Julian Lage Quartet with John Medeski, Jorge Roeder, & Kenny Wollesen standing behind Julian Lage who is sitting and holding an electric guitar.

Julian Lage Quartet Sets the Scene for Musical Conversation

by Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts
June 9, 2026

When guitarist Julian Lage returns to the Mondavi Center on October 18, the evening in Jackson Hall will offer a chance to explore how this prolific musician’s artistry has evolved since his previous appearances.

Sepia-green album graphic: repeated photo of seated person with a guitar, names across top

His new quartet features collaborators and friends bassist Jorge Roeder, drummer Kenny Wollesen and keyboardist John Medeski. The album Scenes from Above, Lage’s second full-length album with the producer Joe Henry and his first with this quartet, was released in January on Blue Note. “Its nine tracks frame a brilliantly open experience, with four astounding players giving and taking space in equal measure as they explore these songs in one space, in real time,” the label notes.

For his part, Lage has said, “That is what makes Scenes from Above so poignant and timely — four dazzling instrumentalists in a room, talking to one another but never actually over one another.”

Lage made his Mondavi Center performance debut in 2010, in legendary fiddler Mark O’Connor’s band, just a year after releasing his first album, Sounding Point, at age 22. He returned as a bandleader in 2013 for four nights at the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. That same year, John Medeski performed with his main group, Medeski Martin & Wood, in a double bill with The Joshua Light Show, curated by the Mondavi Center.

Following his first album, Lage began exploring other musical forms in his recordings, prominently including blues and folk, while still adhering to the exploratory and improvisational tenets of jazz. He also switched from his “jazz box” style guitar (built by the legendary luthier Linda Manzer) as his primary instrument, to Fender Telecasters and Nocasters, and various other electric and acoustic guitars.

This change in instruments significantly altered his sound and opened a new world of eclectic sonic possibilities, which has made his musical output wonderfully uncategorizable at times, despite his obvious jazz roots. Ganter says audiences can expect “intense eclecticism rooted in a jazz sensibility.”

Julian’s music has become a musical melting pot, and this will be on full display at his Mondavi Center performance. The quartet he will perform with, which includes some of his regular sidemen, is a supergroup — particularly with the inclusion of John Medeski, who is one of the great living keyboardists of all time.
Jeremy Ganter, Executive Director