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Stefan Grossman | |
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 Stefan Grossman at Ruisrock in Finland, 1971 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | April 16, 1945 Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Genres | Blues, folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1964–present |
Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records. [1] He is known for his instructional videos and Vestapol line of videos and DVDs.
Born in Brooklyn, United States, [1] Grossman described his upbringing in Queens, New York, as "lower middle-class", and his parents as "very leftist", valuing education and the arts. He began playing acoustic guitar at the age of nine, when his father bought him an archtop-style (f-hole) acoustic guitar made by Harmony. Later he moved on to a Gibson archtop guitar which he played between the ages of nine and eleven, taking lessons and learning to read music. For a few years, he gave up playing but resumed again at the age of 15. [2]
Grossman's interest in the folk revival was sparked by attending the Washington Square Park "Hoots". [2]
He took guitar lessons for several years from Rev. Gary Davis, [1] whom he later described as "one of the greatest exponents of fingerstyle blues and gospel guitar playing" and "an incredible genius as a teacher". [3] He spent countless hours learning and documenting Davis's music, recording much of it on a tape recorder, and developing a form of tablature to take down his teacher's instructions.
In the folk and country blues revival of the 1960s he was listening to old recordings of artists such as Elizabeth Cotten, Big Bill Broonzy, Lead Belly, Josh White, Lightnin' Hopkins, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Son House, Charlie Patton, Skip James, Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Brownie McGhee and Woody Guthrie. [2] This brought him into contact with other collectors, including John Fahey, Ed Denson, Bernie Klatzko, Tom Hoskins and Nick Poerls. Collecting the 78s developed into searching for the artists who had recorded them, with many successes: during the mid-60s, Grossman met, befriended and studied guitar with Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Skip James, Mississippi Fred McDowell and other major blues artists. [4]
In 1964, Grossman and a group of friends formed the Even Dozen Jug Band. [5] Although they only recorded one LP on the Elektra Records label (long since out of print but available at iTunes), other members were also to have successful musical careers, including David Grisman, Steve Katz (Blood, Sweat & Tears), John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful), Joshua Rifkin and Maria Muldaur (then Maria D'Amato). In the early summer of 1966, there was an effort by Elektra's Paul Rothchild to put together a folk rock group (like The Mamas & the Papas) with Grossman, Taj Mahal, guitarist Steve Mann and a recently returned folk singer from Texas named Janis Joplin. They had a rehearsal in Berkeley, sometime in June (Joplin's first show with Big Brother and the Holding Company was at the Avalon Ballroom June 10, 1966, but she had been in the Bay Area for about 10 days). However, Joplin would not abandon her new band and the deal was scuttled. Subsequently, Grossman spent about three months with The Fugs and a further four months with a band called Chicago Loop. [5] At the same time, however, he was beginning his career as a guitar teacher. With his friend Rory Block and also Mike Cooper, he produced and released one of the earliest (if not the very first) guitar instructional LPs, How To Play Blues Guitar and began the publication of a five volume series of instructional books with Oak Publications called the Oak Anthology of Blues Guitar. These drew on his studies with Rev. Davis and the other older blues artists and on his obsessive listening to old 78s. [2] The Country Blues Guitar, Delta Blues, Texas Blues, Ragtime Blues Guitar and Rev. Gary Davis/Blues Guitar have remained in print through various editions.
In the mid-1960s, Grossman recorded a number of cuts for Joe Bussard and his Frederick, Maryland-based Fonotone Records and performed at the Jabberwock coffeehouse in Berkeley under the nom du folk of "Kid Future". [6] The origins of the name Kid Future date back in the 1930s where there were a number of country blues artists called Willie Brown, the best known of these, and a friend of Son House, recorded a song called "Future Blues", using an open G tuning. The song was considered very difficult to master and puzzled many experienced blues players but Grossman, when still in his teens, figured out how to play it. Given Bussard's penchant for creating noms de plume, as he did for John Fahey when recording him as Blind Thomas in the 1950s, it seems likely that the origins of the name Kid Future lie in Frederick, MD and a talented teenager who had mastered "Future Blues". Grossman also played on Pat Kilroy's Light of Day album released in 1966.
