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Grammy-nominated guitarist an acoustic
innovator
The Wall Street Journal has called his playing “flawless.”
Billboard magazine hails his “intricate finger-picking technique
with an uncanny gift for melodic invention.” And Guitar Player
magazine touted his acoustic technique as “the kind that
shoves fellow pickers to the cliff of decision: Should I practice
like a madman or chuck it altogether?” There don’t seem
to be enough superlatives for Grammy-nominated Alex de Grassi,
a finger-style steel-string guitarist who is revered around the
world for his evocative compositions and arrangements, uniquely-orchestrated
sound and sheer virtuosity. The Hayes Performing Arts Center presents
de Grassi in concert for one night only, March 8 at 7:30pm.
Bay Area guitarist Alex
de Grassi will perform at the Hayes Performing Arts Center
in Blowing Rock on Saturday, March 8th |
Born in Japan and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, de Grassi
was surrounded by a variety of musical influences — his San
Francisco Symphony violinist grandfather, his classically trained
pianist father and his jazz-loving mother — and subsisted
on an adolescent diet of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 and
the Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald version of Porgy & Bess.
His first instrument was trumpet, but at age 13 de Grassi switched
to guitar and began playing folk, blues and popular music inspired
by such notables as British finger-style acoustic guitarists Bert
Jansch and John Renbourn, American innovators Leo Kottke, John
Fahey and Ralph Towner, and rock, pop and jazz music of the 1960s.
This tuneful potpourri of both practice and exposure clearly led
to de Grassi’s trademark: his widely hailed and coveted ability
to create a highly-orchestrated sound in his solo guitar music.
Weaving together melody, counter-melody, bass, harmony, rhythm
and cross-rhythms, de Grassi creates a canvas of sound unheard
of in solo guitar performance. Over the last three decades as
a soloist and collaborator, de Grassi has stretched his repertoire
to include interpretations of jazz classics and folk melodies
from around the world. His recordings Clockwork, Altiplano, The
World’s Getting Loud and Beyond The Night Sky: Lullabies
for Guitar (Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner) feature guest
musicians such as Patrick O’Hearn, Zakir Hussein, Luis Conte,
Paul McCandless and Mark Egan.
Tickets are $20, $14 students, and are available now by calling
the Box Office at 828-295-9627. You may pay by credit card or
by cash (in person). Tickets can also be purchased online at www.HayesCenter.org
by credit card. Special group rates are also available. Season
and Flex Passes can be purchased and used throughout the entire
’08 season. |
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