Maybe Chicago's best guitarist, Fareed Haque is what -- in a better world -- "fusion" would have produced. This Northwestern University School of Music alum combines a wide variety of musical influences: flamenco, jazz, rock, classical, Indian, South American and Middle Eastern stuff (his father is Pakistani, his mother Chilean). At a recent show he jokes about how he watches MTV at 3 AM, and poses in front of the mirror, and the next moment he's playing a song that'd be perfect for heavy rotation at the Alt-rock trough. 
The Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich says Haque "...approaches the art of jazz improvisation in wide-ranging ways, bringing Middle Eastern scales, American-pop song forms and other far-flung elements to everything he plays." Says the Chicago Reader's jazz critic Neil Tesser, "I don't think you can play guitar much better than Fareed Haque."
Chicago Sun-Times critic Lloyd Sachs also comments on Haque's "... slowly expanding solos over a steady, hypnotic pulse -- a model of power in restraint and simplicity."
Plays both classical and electric guitar, the electric sometimes with synth effects, and even the sitar (hearing him break out his gorgeous sitar/guitar, a guitar with long resonant and pluckable strings is a rare treat). He's recorded with Peter Gabriel's Pangea Records and is now with Blue Note. His recordings include Voices Rising, Manresa, Sacred Addiction, Opaque and Deja Vu (see below).
He recently recorded material from a new album on Blue Note/Capital. 
He's currently playing with saxophone great Joe Henderson, and has been a sideman for Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Nigel Kennedy, Edgar Meyer, Bob James, Dave Holland, Sting, Javon Jackson, and Joe Zawinul, and has twice been selected "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" in Downbeat Magazine. He's an associate professor at Northern Illinois University. He's currently leading a quartet which includes guitarist Dave Onderdonk, bassist Jonathan Paul, and drummer Joe Bianco.
Blue Note also released an Haque album where he covers Crosby, Stills, Nash, And Young's Deja Vu. All of it! The all-instrumental, jazz guitar setting focuses on the melodies which Haque adorns with all sorts of lovely Eastern flourishes. Guitar Player says "Haque's flamencofied, rocked-out "Deja Vu" is a stunning translation."
For more information, visit their website: http://www.fareed.com
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