressive roster of artists including John Pisano and Andy Summers among many others. Corey served as senior editor for Mel Bay Publications from 2000 to 2007 and has written or co-written more than 70 books for the company. As well as maintaining an active international performance and touring schedule he currently is the Director of Curriculum at The Music School in American Fork, UT. He is an artist in residence at the Atlanta Institute of Music.
