Renowned for his technique, innovation and compelling compositions during his two-decade recording career, Alex de Grassi is considered one of the world's top fingerstyle, steel-string acoustic guitarists. Primarily known for his solo guitar recordings and concerts, he also records and performs in ensemble settings. His latest release, Tatamonk, is a collaboration with Chilean musician Quique (kee-kay) Cruz that explores the relationship between traditional Andean music and jazz.

Born in Yokosuka, Japan, but raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Alex de Grassi was exposed from his earliest years to a variety of musical influences. His grandfather led a string quartet and was violinist with the San Francisco Symphony. His father was trained in classical piano, while his mother was a fan of jazz. "The two recordings I heard the most as a child," de Grassi recalls, "were 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 and blues and popular music. Early influences include British fingerstyle acoustic guitarists Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, American innovators Leo Kottke, John Fahey and Ralph Towner, and much of the rock, pop and jazz music of the sixties.

Though largely self-taught, de Grassi briefly studied jazz guitar with noted teacher Bill Thrasher while attending the University of California at Santa Barbara, and took music classes while pursuing a degree in Economic Geography at the University of California at Berkeley. Since embarking on a recording and concert career, Alex has continued to study classical and jazz guitar. He has also studied jazz piano with Bay Area great Mark Levine as well as composition with the renowned teacher and author William A. Mathieu.

De Grassi recorded his first album Turning: Turning Back in 1978 for Will Ackerman's start-up Windham Hill label (Acoustic Guitar magazine recently cited this album among the top ten essential fingerstyle recordings). The overwhelmingly positive response to the album and the follow-up, Slow Circle, launched him on a career as one of the most innovative fingerstyle guitarists and composers of guitar music. Over the years, de Grassi has explored a variety of world music influences, and he 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.

One of de Grassi's trademarks is his ability to create a highly orchestrated sound in his solo guitar music. His playing weaves together melody, counter-melody, bass, harmony, rhythm, and cross-rhythms in such a way as to give the feel of various instruments playing together. Using a broad palette of techniques and timbre, and driven by a unique sense of composition, his intricate guitar pieces take the listener beyond the instrument into a complex tapestry of sound.

Alex has toured extensively on the concert circuit, performing in Europe, Japan, and throughout North America, including such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Belfast International Festival. He has also traveled to Bolivia (inspiring the title track for his RCA/Novus recording Altiplano) studying and gathering Andean music and helping bring about the Arawi recording of the Contemporary Orchestra of Native Instruments for New Albion Records.

In addition to recording and performing, de Grassi keeps active with other projects. He has scored music for Mirrors of the Heart for use in the television series Americas, for a number of short documentary films, and has collaborated with actors and dancers in various performances. Alex has published many of his guitar transcriptions with Hal Leonard, Stropes Editions, and numerous guitar magazines. He has been a frequent guest teacher at the National Summer Guitar Workshop, the Milwaukee Conservatory of Music, and the Omega Institute. Alex is the subject of a PBS concert/interview television show, Alex de Grassi: The Artist’s Profile.

Alex's tenth recording, The Water Garden (Tropo Records, 1998), garnered both GRAMMY and Indie Award nominations as well as winning the Crossroads Magazine award for best acoustic instrumental recording of the year. Bolivian Blues Bar (Narada Jazz, 1999) is a collection of jazz standards arranged for solo guitar; the album includes pieces by George Gershwin, Thelonius Monk, and Duke Ellington.

Alex is currently working on the music for his next solo guitar project, which will be released in 2002. In addition to his solo performances, he is also touring with Quique Cruz and the Tatamonk group.

Biography from www.degrassi.com