photo: Louise Kennerley, Sydney Morning Herald

SPOTLIGHT 35: JOSHUA ACHIRON / HILARY GEDDES / MATT GREENWOOD

textura is excited and honoured to feature guitarists Joshua Achiron, Hilary Geddes, and Matt Greenwood in its thirty-fifth ‘Spotlight,' with each artist represented by a superb, recently issued album: Climbing (Achiron), Redleaf (Geddes), and Daybreak (Greenwood). textura is deeply grateful to the artists for taking the time to contribute to the article.

photo: Lucha Photography

JOSHUA ACHIRON

Who: I'm a guitarist based in Chicago who's comfortable playing in jazz and classical contexts. I'm a graduate of Eastman School of Music and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, where I studied under Danilo Pérez, Joe Lovano, and John Patitucci. I've performed with artists such as Sharay Reed, Teddy Campbell, Ben Paterson, Clark Sommers, Geof Bradfield, and others and have appeared at Chicago venues like The Jazz Showcase, Andy's Jazz Club, and the Green Mill. I'm currently on faculty at Harper University, where I teach classical and jazz guitar, and have just released my debut album on Calligram Records.

What: Climbing is built around using composed material as a launch pad for improvisation—pushing into risky, uncertain musical spaces and finding our way out of them in real time, in front of an audience.

Currently: The new album is my main focus right now. We've been performing the music throughout Chicago and are preparing for a Midwest tour this summer.

Musical philosophy: I find a lot of comfort in music—it's something I can turn to when things aren't going well. Listening to artists like Richard Smallwood, Andrew Renfroe, or Julian Lage reminds me that everything is going to be okay. I hope my music can offer that same sense of comfort and grounding to others.

Two favourite artists and/or strongest influences: Julian Lage and Stevie Wonder—both have a way of communicating something deeply spiritual through their music.

photo: Lucha Photography

Three Desert Island Discs: I would imagine on a island it would get lonely, so I picked these albums carefully:

Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life: to start my morning on a good note, give me encouragement, and remind me of home.

Kirk Franklin's The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin (Live): to keep my spirit up and keep me connected with God.

Julian Lage's World's Fair: to inspire my guitar playing and give me something for which to strive.

website: JOSHUA ACHIRON

photo: Ben Ling

HILARY GEDDES

WHO: I'm a guitarist based in Eora/Sydney on Gadigal Land who plays in the Australian jazz and improvised music scenes and is the leader of the Hilary Geddes Quartet, which released its debut album Parkside in 2021 and recently Redleaf. I'm a 2018 graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and a member of Jeremy Rose's Earshift Orchestra; I also play in Ellen Kirkwood's Underwards, Ben Lerner's trio SHEKET, the trio Sweet Tooth, and the rock band The Buoys. In addition, I'm a sound composer who created the multi-media work Upstream, Down River and the soundmapping project SCAPES. Over the past three years, I've explored the possibilities of site-specific improvisation, soundmapping, and guitaristic approaches to composition.

What: I love playing a variety of music styles in a range of ensembles. I'm particularly drawn to the sonic possibilities of the guitar and how they can shape the direction of a piece. In Hilary Geddes Quartet, I play music that centres timbral and collective approaches to improvisation.

Currently: I've just released my sophomore album Redleaf with Hilary Geddes Quartet on Earshift Music. I'm really proud of this album, and I think it documents how this group's interplay has developed over the past few years. I've also just recorded guitar for the second album of Jeremy Rose's 'Disruption' project with drummers Simon Barker and Chloe Kim and bassist Jacques Emery. We played JAZZTOPAD and the London Jazz Festival late last year, and it has been a wonderful process to be able to jump into the studio to record new music after these shows.

Musical philosophy: Redleaf is quite meditative; it was written over the course of the pandemic during various lockdown periods in Sydney. I hope people can find solace in the spaces we've created on the album. As a bandleader, it's very important to me that each member be able to express individuality within an ensemble; these songs are underpinned by a collectivist ethos, and I think there is a sense of play and levity that has come out of that.

