| Tom
Griesgraber
 Tom
Griesgraber's (pronounced
"GRICE-gray-burr") career
path has been an interesting one. The San Diego, CA, native studied
piano as a child and soon moved on to guitar. While still in high
school he started studying music at MiraCosta College and enrolled
there upon graduation. Griesgraber earned a scholarship and transferred
to the world renowned Berklee School of Music in Boston and graduated
summa cum laude with a bachelor of music degree in electric guitar
performance. He then spent a year at San Diego State University
studying for a master's degree in jazz.
Before
long, Griesgraber realized he was no longer fully inspired by the
electric guitar alone. "There were 1,000 guitar players a semester
at Berklee and you had to spend six to eight hours a day practicing
or playing in class. Then one day at a Berklee seminar in Los Angeles
I heard high school kids playing the same songs I had played when
I was their age," he says. "My interest in music has always
been to try to have my own voice and suddenly everything I did on
the guitar felt derivative. The instrument has so much recorded
history to it now that I think it's incredibly difficult to come
up with something truly unique.
Then,
in 1997, Griesgraber's life changed when saw Stick
player Tony Levin perform
with Jerry
Marotta and Steve
Gorn at the NAMM convention. The Chapman
Stick is a 12-stringed instrument played with both hands fretting
and sounding notes simultaneously. Griesgraber was completely blown
away by the music Levin was creating with the Stick. In a dramatic
move, Tom put his creative career on hold, set aside the guitar,
and focused on the fresh and still mostly unexplored territory of
the often unrecognized Chapman Stick. “Logically that decision
didn’t make much sense,” says Griesgraber. “It
really felt like starting over, but I just knew I had to do it.
I believe every one of us has a purpose in life and if we concentrate
on doing what we feel called to do, no matter the risks, things
work out for the best.”
 "I
was hungry and ready to do something different," says Griesgraber,
who bought a used Stick for $650 and began his studies using two
instructional texts. Now Griesgraber's principal instrument, guitar
and bass styles can both be played on the Stick. He uses a synthesizer
version as well. Griesgraber’s
dedication and eventual mastery of the instrument has led to a plethora
of career advancing opportunities. As a Stick player, Tom has opened
for three national tours with the California Guitar Trio as well
as shows with Al Dimeola, Stanley Jordan, The Tony Levin Band, Bill
Bruford's Earthworks, Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather, Tower of
Power, Tuck and Patti, Jazz Mandolin Project, The League of Crafty
Guitarists and the Dixie Dregs. At the request of Recording Academy
president Neil Portnow, he performed for the 2004 Grammy Awards
Show Post Party. In addition to his solo performances, Tom also
plays regularly with drummer Jerry Marotta and his own genre-bending
trio, Agent
22.
"Tom
is a master Stick player. His technique and musicality stand as
an inspiration to the rest of us who play the instrument, and we're
always eager to see what he'll do next."
– Tony Levin, (bass/stick player for Peter Gabriel, King Crimson)
 The
diversity of the Stick enables Griesgraber to create any kind of
music he wants. "I love being able to create a mood and tell
a story. To do that, I approach my music as being more composed
than improvised," he says. "But when I play live there
is a good deal of improvisation and everything is always open to
change." A Whisper in the Thunder
exemplifies Tom Griesgraber’s intuitive and forward thinking
approach to creating music. The album’s soulful exploration
of sound, with its unusual instrumentation and sophisticated compositions,
is artful yet accessible, complex and impressive, inspirational
and melodic, further solidifying Tom’s commitment to thoughtful
composition and creative performance. Seeking out richly powerful
supporting collaborations, Griesgraber enlisted some of the most
respected instrumentalists in the world to join the project, including
drummers Jerry
Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Indigo Girls) and Pat
Mastelotto (King Crimson, Mr. Mister) and The
California Guitar Trio. The result is profound. The
bulk of 'A Whisper In The Thunder' emanates from Griesgraber alone,
but the touches contributed by others -- especially the exotic drums,
percussion and loops added by Marotta and Mastelotto and the acoustic
guitars by the California Guitar Trio's Paul Richards, Bert Lams
and Hideyo Moriya -- help him fully realize his vision. "Collaborations
are always fun because they pull you out of what you do," says
Griesgraber.
A
Whisper In The Thunder is the first step toward a lifelong
career with unlimited musical possibilities. “I feel like
‘Whisper’ is just the beginning,” says Griesgraber,
“but I feel that way about every project I do. I don’t
think I’ll ever be done looking for new ways to make music.
It’s the search itself that keeps me in the game.”
Catch Tom Griesgraber
currently on tour with
the California Guitar Trio.
Visit Tom Greisgraber's
official website at www.thossounds.com
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