General News

LONG ROAD HOME ON RADIO 2,
29th Oct week

Great to hear Raymond Burley playing Gordon's music on mainstream radio where it belongs as part of the Sarah Kennedy show, at around 6.20am . Each days show is available on listen again here for one week:

Click here

Click the appropriate day of the week

Monday, short snippet of Simply Margaret - click the fast forward 5mins once, fast forward 15mins once, track comes on at 24min 23sec.

Tuesday, From the 4 Winds - click the fast forward 5mins once, fast forward 15mins once, track comes on at 22min 15sec.

Weds, Kaz click the fast forward 5mins once, fast forward 15mins once, track comes on at 21min 55sec.

Hopefully more to come on Thurs / Friday.

You can also email Sarah Kennedy, and request more of this cd to be played here:
Click here


New CD - As It Happens
Released October 22nd

The latest release by Gordon Giltrap is a 2CD set. It is the first ever complete and unedited live recording of a Giltrap show: music, chat - you get it all, exactly as it happened on the night !

Recorded in January 2007 at Dorchester Arts Centre, this landmark release celebrates the ample skills and charms of one of our national treasures, a man who has indeed earned the respect of fans and fellow musicians alike.

See the page in the Latest Releases section for more info or go straight to the Discography entry Click here



Classical guitarist Raymond Burley has released a book and CD both called 'The Long Road Home' consisting of 17 of Gordon's pieces.

Raymond Burley is one of the UK's most experienced classical guitarists having performed countless solo recitals, concertos, on film scores, radio and television, and in virtually every possible guitar ensemble combination.

The book and CD 'The Long Road Home' are being given an official launch at a special concert in Birmingham in October.

Friday 26th October at 7.30pm

St Pauls Gallery
94-108 Northwood St,
Birmingham B3 1TH
E-mail: Click here
Tel: 0121 2365800

Programme will include the pieces on the CD plus works by J.S. Bach. Tickets £12.50
For more information on this very special event please Click here
To read more about the CD and book Click here


Steve Marsh and Judy Dunlop CD launch

Gordon writes:
"I have written the sleeve notes and played on one track of the new Steve Marsh and Judy Dunlop album PAINTING SHOULD BE FUN.

The track I played on is a song written by Ashley Hutchings entitled Wolf, which is a superb song about the victor of Quebec, General James Wolf, whose statue I grew up with as its position at the top of Greenwich Park dominated all who saw it!

I have also written the sleeve notes for the CD, and Ashley makes a guest appearance. There is some very fine fiddle and cello on one or two of the songs. All in all it's a lovely album, and it's being launched at our joint concert next month on the 2nd of November."
Click here for details.


History of the Hofner Guitar Book

There are plans afoot to try and get the Hofner book out in to the market place again. This book written by myself and Nev Marten was written in the early nineties and in fact became the Bible for all things Hofner related. It has been out of print for some time now, and is fetching upwards of £75 a copy on E-Bay!

It was through this book that I singlehandedly raised the profile of Hofner in this country and focused on the rarer models and by so doing raised their market value! The irony is that I personally couldn't afford to buy a Golden Hofner these days as their value has increased ten fold!

Watch this space...



Upcoming Sheffield gig - 25th Oct

Gordon says that he is particularly looking forward to his concert at The Memorial Hall in Sheffield on Thursday the 25th of this month, and feels very honoured to be part of a programme that has been featuring many legends of the guitar like Davy Graham. On a personal note Gordon, has many friends in Sheffield and has of course a strong association with The Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra and his close friends Cathy and Geoff Olner.

It has been many a year since Gordon appeared at a major venue in the city, and he hopes to see as many of you there as possible to share in what promises to be a special evening.


Troubadour Book page updated

Gordon has written a piece about the origins of the Troubadour Album, which has been added to the Troubadour Book page in the Latest Releases Section Click here then scroll down the page to read.

Gordon goes Grumpy !

