Frank Gambale (born December 22, 1958[citation needed]) is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He is renowned for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques.
Recording career
He graduated from GIT in Hollywood, with Student of the Year honors. After graduation, he played the jazz club circuit with his own band and published Speed Picking, his first of many instructional videos. In 1985, he released his first studio album entitled Brave New Guitar, having signed a three-album contract with Legato Records (which was owned by Mark Varney, brother of Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney). In that same year, he toured with Jean-Luc Ponty, and shortly afterwards began a six-year stint with the Chick Corea Elektric Band in 1987. During his time with the latter, he participated in five albums and shared a Grammy award (with two Grammy nominations). Throughout the 1980s, he would release altogether three studio albums.
An endorsement deal with Ibanez guitars came about in 1986, which resulted in the bright yellow-coloured Frank Gambale model guitar (now FGM series), modeled after the Saber Series line; this went on sale in 1987. Yamaha also manufactured a Frank Gambale model guitar after he left Ibanez in the 1990s. In 1988 he signed with JVC Music, and released Thunder from Down Under the following year. Gambale also served as head of the guitar department of the Los Angeles Music Academy during this time.
The 1990s saw four studio albums released, and in the 2000s Gambale started his own record label—Wombat Records—having purchased his entire Legato discography with the intention of reissuing it himself. A live double album, Resident Aliens: Live Bootlegs, was released in 2001, along with Imagery Suite—a duet featuring classical guitarist Maurizio Colonna. He also recorded one album, Coming to Your Senses, on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label in 2000.
Gambale has been a member of the band Vital Information since 1988, with the group consisting of drummer Steve Smith, keyboardist Tom Coster and bassist Baron Browne. He also played on three collaborative albums with Smith and bassist Stu Hamm on Mike Varney's jazz-orientated label, Tone Center Records. In addition to concert recordings, he released an instructional DVD called Concert with Class in 2003.
In 2004, Gambale reunited with Chick Corea and toured with the Chick Corea Elektric Band. On his official blog in mid-2009, he announced a January 2010 release of a new album entitled Natural Selection.[2]
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
- 1988: Live!
- 2001: Resident Aliens: Live Bootlegs
- 2002: Absolutely Live - In Poland
- 2007: Made in Australia (with Virgil Donati and Ric Fierabracci)
Collaborations with the Mark Varney Project
Collaborations with Stuart Hamm and Steve Smith
- 1998: Show Me What You Can Do
- 2000: The Light Beyond
- 2002: GHS 3
Collaborations with Maurizio Colonna
- 2000: Imagery Suite (Also known as Playgame)
- 2005: Live (with Maurizio Colonna)
- 2007: Bon Voyage
With Chick Corea's Elektric band
- 1987: Lightyears
- 1988: Eye Of The Beholder
- 1990: Inside Out
- 1991: Beneath The Mask
- 2004: To The Stars
- 2004: Chick Corea Elektric Band Live At Montreux DVD
- GRP Super Live In Concert (Tokyo)
- GRP-2-1650 (double CD - One CD is Elektric Band, the other Dave Grusin)
With Vital Information
- 1988: Fiafiaga
- 1991: Vital Live
- 1992: Easier Done Than Said
- 1996: Ray Of Hope
- 1998: Where We Come From
- 2000: Live Around The World
- 2000: Live From Mars
- 2002: Show em Where You Live
- 2004: Come On In
Concert & Instructional DVD Releases
- 2003: Chopbuilder: The Ultimate Guitar Workout
- 2004: Monster Licks & Speed Picking
- 2004: Modes No Mystery
- 2003: Concert with Class
- 2007: Acoustic Improvisation
Instructional CD/Books
- Frank Gambale Technique Book Part I (BOOK/CD)
- Frank Gambale Technique Book Part II (BOOK/CD)
- Improvisation Made Easier (BOOK/2 CDs)
- The Best Of Frank Gambale (BOOK)
References
External links
