My Career in Five Songs

WHEN ASSESSING ALEX Skolnick’s prodigious body of work as one of the world’s most accomplished and respected guitarists, it almost makes sense to consider retitling this article “My Career in Five Styles,” since his résumé is as expansive as it is impressive. The Berkeley native and former student of Joe Satriani was initially hailed for his decade-long stint as lead guitarist with West Coast thrash-metal pioneers Testament. He also logged time with symphonic metal stalwarts Savatage, funk-fusion bass master Stu Hamm and even Ozzy Osbourne before taking a hiatus from rock to study jazz at New York City’s prestigious New School.

This musical reinvention led to the formation of the Alex Skolnick Trio, a group that blended the ethos of classic hard rock and metal with the improvisational freedom and harmonic complexities of bebop. In 2012, Skolnick took his musical sojourn further by forming Alex Skolnick’s Planetary Coalition, a predominantly