It's been said of many great musicians that they "were born with a guitar in their hand." And while singer-songwriter Nathan Reich found his guitar soon enough, his first love was a toy ukulele. Born in the musically-rich San Francisco Bay Area Nathan began studying guitar in earnest at the age of 12. While growing up, Nathan had many passions that came and went, but through it all, there was always the guitar.
Finding himself drawn to the complexity and technical virtuosity found in the jazz world, Nathan began studying jazz guitar and performing everywhere from local community centers in a jazz trio, to rhythm guitar in a locally well-known instrumental rock band, The Seth Chaplas. He even traveled briefly with a jazz big band, and was given a local scholarship at Diablo Valley College to continue with private lessons.
After being accepted into The Berklee College of Music as a Bachelor of Music with an emphasis in Jazz Guitar Performance, he spent his first year studying with some of New England's guitar greats, Tim Miller and Mick Goodrick. It didn't taken long for Nathan's unique style of playing only with his fingers, and predominately with just his thumb, to gain him recognition - his peers nicknamed him "Thumb Kid" and his teachers agreed they had never seen anything like it.
During the summer of 2006 Nathan's musical tastes took a turn as he began writing and singing his own songs. His rare thumb technique has created a sparkling percussive nature to his songs, which boast rich harmony, alternate tunings and soft-spoken vocal melodies that are hard to forget. He is currently in his 3rd year at Berklee where he has switched to a major in Professional Music where he is blending his love of both song writing and jazz composition. His debut CD “Songs For My Father” will be released soon after the New Year.
