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Geggie says he decided to invite Juris to be part of his series after hearing the guitarist perform last April as part of saxophonist Dave Liebman’s dynamic quartet at Café Paradiso. “The whole band was stunning … a life-changing event for a lot of people,” the bassist says.

When my former colleague Doug Fischer interviewed Juris in 2009, he put it to the guitarist that his stylistic versatility and range kept him from acquiring the profile of his more famous contemporaries.

Juris replied: “There might be something to that theory. have always been interested in all kinds of music and styles. I like crossing boundaries.”

I had just a few very pleasant conversations with Juris, and this on-the-record exchange in early 2009:

Q: What’s the difference between good music and bad music?

A: What I decide I like and what I decide I don’t like. I am at a point in my life where either I like something or I don’t like it. And that can happen for a variety of reasons, but there is a connection or there is not. Whether it’s good or bad is really up to the individual. The listener determines that.

Q: If you could have dinner with any jazz figure, dead or alive, who would it be, and why?

A: Wes Montgomery. He’s always been my favourite guitarist. I think he’d be an interesting guy to hang out with, to spend some time with, talking and maybe jamming a bit. Probably he’d give me a lesson.

Q: What’s the main thing you’re working on these days?

A: I am working with a teacher in Boston named Charlie Banacos. We’re working on all kinds of different harmonic and rhythmic challenges. It’s been going on for years. He’s a well-known teacher up there. We do it by correspondence. He sends me the music. We send cassette tapes back and forth. I guess it’s old fashioned but cassettes are such an easy format.