Tony Geballe

Tony Geballe - Native Of The Rain - 1997 - Discipline Global Mobile

"A gorgeous debut recording of solo 12-string guitar. Highly recommended." - Guitar Shop

"An exquisite sonic solution for guitar buffs looking for a masterful acoustic guitar experience." - 20th Century Guitar

"Reflects the beauty of the guitarist's hometown of Seattle. Infused with a languid grace." - Guitar for the Practicing Musician

"An awesome display of what happens when someone plays the 12-string with power and grace. There have been few solo guitar records of late that have given this reviewer goose-bumps and deserve wide recognition, but this is one of them...these compositions resonate with unfathomable brilliance." - Santa Fe Sun

"Deftly bridges the chasm between pop accessibility and meticulously crafted musicianship. Geballe's compositions, awash in dazzling, evocative sonic cascades, demonstrate just how far one exemplary musician can push the musical envelope armed with only one 12-string acoustic guitar." - NY Newsday

"Geballe's debut CD is a highly melodic and beautiful affair. His engaging approach on the instrument ranges from the delicately spirited to the playful and storming on the disc's ten sterling tracks. A most enjoyable and captivating release worthy of investigation." - Innerviews

"The textures he manages to pull out of an unadorned 12-string are inspiring." - Progression

"Whiffs of folk music arise from his plaintive melodies and a sense of open air pervades." - Echoes

"On these beautifully recorded pieces Geballe gives a virtuoso performance." - Exclaim

"Particular favourites include Awakening with its languid build into a bright, cheery play on a variety of themes. Per Moana, the simplest piece, has a laid back quality that releases any tension from my shoulders everytime I hear it while Dancing Inside is awash with that wonderful 'glad to be alive' style of fingerpicking." - Wind and Wire

***** (The Best - Highly Recommended) - Ear Magazine

This is a gorgeous album. Solo 12-string acoustic guitar played by an exceptional musician. Do you need to know anything else? Awright, fine. Tony Geballe is officially a student of Robert Fripp’s Guitar Craft and was in the League of Crafty Guitarists for a few years before ‘going solo’. Geballe’s not as well known as fellow Crafties Trey Gunn or the California Guitar Trio, but like those two he makes excellent music. Compared to the CGT, Tony’s playing sounds a lot less like Fripp. The CGT have been getting away from that for a while now, and here on Tony’s first album you can hear a slight Guitar Craft influence, but mostly it’s his own voice. This is a really short album, only 38 minutes, but the time works in its favor. Most of this music is very mellow, calm stuff. The time does go by really quickly and it’s really relaxing music. Per Moana is probably my favorite on here; it’s just beautiful. Native of the Rain is probably the showcase track on here and it’s really impressive. The song Pages has some excellent changes it. Yeah, there are great things about all these tracks and as a whole it’s a great album. I frequently just put it on repeat and let it play for a few hours. Very enjoyable and excellent stuff. Rating: 93 - August 6th, 2003 Album Reviews © 2001-2008 James Hines © http://cheevyjames.com/album_reviews/geballe-native

This is a magnificent progressive acoustic guitar album from Tony Geballe, the guitarist of the Trey Gunn Band, recorded during July 1996 at DGM in the UK using only a 12-string guitar without overdubs. This is not a rock album with cranked up self indulgent screaming guitar solos. It is simply a demonstration of just how inspiring great unadorned guitar playing can be. The album is HR by A.O.O.F.C. If you like some of Pat Metheny guitar pieces, then you will find comparisons with this album. For more immaculately played solo acoustic guitar listen to Stephen Bennett's breathtaking "Beatles Acoustic Guitar Solos" album @ STEPHBENN/BAGS and Jan Akkerman's "Passion" album @ JANAKK/PAS Tony plays on the "Robert Fripp and the League Of Crafty Guitarists "Get Crafty" album, which is worth listening to

TRACKS

1 Native Of The Rain
2 Evening Tower
3 Per Moana
4 Flock
5 Dancing Inside
6 Star Of The Dust
7 Pages
8 Prelude
9 Awakening
10 Prelude

All songs composed by Tony Geballe

BIO

Tony Geballe (a Seattle native living in New York City) has studied, taught and performed music of many kinds all over the world. His main instrument is guitar, including nylon-string, steel-string, 12-string and electric. Tony also works as a composer and sound designer for theater, and as producer and occasionally engineer for various recording projects. In 2008, Tony is producing the new Hellboys CD "A Young Person's Guide to Hell," which features Robert Fripp, Tony Levin, Bill Rieflin, Vora Vor, the California Guitar Trio, Curt Golden, Victor McSurely, Luciano Pietrafesa, the voice of Kelli Rae Powell, and others. He has engineered, edited, mixed and mastered Patrick Smith's solo guitar CD "Scattered Hearts," and produced two tracks on the new Stone Document CD, "Anamnesis." In January he composed music and designed sound for the recent production of Rebekah Maggor's solo docu-drama "Shakespeare's Actresses" for the Huntington Theater in Boston. Tony's career of recording, performing, teaching, theater sound design and composition has spanned the globe and includes many kinds of music, from solo guitar to the Turkish music trio Dostlar (whose 1984 Northwest Folklife Festival performance was broadcast nationwide on NPR) to being a member of the New York Indonesian Consulate Gamelan. Tony has appeared on many recordings, on local and national radio and television shows and toured worldwide. He has contributed compositions and playing to many recordings, including several by Toyah Willcox, The Trey Gunn Band, The Hellboys, and Sun Palace. Tony engineered a large part of the sessions for the Sun Palace CD Give Me a Perfect World, and also co-produced the CD. He produced Kelli Rae Powell's debut CD "The Scandalous Accounts of My Youth" and has engineered and produced sessions for Christina Lisi, Jo Williamson, and others. Tony has been invited to teach guitar and music regularly in the U.S. and Europe, and has been associated with Guitar Craft since 1985. He was also co-director and instructor at DrumTime, a rhythm workshop, from 1990-94. In 1993, Tony became Composer-in-Residence and Sound Designer for the Arden Party Theater Company, directed by Karin Coonrod. He designed sound, composed and performed music for many productions with the company (see Tour page). In 1996 he received a grant from Meet the Composer. Arden Party’s last production with Tony’s music was the world premier of Christmas at the Ivanovs’, by the Russian surrealist Alexander Vvedensky, presented at the Classic Stage Company in NYC, December, 1997. Tony was also a participant in the 1998 Nautilus/New Dramatists Composer-Librettist Studio. Over the last several years he has designed sound and/or composed music at the New York Theater Workshop, the Hartford Stage, and for the groundbreaking production of Laude in Urbis in Orvieto, Italy, where he is also a performer. Tony's work in theater as both Sound Designer and Composer has continued since then, in NYC and elsewhere. For details, please see the Tour page. