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by Doc Dosco
http://www.docdosco.comThis week we feature Louisiana Guitarist Phil duGrey.
Phil duGrey is like something you’ve never seen before. Equipped with a
17 string guitar he is a one man orchestra, he plays incredible solo
pieces with walking bass, chords and melody all at the same time (al la
the late, great Lenny Breau). He also plays incredible harmonic
flourishes throughout his arrangements, and his choice of material is
quirky but refreshing. Phil’s guitar has 7 strings (tuned like a regular
guitar, only with a high A string added) and then there are 10
sympathetic strings, which he plays like a harp times. I’ve never seen
anything quite like it.Phil’s online Bio:
Phil’s approach to the guitar sounds like John Coltrane meets Mel Brooks
at a party for Salvador Dali. It’s uncanny the way he has conjured up
such an unorthodox way to attend to virtuosity.
— Steve VaiWhat the hell is a GUITARP? The guitarp is a marriage between 7-string
guitar (high A) and 10 short strings tuned in the upper register of a
harp. Philip deGruy commissioned Jimmy Foster of New Orleans to build
the first guitarp in 1983. In 1997, West Coast luthier Ralph Novak
redesigned and built deGruy’s present guitarp employing Novak’s
remarkable fanned-fret system.This guitarp is featured with all its seratonal warmth on deGruy’s
latest solo CD, Hello Dali (Otter Print Records). From Steely Dan to
Gershwin, from the Beatles to originals, Hello Dali contains harmonic
passages that, if Congress heard them, just might be banned. “Phil’s
approach to the guitar sounds like John Coltrane meets Mel Brooks at a
party for Salvador Dali,” guitar whiz Steve Vai said of the CD.Like Hello Dali, deGruy’s first solo CD, Innuendo Out the Other (NYC
Records) portrays the essence of his tender, sinister madness. While
delivering a constant stream of alliterative puns and improvised
parodies, Philip transports us through a solo “guitarp” journey.
Grafting bossa nova to the Mardi Gras spirit and leaping from Delta
blues to Debussy, he summons everything from bebop reharmonization to
Eastern koto sounds with amazing technique, sensitivity and, at times,
humor.After falling under the spell of Chet Atkins, deGruy, a native New
Orleanian, began his tenure with jazz great Lenny Breau in 1976. By the
early ’80s deGruy began plucking an electric guitar behind its bridge
and was compelled to incorporate that sounds into his music. Hank
Mackie, Phil’s extraordinary teacher, suggested fashioning the harp
strings to sit on the guitarp’s body where the pick guard would be
located, thereby extending chord voicings in one motion and evoking the
illusion of a “limitless” guitar, turning a sad chord into a tragedy, a
happy chord into bliss, and thereby enabling the juxtaposed variations
of both.Characterized most accurately by Matt Resnicoff in Innuendo’s liner
notes, “Philip deGruy is the Victor Borge of the electric guitar, but
only if Victor were as good as Art Tatum and as hilarious as, say, Lenny
Bruce.” Philip’s delightful fusing of creative energy, radical genius
and impeccable craft has yielded much acclaim from contemporaries. Upon
hearing Philip, Danny Gatton opined, “I have never been more impressed
with anybody’s playing, ever!” And Larry Coryell has described him as
the “most original solo guitarist of the ’90s.”deGruy’s next project features a plethora of duets with such guitarists
as Larry Coryell, Mike Stern, Reeves Gabrels and Charlie Hunter, who
said, “Phil has changed the face of the guitar without using a lot of
Spandex.”Visit Phil deGrey’s website at:
http://www.guitarp.com/Doc Dosco is a jazz guitarist, composer and audio consultant living in Los Angeles, CA. His website is located at http://www.docdosco.com, where you can find more information on the ‘What’s Hot with Jazz Guitar’ columns, audio clips of Doc’s playing, and many additional features. Doc endorses Heritage Guitars and is featured artist on their website. He also endorses the new Pignose Valve Tube Amps — great for jazz (and anything else!)
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