Gordon Giltrap

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Gordon Giltrap 2009

Gordon Giltrap (born 6 April 1948, at the British Home for Mothers and Babies, Brenchley, Kent) is an English acoustic and electric guitarist and composer, whose musical styles cross multiple genres - folk, blues, folk rock, pop, classical and rock.

Giltrap started to learn the guitar at the age of twelve. Never receiving any formal tuition on the instrument, he gradually developed his own style and technique.

His musical career started to take off in the 1960s, playing live in London in the folk scene, alongside contemporaries such as Bert Jansch (who greatly influenced the young guitarist), John Renbourn and Mike Oldfield.

At the age of eighteen he signed to Transatlantic Records and released a couple of albums. While popular on the folk and university circuit, the 1970s marked a turning point and much greater recognition. At this time Giltrap started to concentrate on more purely instrumental pieces, and in 1976 released the album Visionary, based on the art and poetry of William Blake.

The success of this album prompted Giltrap to give up the singer/songwriter approach and form the Gordon Giltrap Band, which toured extensively in the UK at that time. A follow-up album, Perilous Journey, consolidated his success, being named at one of the best albums of 1977 by The Sunday Times. A single taken from the album, "Heartsong", received extensive airplay and reaching #21 in the UK Singles Chart. The track was later used as the signature tune of the BBC TV series Holiday. The next album Fear of the Dark was released in 1978.

By the end of the 1970s he was commissioned to write a number of notable pieces, such as the classically inspired The Brotherhood, based on the art of the Pre-Raphaelites, and The Eye of the Wind Rhapsody,^[1] an orchestral work celebrating the exploration of the New World by British sailing ships. In the 1990s, Gordon played a key role in Cliff Richard's Heathcliff musical, playing the musical narrator. He also composed a number of pieces for the show.

In late 2009 Gordon started "Three Parts Guitar" - a four date world tour with classical guitarist Raymond Burley and jazz guitarist John Etheridge

He is also a regular columnist for Acoustic magazine, along with Martin Taylor, Doyle Dykes, Simon Mayor and Julie Ellison.

Discography

• Gordon Giltrap (1968)
• Portrait (1969)
• Accolade (1970)
• A Testament of Time (1971)
• Giltrap (1973)
• Visionary (1976)
• Perilous Journey (1977)
• Fear Of The Dark (1978)
• The Early Days (1978) (compilation)
• Performance (1980)
• The Peacock Party (1979)
• The Platinum Collection (1981) (compilation)
• Gordon Giltrap Live (1981)
• Airwaves (1982)
• Elegy (1987)
• A Midnight Clear (1987) (collection of Christmas Carols)
• One to One (1989)
• Guitarist (1990) (compilation)
• The Eye of the Wind (1991)
• A Matter of Time (1991) (with Martin Taylor)
• The Solo Album (1992)
• The Brotherhood Suite (1995)
• Live At The BBC ( 1995 )
• Troubadour (1998)
• Part of the Picture (2000) (compilation)
• Janschology (2000)
• Under This Blue Sky (2002)
• Drifter (2004)
• Secret Valentine (2007)
• As It Happens... (2009)
• From Brush and Stone (2009) (with Rick Wakeman)
• Double Visions (2009) (With Raymond Burley)

Re-issues and numerous compilations have been omitted from this list.

References

External links

• Official website
• Gordon Giltrap interview