Alex Skolnick Trio @ Nietzsche's - 11.22.2025

Alex Skolnick Trio

Saturday, November 22nd

Doors @ 8pm, Music @ 9pm

$30 GA Adv // $40 Preferred Adv

THE ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO

Beginning in the early 2000’s, AST has become known for catapulting the jazz guitar

trio format into new and interesting territory. With an unconventionally wide fluidity of

diverse styles (tango, calypso, Western swing, electronica, Prince-inspired funk, to

name just a few), the trio gained notoriety for it’s quirky but respectful arrangements of

songs previously unmined by improvisers, including by the likes of Aerosmith,

Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne and Kiss.

Comfortable in blurring the stylings of Wes Montgomery with Black Sabbath, Mssrs.

Alex Skolnick (guitar and vocals), Matt Zebroski (drums), Nathan Peck (acoustic

standup bass) are stellar virtuoso artists who thrive on playing challenging music in

front of their fans. As a headliner, AST has enthralled audiences in at the Larvik Guitar

Festival in Norway, the World Guitar Festival in Quebec as well as in Italy, The

Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Austria.  The audiences

are made up of jazz aficionados and metal heads wanting to see what the lead guitarist

from the thrash metal band Testament is up to.  Their music has been heard in

promotions for National Public Radio and more. Among their fans are Rodrigo Y

Gabriela, who have brought the trio out as a support act at venues including Paris’s

The Olympia, London’s Shepard Bush Empire and New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Conceived as a sharp three piece ensemble uniquely inspired by the musical

wanderings of Alex Skolnick, world-renowned lead guitarist and founding member of

Testament, one of the most influential metal/thrash bands of all time. Yet those unaware

of Testament are shocked by his backstory when hearing AST – or Alex’s work with

PAKT featuring Percy Jones (Brand X/Brian Eno), Stuart Hamm (Steve Vai/Joe

Satriani) – as his guitar work defies the odds of most with guitarists with similarly

metallic associations. He also has the profound distinction of being one of the more

successful breakout individual students of uber-guitar-hero Joe Satriani. Along with

Charlie Hunter, Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett (Metallica) and Larry Lalonde (Primus).

Since the debut, AST had had an entire Jazz notes column in Billboard, garnered 4 ½

stars by Downbeat, reviewed by Jazziz, The Village Voice and has charted on the

JazzWeek radio charts. Apple Music frequently features the group in its Spectrum

playlist, with notable other jazz crossover artists such as Snarky Puppy, Mike Stern and

Marcus Miller. Most recently the Trio enjoyed its status amongst the greats as an NPR

Jazz Daily Pick feature. A perfect description comes in the form of a review by

Downbeat journalist Bill Milkowski (well known for his bio on Jaco Pastorious Jaco):

“Skolnick runs the guitaristic gamut from lush chord melodies to Wes Montgomery-style

octaves to screaming Sonny Sharrock-esque skronking” (Jan 2017).

Line-Up:

Alex Skolnick (Testament, Stu Hamm, PAKT, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Jane Getter

Premonition):  GUITAR

Matt Zebroski:  DRUMS

Nathan Peck (Maynard Ferguson, Maria Maldaur, Richard Cheese):  BASS

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