(Self released, digital)
French composer Claude Debussy famously said “Music is the space between the notes.” And in those dark spaces linger so many things: resonance, echo, reverb. Rather than just an aggregation of notes, music is a tome, a collection of traits, of color, key and space that combine to form what the listener hears. While it’s easy to appreciate the beauty of a well-struck note, it’s the negative space that gives music its character.
That compositional concept is on full display throughout the debut album from Burlington guitarist Dan Greenleaf, Live at Ford Hall. Recorded during a 2024 show at his alma mater, Ithaca College, the album features Greenleaf and a quartet performing original modern jazz.
From the first track, “Opening Theme” to the last, “Closing Theme,” Greenleaf and his band engage in sparse, atmospheric and at times almost meditative playing. The guitar notes often linger like the wake of a passing boat. It’s all part of Greenleaf’s desire to “create huge, beautiful, meaningful shapes in music,” as his Bandcamp bio states.
Greenleaf was born with cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that affects movement and posture. At the age of 6, when he decided he wanted to learn to play guitar, Greenleaf’s mother asked a local instructor if that would be possible. The teacher’s response was, essentially, “I don’t know. Let’s find out.”
Almost two decades later, Greenleaf has graduated from the Ithaca College Jazz Studies program and launched a career as a musician. And while his style may be dictated by the physical limitations of his condition, Greenleaf turns that into an advantage, with a playing style based on odd phrasing, long sustained notes and an unerring sense of melody.
The style is perhaps best on display during the mammoth track “Overwhelming Fluorescent Light.” More than 14 minutes long, the song begins at a truly glacial pace, with Greenleaf peeling off clusters of notes, like someone speaking to himself, slowly, in an empty room. Eventually, the pace and repetition increases until his tones sound almost like a Klaxon and his bandmates wade in to establish a stop-start groove. Upright bassist Nick Peloso gets plenty of room to shine while Greenleaf layers in swirls of atmospheric effects before keyboardist Robert Irvin, saxophonist Drew Martin and drummer Theo Lobo all ratchet up the tension.
In the midst of it all, Greenleaf’s note choices — or lack of choices, in some cases — give Live at Ford Hall an idiosyncratic tonal character. Other players might fill the spaces with solo work or rhythmic accompaniment, but Greenleaf’s style is far more sophisticated despite sounding simpler. The way he fills an open space is both unconventional and effective at pulling listeners into scenes or moods, not unlike Miles Davis’ modal approach on albums such as Kind of Blue or the tranquil saxophone playing of Gerry Mulligan.
On “Bite Bullet,” Greenleaf places notes with the meticulousness of a bricklayer. The way his guitar floats in and out of the composition, every single note feels like it has to be there, or the center will not hold.
It’s not all atmospheric, hyper-slow jazz, though. Greenleaf and his band can get deep in the jam and show off their chops when the mood arises. “A Tree or a Cloud” has some of Greenleaf’s best guitar work, including solos that seem to go off on their own side quests, only to return and lay out a dazzling yet simple melodic phrase.
But the real star of Live at Ford Hall is Debussy’s great love: space. On compositions such as “I’ll Be Seeing You,” Greenleaf uses the “empty” spaces between notes in a highly effective way, while teasing little stabs from his guitar and pulling on intervals like string.
Greenleaf mixed and mastered the record with musician and producer Eric Maier (EVNGwear) at Future Fields in Burlington, where the guitarist works as general manager. The two crafted an excellent-sounding live album that is sonically on point yet retains some of the rawness of the original performance.
A Waterbury native, Greenleaf attended Harwood Union Middle & High School and learned from noted music teacher Bruce Sklar, who retired in 2023. Greenleaf wasn’t able to walk until he was 6, but thanks to Vermont-based programs such as Green Mountain Adaptive Sports, he became an avid skier. In honor of that, half of the proceeds from Live at Ford Hall will go to the organization. It’s a fitting gesture from a musician who has turned disability into possibility.
Live at Ford Hall is available on major streaming sites and for download at dangreenleaf.bandcamp.com.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2025.
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