Widely heralded as a gifted young player with a passionate sound, jazz-guitarist Corey Christiansen took up the instrument at the age of five under the direction of his father, Mike Christiansen, Chairman of Guitar Studies at Utah State University. Corey earned a bachelor's degree in music from Utah State and a master's degree in jazz performance from the University of South Florida.

Awakening, Corey's first CD as a leader, was also the first release on Mel Bay Records, the entertainment-recording division of Mel Bay Publications. Awakening spent twelve weeks on the JazzWeek Jazz Album Chart, reaching number sixteen in March 2005. The title track, an original composition, consistently receives the most airplay from the CD.

Corey's first DVD, Vic Juris &anp; Corey Christiansen: Live at the Smithsonian Jazz Café, was released in July 2006. Mike Flynn gave the DVD four stars in Jazzwise, noting that "Christiansen is well versed in the guitar's sonic heritage, and his judicious sense of phrasing finds him light-fingered even on the densest of changes and positively euphoric on his ballad work."

MB3 / Jazz Hits / Volume One, the first guitar trio recording on Mel Bay Records, was released in November 2006 and spent three weeks at number one on the JazzWeek Jazz Album Chart in early 2007. The CD features Corey, Vic, and fellow Mel Bay guitarist Jimmy Bruno, with Danny Gottlieb on drums and Jay Anderson on bass.

Corey has played the Syracuse Jazz Festival, the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, the Festival of the Midnight Sun (Helsinki), the Umbria Jazz Festival, Iridium Jazz Club, Gerald Veasley's Jazz Base (Reading, PA), Jazz in June (Lincoln, NE), The Northwest Arkansas Summer Jazz Series, the Clearwater Jazz Festival, the St. Louis Jazz Festival, the Daytona Beach Jazz Festival, the Whitaker Music Festival (St. Louis), the Classic American Guitar Show (Long Island), John Pisano's Guitar Night (Los Angeles), Chris' Jazz Café (Philadelphia), the Blue Wisp (Cincinnati), Dazzle (Denver), and the Bistro at Grand Center (St. Louis). He has played or recorded with an impressive roster of artists, including John Pisano, Andy Summers, Willie Akins, Chuck Red, Rob McConnel, Sid Jacobs, Jack Wilkins, Bruce Saunders, Randy Johnston, Phil DeGreg, Steve Davis, Shelly Berg, Terreon Gully, Chuck Owen, Frank Vignola, Tom Kennedy, and Anthony Wilson.

Senior music editor for Mel Bay Publications since 2001, Corey has written more than fifty books for the company. In 2006 he was named Artist in Residence for The Music School in American Fork, Utah.

Release Date: December 2006

Jazz guitar traditionalists of the world unite - or at least take note of this triumvirate of six-string masters as they explore a selected catalog of perennial jazz classics.
      Peter Margasak
      DownBeat

MB3 provides tasteful and masterful renditions of jazz standards in an exquisite setting of rhythm and lead guitars weaving in and out of the melodies. In what could easily have been a traffic jam, masters Jimmy Bruno, Vic Juris and Corey Christiansen handle the logistics of this task with aplomb and alacrity.
      George Harris
      All About Jazz / Los Angeles

My conspectus is, this is a CD, fearless, provocative and innovative. You will find brilliance, great musicianship, and the determination of three master guitarists. They endeavored to not only change the music, but to make it better. And I must admit, they did it!
      Dee Dee McNeil
      Cadence

What's better than one excellent jazz guitarist or even a jazz guitar duo? Well, how about a jazz guitar trio, a rare instrumental lineup being explored by Jimmy Bruno, Vic Juris and Corey Christiansen?
      Richard Harrington
      The Washington Post

One for the guitar freaks out there, but certainly no novelty
      Tad Hendrickson
      JazzWeek

A good blending of musical personalities producing fine music
      Vince Lewis
      Just Jazz Guitar

Release Date: July 2006

The conversational qualities that define the best duo partnerships are simply overflowing on this wonderful collaboration between guitarists Corey Christiansen and Vic Juris. (Four stars)
      Mike Flynn
      Jazzwise

Relaxation and amiable swing characterize two-and-a-half hours with the veteran Juris and the relative newcomer Christiansen. The guitarists are close listeners and thoughtful improvisers more concerned with line, chords and mood than with display and fire.
      Doug Ramsey
      Rifftides

Two wonderful players
      Bob Karlovits
      Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Not only are these two guitarists fluent in almost every aspect of the instrument, they are constantly being creative and melodic, never relying on flash or chops for the sake of chops.
      Matthew Warnock
      Just Jazz Guitar

Release Date: July 2004

Although three of the four players (all but Gottlieb) are far from famous in the jazz world, all deserve to be better known. Collectors of bop-oriented guitar recordings will certainly enjoy Awakening.
      Scott Yanow
      All Music Guide

This CD is high-energy playing from start to finish. The quartet presents a first-rate musical experience for the listener. Mel Bay Publications has worked very hard in the past several months offering solid method books and CDs for the jazz guitarist. This offering from their senior music editor and clinician confirms the success of their efforts
      Vince Lewis
      Just Jazz Guitar

Awakening, the first track of the nine, foreshadows not so much the adventurous nature of Christiansen's playing to come, even though he makes clear that a pushing of the envelope certainly can be a component of his talent, but rather the crystalline nature of his tone, rich and glowing, and the logical development of his solos, narrative in their logic. Awakening awakens listeners to a superb guitarist who has developed his own approach that remains technically accomplished and inviting.
      Bill Donaldson
      Jazz Improv

One of the best jazz guitar records I've heard in a long time. Beautiful playing, beautiful writing, beautiful sound.
      Joe Diorio

From the first note, Corey Christiansen lights a rhythmic fire that never flickers, punctuating chords with precision and soloing with zeal on this set of inventive originals and standards.
      Dave Zaworski

Corey Christiansen is the kind of jazz player I like: One who is steeped in the tradition of the great bebop and post bop musicians, but is also very conscious of infusing into it a new and modern style. The language he speaks is not of the 40s and 50s, but very much of our time. And it swings like a runaway train! Great CD!
      Carl VerHeyen