Made the Grammy ballot eight times in the categories of:
- Best Pop Instrumental Performance
- Best Pop Instrumental Album
- Best Instrumental Composition – Twice
- Best Instrumental Arrangement
- Best Engineered Album (in the non-classical section) – Twice
- Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
Won a total of seven Telly Awards for:
- ‘The Harbinger Decoded’ (#1 in Amazon’s Faith & Spirituality category and #1 Best Seller in Theology)
- ‘Parent Compass’ (Religious/Spirituality and Internet/Web motivational categories)
- ‘The Mystery of the Shemitah Unlocked’ (#1 in Amazon’s Faith & Spirituality category and #1 Best Seller in Theology)
- ‘Thirst: Mission Liberia’ (which won a Silver Telly in the Spiritual – Faith category and a Bronze Telly in the Documentary category).
Radio play:
“Bajo el Sol,” “Alma Vieja,” and “Cielo Nocturno” have produced five Top 40 Smooth Jazz singles (‘Lydia,’ ‘El Beso,’ ‘Pacific Sunrise,’ ‘Samba Samba,’ ‘North of Home’), enjoyed a ten week stay at #1 on the Music Choice satellite cable television Smooth Jazz playlist and maintained a constant presence on the Smooth Jazz indie charts for over 16 weeks for each release.
‘El Beso’ was included in the www.smoothjazznow.com Top 100 Smooth Jazz Songs of 2009 and, most significantly, from a field of 15,000 applicants.
‘Honorable Mention’ for the title song ‘Bajo el Sol’ in the Instrumental Music category at the 2009 International Songwriting Competition.
Guitarist for Latin artist Orlando Salinas (Warner Bros. Records Digital)
Multiple ‘Best of’ and Top 10 list for the latest release, ‘Cielo Nocturno,’ and was the April 2016 winner of ‘Best Latin’ from The Akademia Awards
Top musicians to record on his albums:
- Percussionist Raphael Padilla (Miami Sound Machine, Shakira)
- Drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr (Santana, Steve Winwood, Chicago)
- Bassist Bob Parr (Cher, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Barry White)
- Alfredo Caceres (Gipsy Kings All-Stars)
- Guitarist Larry Carlton
- Violinist Charlie Bisharat (The Rolling Stones, Yanni, Aerosmith)
- Michael Lington (contemporary jazz saxophonist)
- Ardeshir Farah (Strunz and Farah)
- All three releases were mastered by Chris Bellman (Van Halen, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Elton John)
Current Endorsers:
- Godin guitars
- Voodoo lab
- Radial (Tonebone)
- Analysis Plus cables
- Neunaber Audio Effects
- V-picks
- Morley Pedals
- DLS Effects
- Primacoustic
- Mission Engineering
- BBF Pedalboards
Voting member of The Grammy’s and Latin Grammy’s
Degree from University of North Texas in Classical Guitar Performance
Biography
It has been quite a year for guitar virtuoso Russ Hewitt with his current CD, ‘Cielo Nocturno’, showing all the signs of becoming a run-away success. Shimmering with the rumba flamenco rhythms and lightning guitar runs that have become trademarks of Hewitt’s distinctive style, the album includes a stellar line up of returning musicians including percussionist Raphael Padilla (Miami Sound Machine, Chris Isaak), drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr. (Santana, Steve Winwood, Chicago), bass player Bob Parr (Cher, Barry White), guitarist Alfredo Caceres (Gipsy Kings All-Stars) and most notably Larry Carlton who features on the delightfully easy grooving ‘North of Home’. The radio single featuring Larry Carlton was a mainstay on stations worldwide.
The recording was mastered by Chris Bellman who, in his time, has worked with the likes of Van Halen, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Elton John while completing the lineup are guitarist Ardeshir Farah (Strunz & Farah) on the fiery ‘Persian Sky’ and accordion player Vladimir Kaliazine.
Bellman mastered Hewitt’s two previous releases, ‘Bajo el Sol’ and ‘Alma Vieja’ which not only garnered outstanding reviews from around the world but also drew fulsome praise from his peers.
