Originally from Oklahoma, guitarist Max Gise has made his home in Cincinnati since 2004. Currently, Max teaches and performs frequently in the tri-state area. He teaches guitar at the Cincinnati Music Academy. He was an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati from 2006-2011. In 2005-2006, he was a graduate assistant at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where he completed his Masters in Jazz Studies in June 2006. He began his collegiate career at the University of Oklahoma in 1997 and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor degree in Classical Guitar Performance in 2002. While there, he was granted the “Outstanding Classical Guitar Award,” as well as the “Outstanding Jazz Student Award.”

Max developed his love of music at a very young age. Though they both worked in the medical profession, his father was an expert at Scott Joplin piano rags and his mother was well versed in singing and playing folk guitar. Max started taking formal guitar lessons with Dick Gordon Jr. in Tulsa when he was thirteen. A few years later, he joined a garage rock band with his school friends. And when Max was a junior in high school, he heard the album that would eventually direct his career path—jazz legend Wes Montgomery’s Smokin’ at the Half Note.

Throughout his years in college, Max gained substantial experience in both teaching and performance. He has played with the Blue Ash Symphony Orchestra and the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. Max also played numerous weddings, private parties, corporate banquets, bars and pubs. He was Assistant Director of the Jazz Lab Band at the College-Conservatory of Music in 2005-2006. Max has taught at the CCM Preparatory Summer Jazz Workshop since 2006. Max has also been a guitar instructor with the Northern Kentucky University Summer Jazz Camp. Before moving to the tri-state area in 2004, he taught lessons at McMichael Music Studios for three years. Notably, he was also Co-Director of the “Rock Clinic,” which was a program through the studio that assembled and directed student rock bands. Max also served as the Youth Band Director at First Christian Church in Oklahoma City.

You can catch Max playing live with one of his bands or solo. Max plays in the Hip-Hop / Fusion band Eclipse Movement (two-time CEA award winners) and Northside Jazz Ensemble (winner of the 2009 Best Jazz CEA).

Max is available for performances and guitar lessons. Please email maxgise@hotmail.com for more information.

Max Gise - Guitarist