Gordon writes - On Tuesday the 25th of September, Hilary and I drove to Shepperton Studios to film my musical item with our pal Rick Wakeman. This is all going to be part of his forthcoming nation-wide GRUMPY OLD PICTURE SHOW tour.

The event's leading up to last Tuesdays recording was quite eventful inasmuch as I had a VERY limited time to learn the piece that Rick sent AND to record it in readiness for the filming on that 25th of September date.

The sequence of events were as follows...Rick's package was sent to my house on Wednesday, but being away in Lincolnshire visiting family I wasn't able to collect from the Post Office depot until Thursday morning, which I duly did. The package contained..one CD, an instruction manual (basically a list of what I should play where) and FOURTEEN pages of music with the appropriate chords written in. Needless to say I started to panic!

I spent the remainder of that day trying to get to grips with it all. The following day - Friday, I had to drive to Malvern for a mixing session for my forthcoming Secret Valentine album, so that only really left Saturday during the day, part of Sunday, and all day Monday in which to complete this piece.

Rick's original idea was for me to learn the piece which calls for acoustic AND electric solo's to be written, and then record everything at Shepperton over a three hour session! For me this was asking the impossible, so I came up with the suggestion that I record all my parts here at home and then 'mime' to them on the day. Fortunately after ringing Rick and putting this idea to him, he agreed it was indeed a GOOD idea. A big sigh of relief came from my end, BUT it was still a tall order time wise to get it done.


On top of all this, my trusty Mackie mixer decided to blow up on me! I was listening to the guide piano parts for the piece, which is called incidentally COUNTER ATTACK, when suddenly there was a loud 'pop' from my mixing desk, a strong burning smell and clouds of smoke emerged from the rear of the mixer. 'I don't need this' I thought and started to quietly panic, but held myself in check whilst I explored the loft for my spare 8 channel mixer. I then had to try and remember how it worked and what plugged in where.

On the Saturday morning, after mentally planning what I should play, and what instrument to use I spent FIVE hours on a fairly (for me) complex arpeggio section for the piece as instructed by his highness the Lord Wakeman. All this added to the extra pressure I personally put on my self by deciding to play all the parts apart from the electric sections on my new FYLDE 12 string! I'm delighted to report that I managed to pull it all together in time, by burning the midnight oil over a couple of nights and completed it in readiness for Tuesdays filming. I forgot to mention that Rick will be playing 'live' each night to my pre-recorded guitar parts, and that the piece COUNTER ATTACK was written with my style of composition in mind...Bless him! .

Shepperton studios is an amazing place, and it was a great feeling to be walking through spaces where SO many legendary movies have been made. The filming took place at the studios of Classic Pictures, a facility that Rick uses frequently for all of his DVD projects. When we arrived, Rick's daughter Gemma was doing her section for the show, so we popped across to the coffee shop for an hour or so while she finished. We were an hour early I hasten to add!

What was required of me was to mime to my recorded bits in front of a single locked off camera, and to try and remember all the (scripted) ad lib lines that Rick fed me. After about three full run throughs we sort of got it. I say sort of because a few of the sections weren't as tightly mimed as I would have liked, but Rick appeared to be deliriously happy with it all, and said that it would be 'fine on the night', and it was 'just a bit of fun and anyway no one will really notice'.

I shan't give away too much of the plot, but I think you get the picture and the rough outline for the show's content, which will be a series of filmed sketches, musical items and some special musical guests that Rick will be duetting with each night.

This is an incredibly ambitious undertaking for Rick as there isn't a great deal of manoeuvrability in terms of ad-libbing because the whole thing is timed to precision and tied to a strict script.

I personally think it's a great idea, and I wish the great man all the best with it, because believe me, he deserves it. If all goes well, there are plans afoot for it to be released on DVD.

Check out Rick's website for tour details, and if you can get along, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Be Well all.

G.

UPDATE 8TH NOV

As expected, the Grumpy Old Picture Show Tour has been going down well with fans.
Read a review Click here