Beyond Category: Howard Alden

Swing guitarist Howard Alden is known for performing the brilliant guitar work in Woody Allen’s movie “Sweet and Lowdown.” In the film, Sean Penn plays a man wracked by the knowledge that he’s only the second greatest guitarist in the world (after Django Reinhardt). Alden provided the guitar work for the soundtrack and coached Penn on how to look like he was actually playing the guitar. Alden melds a deep understanding of such jazz guitar masters as Barney Kessel, George Van Eps and Bucky Pizzarelli into his own modern swing style. Howard Alden appears on Beyond Category in duo with singer Jeanne Gies.