In 1967, Grossman travelled to Europe, [1] as a first step on a planned journey to India which was not completed. In London he stayed at first with Eric Clapton whom he had met whilst in Chicago Loop and met guitarists and singers on the British folk scene including Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Davy Graham and Ralph McTell and The Young Tradition. He began playing in folk clubs around the country and made his first solo recordings for the Philips/Fontana label (Aunt Molly's Murray Farm and The Gramercy Park Sheikh) and then for Nathan Joseph's Transatlantic label, including Yazoo Basin Boogie and Ragtime Cowboy Jew (see discography). He also traveled widely in Europe and eventually settled in Italy, where he lived for seven years. Travelling around Europe for gigs brought him into contact with many other fine guitarists, but few of them had record deals. Grossman saw a niche in the market for solo acoustic guitar records which were accompanied by a tablature book to allow the buyer to try playing the arrangements and, with his friend Ed Denson taking care of the US side of business, founded Kicking Mule Records. [5] [2] Over the next few years KM released albums by such artists as John James, Happy Traum, Ton van Bergeyk, Dave Evans, Peter Finger and the late Sam Mitchell. Grossman also released his own original and instructional albums on KM, the latter including seminal works such as Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques, How To Play Ragtime Guitar and Famous Ragtime Guitar Solos which had a major influence on acoustic guitarists in Europe, the UK and the US. During these years Grossman was also touring as a solo artist and in partnership with John Renbourn and continuing to write and publish instructional books, often accompanied by the then new technology of a cassette tape.
In 1971, Grossman composed and played the soundtrack to Swedish director Bo Widerberg's bio-pic Joe Hill . [7] The love theme from the movie was released a single the same year.
| This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(September 2019) |
In 1987, Grossman returned to live in the US. He toured much less – at least partly due to a painful back problem – and began to consolidate his various teaching and instructional materials under the roof of one company, Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, working at first in cooperation with the Shanachie Records company. He was quick to see the potential of video as well as audio as an instructional tool– budding players could buy an instructional tape for the cost of a single 'real' lesson and have it constantly available. The material which had appeared on LPs such as How To Play Blues Guitar now became available to watch as well as hear. Nor was Grossman the only instructor – the Guitar Workshop 'faculty' included such artists as Chet Atkins, John Renbourn, Woody Mann, Ari Eisinger, John Miller, Larry Coryell, David Laibman, Ernie Hawkins and others.
Grossman also began to acquire concert footage of the old blues and country artists who had been rediscovered in the 1960s and had often made TV appearances; this was the basis of Vestapol Videos, which edited and reissued this footage. It was a breakthrough for younger guitarists to be able to watch Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins, Rev. Gary Davis and many others long after these players had died. Vestapol rapidly expanded to include concert footage from living artists too. Although originally issued as video tapes, almost all of this material (both instructional and concert) has in the last few years been re-issued on DVD. The Guitar Workshop mails worldwide from its bases in New Jersey and Yorkshire.
Much of the music which Grossman recorded on vinyl during his years in Europe has been reissued on CD, as have many of the Kicking Mule albums (although vinyl LPs remain collectable items), including a 2008 reissue of the original How To Play Blues Guitar LP from 1967, including outtakes and later recordings from subsequent editions of the album. The LP tracks are on the CD Country Blues Guitar: The Archival Recordings 1963–1971 (SGGW103) by Rory Block and Stefan Grossman.
Grossman resumed touring in 2006, since and has appeared in Europe and Japan as well as the US. He is a frequent visitor to England (where he has family) and conducts well-attended guitar workshops as well as giving concerts.
Grossman's principal acoustic guitar was a 1930 Martin OM-45 which he later sold. He uses Franklin guitars, made by Nick Kukich, [8] since the 1970s and a custom Martin HJ-38 since 2008. He also owns numerous guitars from different builders, including John Greven, Tony Klassen and Ed Foley. He uses also an old Stella Jumbo 12-string guitar.
In the past, he has also played a Martin OM-28, Euphonon and Prairie State guitars. He favors medium-gauge strings (.013, .017, .026, .036, .046, .056) for slide, and light-gauge strings (.12 – .53) for standard playing. [9] [10]
In 2008 Grossman worked with the Martin Guitar Company to produce a replica guitar, the HJ-38 Stefan Grossman Custom Signature Edition, based on a Jumbo size. [11]
Arthur Blake, known as Blind Blake, was an American blues and ragtime singer and guitarist. He is known for recordings he made for Paramount Records between 1926 and 1932.
Piedmont blues refers primarily to a guitar style, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others. The result is comparable in sound to ragtime or stride piano styles. Blues researcher Peter B. Lowry coined the term, giving co-credit to fellow folklorist Bruce Bastin. The Piedmont style is differentiated from other styles, particularly the Mississippi Delta blues, by its ragtime-based rhythms.
John Renbourn was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence (1967–1973). He worked later in a duo with Stefan Grossman.
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs and recordings are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues", "I am a Pilgrim" and "Dark as a Dungeon". However, it is his unique guitar style, still called "Travis picking" by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, for which he is best known today. Travis picking is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977.
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking. The term "fingerstyle" is something of a misnomer, since it is present in several different genres and styles of music—but mostly, because it involves a completely different technique, not just a "style" of playing, especially for the guitarist's picking/plucking hand. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking except in classical guitar circles, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues and country guitar playing in the US. The terms "fingerstyle" and "fingerpicking" are also applied to similar string instruments such as the banjo.
Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infancy, Davis first performed professionally in the Piedmont blues scene of Durham, North Carolina in the 1930s, then converted to Christianity and became a minister. After moving to New York in the 1940s, Davis experienced a career rebirth as part of the American folk music revival that peaked during the 1960s. Davis' most notable recordings include "Samson and Delilah" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy".
William Boazman, known as Sonny Black, is an acoustic guitarist based in the UK, who plays blues, rags and original compositions usually fingerstyle or slide. "Sonny Black" is a pseudonym adopted when he began the first Sonny Black's Blues Band. He previously became well known as Bill Boazman on the folk club circuit and at college gigs during the 1970s as a singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist. He has been credited with accompanying J. J. Cale, but this is a fallacy arising from a typographic error involving an American musician with a similar name, Bob Brozman.
Blind Joe Death is the first album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey. There are three different versions of the album, and the original self-released edition of fewer than 100 copies is extremely rare.
Richard Royall "Duck" Baker IV is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist who plays in a variety of styles: jazz, blues, gospel, ragtime, folk, and Irish and Scottish music. He has written many instruction books for guitar.
Daniel Ira Kalb was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was an original member of the 1960s group the Blues Project.
Nick Katzman is an American blues musician. Katzman was born in New York City, and lives in both Manhattan and Berlin, Germany. He plays in a variety of musical genres, including Chicago blues, Mississippi blues, Texas blues, and ragtime.
John James is known, primarily, as a solo acoustic fingerstyle guitarist, composer and entertainer.
Folk baroque or baroque guitar is a distinctive and influential guitar fingerstyle developed in Britain in the 1960s, which combined elements of American folk, blues, jazz and ragtime with British folk music to produce a new and elaborate form of accompaniment. It has been highly important in folk music, folk rock and British folk rock playing, particularly in Britain, Ireland, North America and France.
"Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" is a jazz instrumental composed by Charles Mingus, originally recorded by his sextet in 1959 and released on his album Mingus Ah Um. It was subsequently released on his 1963 album, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus as "Theme for Lester Young" and 1977's Three or Four Shades of Blues. Composed in E-flat minor, Mingus wrote it as an elegy for saxophonist Lester Young, who had died two months prior to the recording session and who was known for wearing unusually broad-brimmed pork pie hats. These were "busted down" by Young himself, from hats that might better be described as Homburgs, but which he only purchased in "Negro districts". This was since, according to an interview with Young in the November 1949 edition of Our World, "You can't get the right type in a 'gray' neighborhood".
Vestapol is a music publishing company with over 100 DVDs and videos published as of 2004. It has been releasing videos since the 1960s, mainly featuring jazz, blues, country and folk music artists. The video line is produced by Stefan Grossman. Artists who have recorded on Vestapol video include Merle Travis, Joe Pass, Pat Kirtley, Norman Blake, Preston Reed, and Raymond Fairchild. The name Vestapol refers to an open D Major tuning for the guitar, common in finger-style guitar in country and folk music.
John Renbourn was an English guitarist and composer. His discography consists of 20 studio albums, 5 live albums, 19 compilations, and 2 videos. In addition, his compositions and guitar work have been featured on a number of albums by other artists.
Stefan Grossman is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer. His discography consists of 22 studio albums, 2 live albums, 12 compilations, 22 videos, and 14 collaborations with other artists. In addition, his production, compositions and guitar work have been featured on a number of albums by other artists.
Terry Robb is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist, composer, arranger and record producer living in the United States. He plays electric and acoustic guitar, and is associated with the American Primitive Guitar genre through his collaboration with steel string guitarist John Fahey. He is a member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame, and was honored with the eponymous "Terry Robb" Muddy Award for Best Acoustic Guitar in 2011. His original compositions draw on the Delta blues, ragtime, folk music, country music and jazz traditions.
Valerie Turner is an American blues guitarist, vocalist, educator, and author. She plays in the Piedmont style of fingerpicking guitar, continuing in the traditions of Mississippi John Hurt, Elizabeth Cotten, Memphis Minnie, and Etta Baker. She performs blues, ballads, country, popular songs, ragtime, and gospels. She is a native New Yorker with southern roots in Virginia and Georgia. She started learning and studying traditional country blues guitar in 1978. Valerie and her husband, Benedict Turner, are an acoustic blues duo called Piedmont Blūz. They specialize in Piedmont blues music, but also perform music from the Delta blues tradition. Benedict and Valerie are ambassadors of historic blues music, and educate their audiences about this early tradition and its artists.
"Death Don't Have No Mercy" is a song by the American gospel blues singer-guitarist Blind Gary Davis. It was first recorded on August 24, 1960, for the album Harlem Street Singer (1960), released by Prestige Records' Bluesville label during a career rebirth for Davis in the American folk music revival. The recording was engineered by Rudy Van Gelder at his studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and produced by Kenneth S. Goldstein, who had pursued Davis in Prestige's effort to capitalize on the revival.
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