Mike Stern (born January 10, 1953) is a six-time Grammy-nominated American jazz guitarist. After playing with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he worked with drummer Billy Cobham, then with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. Following that, he began a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums<br />Equipment<br />An early and important guitar for Stern was a hybrid 1950s/1960s Fender Telecaster, previously owned by Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton, which was stolen from him in an armed robbery in Boston. This guitar is the basis for a custom-made guitar built by Boston-based luthier Michael Aronson. <br />The Aronson guitar is in turn the basis for the Yamaha PA1511MS, the Mike Stern signature model. The neck position pickup is a Seymour Duncan '59 and it has a Tele Hot Rail in the bridge. <br />Didier Lockwood (11 February 1956 – 18 February 2018) was a French jazz violinist. He played in the progressive rock/jazz fusion band Magma in the 1970s and was known for his use of electric amplification and experimentation on different sounds on the electric violin.<br />Lockwood's influences included fusion violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. He took up the electric violin after hearing Ponty play on the album King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa. Another important influence was fellow Frenchman Stéphane Grappelli. In 2000, Lockwood recorded a tribute album to Grappelli.