Two favourite artists and/or strongest influences: I've chosen two guitarists, but I'd like to give an honourable mention to Geri Allen and Ornette Coleman; the strength in their phrasing both compositionally and when improvising is aspirational for me.

I love the music of Ry Cooder and really admire the spaciousness of his playing, as well as the 'guitar-y-ness' of his music. It feels as though he really centres the idiomatic aspects of the instrument in his playing. I also love the collaborative nature of his albums. Andreas Wahl is a brilliant guitarist with whom I studied while living in Germany. He completely changed how I think about improvisation and the guitar; studying with him was liberating for my creative practice.

photo: Hilary Geddes

Three Desert Island Discs: Etudes by Charlie Haden, Geri Allen, and Paul Motian, three of my favourite musicians. I love the interplay between them on this record, and the range of moods they create is something I return to again and again.

The Sea by Jonathan Zwartz—a deeply formative album for me. I still remember where I was when I first heard it. An early standout is Zwartz's piece “Epic”; its nylon guitar loop stayed with me for months.

Love Cry by Albert Ayler: I could have chosen almost any Ayler recording, but I especially love the strength of his lines and the density of the drums throughout this album; there's so much energy and conviction in this music.

website: HILARY GEDDES

photo: Matt Greenwood

MATT GREENWOOD

WHO: I'm a Boston-based guitarist who creates cinematic landscapes where composition and improv intersect. I first lived in Zimbabwe and then Canada and now the United States, so my music is inherently nomadic. I earned my Bachelor of Music at Humber College and my Master's from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. I've worked extensively as a sideman and have performed and recorded with Zimbabwean artists and some of Canada's most elite jazz artists. I've scored a number of short films, for example the award-winning animated short Blue Bird, and stay connected to my Zimbabwean roots through playing the Mbira. My debut album Atlas appeared in January 2023 and am now promoting its follow-up, the just-released Daybreak.

What: I enjoy trying to use the guitar to create soundscapes that feel vivid and visual; to me each piece is like a sonic painting. I've always had a hard time with genre definitions as I've been heavily influenced by rock, jazz, classical, African music and who knows what else!

Currently: With Daybreak, I tried to take some sonic ideas I was dabbling with on Atlas and let them grow into a bigger world of guitar-centric textures. I'm psyched to have gotten to work with such amazing musicians on the record. Mike Downes, Mark Kelso, and Othnell 'Mangoma' Moyo brought their personalities to it and really helped bring the music to life.

Musical philosophy: I've always followed my nose and obsessed over whatever sounded cool to me. Listening to beautiful records is such a massive part of my day so my goal is generally to write and record music I'd want to listen to. When it comes to Daybreak I hope people come away from listening to it with a feeling of courage and optimism. That's what the album represents for me.

photo: Matt Greenwood

Two favourite artists and/or strongest influences: Going back to my first few years of playing, one of my biggest influences was Steve Vai. His whole musical universe hit me like a bolt of lightning in my teens. I've moved around through different aesthetics and genres since then and probably don't sound a whole lot like him, but I think his influence is still pretty deeply entrenched in my approach to music, creativity, production, and of course the guitar. I'm also a big fan of visual artists. One I drew some inspiration from on this album was James Jean. His work feels like a whole ecosystem with its own language of shapes and designs. He blends tradition and modernity in such an inspiring way. The song “1000 Paper Cranes” on Daybreak was inspired by his work.

Three Desert Island Discs: I listen to a couple of albums every day so this is insanely hard to narrow down. Here we go though!

Big Wreck's Ghosts: This one is an aesthetic masterpiece. The sonic world of this record is so rich and combines so much of what I love. It's one I can come back to year after year and not get tired of.

Jeff Beck's Emotion and Commotion: Jeff Beck could somehow play three notes on a Stratocaster and make your hear melt... well, mine at least. This record perfectly captures what I love about his playing.

Nels Cline's Lovers: This one is more of a challenging listen, but I keep coming back to it for its incredible sense of contrast. The moments of darkness enhance the bright spots; it also beautifully contrasts the old with the new.

website: MATT GREENWOOD

April 2026