Accolades are coming from all over the world in forms of press and reviews including making the ballot in three categories for the 59th Grammy Awards and two silver medal’s from the Global Music Awards in the instrumental category for the song ‘Presido’ and album category for ‘Cielo Nocturno.’ The latest CD also made several ‘Best of’ lists including #2 by Vincent Furnier at Soundcheckdfw.com, #4 by Travis Tutwiler at at Soundcheckdfw.com (‘Persian Sky’ featuring Ardeshir Farah was at #6 for his song of the year), #5 by Michael Debbage at MainlyPiano.com, Kathy Parsons at MainlyPiano.com (She did not put number orders to her selections) and honorable mention from Scott Itter at Dr.Music.org.
In addition to the ‘Best of lists’ several reviews added their own score rating: 9.5 of 10 by Arthur Gonzales at Rock N Roll Industries; 8.1 of 10 by James McQuiston at NeuFutur; a (perfect) “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of 5.00 by Rotcod Zzaj at Contemporary Fusion Reviews; 4.0 out of 5 by Matt Jensen at Divide and Conquer; Five Starz by Scott Thomas at Guitarz Forever.
In fact the favorable opinion gained from Hewitt’s debut CD, ‘Bajo el Sol’, rapidly translated into prolific airplay and a ten-week stay at #1 on Music Choice. It took up residence on the Smooth Jazz indie charts for 16 weeks and the first track to be released to radio (the dazzlingly Latin flavored title cut) climbed rapidly into the Top 20.
The follow-up single, ‘Lydia’, enjoyed similar success, peaking at #15 and storming into the Billboard’s Top 40. Not content with that, Hewitt then made it three for three with ‘El Beso’ which also made it onto that same Top 40 listing and was named as one of the top smooth jazz tunes of 2009 by www.smoothjazznow.com.
In addition, ‘Bajo el Sol’ was generously acknowledged by the music industry. It was included on the ballot for the 52nd Grammy Awards in the categories Best Pop Instrumental Performance, Best Pop Instrumental Album, Best Instrumental Composition, Best Instrumental Arrangement and Best Engineered Album whilst elsewhere Hewitt gained an ‘Honorable Mention’ for the album’s title cut at the 2009 International Songwriting Competition.
When Russ’s sophomore project, ‘Alma Vieja’ came long in 2011 it delivered two more Top 40 smooth Jazz singles, ‘Pacific Sunrise’ and ‘Samba Samba’.
Not surprisingly, Russ has endorsements from a wide spectrum of suppliers and manufacturers. These include Godin guitars, Radial Engineering (Tonebone), Analysis Plus Cables, Morley Pedals, V-Picks, Neunaber Audio Effects, Voodoo Lab, BBF Pedal Boards, Primacoustic, Mission Engineering and DLS Effects.
Always striving to extend his boundaries into sound tracks and commercial work, Russ contributes artist interviews and a monthly guitar lessons column to ‘The Sound’ magazine whereas his prowess as a composer has resulted in five Telly Awards (for ‘Parent Compass’) and the DVD companion to the New York Best Seller ‘The Harbinger Decoded’ by Jonathan Cahn. Russ has written the music for the upcoming feature film ‘Thirst: Mission Liberia’ which has already won a Silver Telly in the Spiritual – Faith category and a Bronze Telly in the Documentary category.
Please see the “Press” page on RussHewittMusic.com for more than 100 reviews and articles.
Known for his fiery, soulful and intoxicating rumba flamenco rhythms, warm, inviting acoustic melodies and his virtuosic improvisational runs, guitarist Russ Hewitt taps further into his passion for a variety of Latin and other global music vibes on CIELO NOCTURNO. He ensembles with a powerhouse lineup of Jazz and Latin greats, including Larry Carlton, Adeshir Farah (from Struns & Farah) percussionist Rafael Padilla, drummer Walfredo Reyes, Jr. and Gypsy Kings All Stars guitarist Alfredo Calceres. The stars in the CIELO NOCTURNO (night sky) are definitely dancing!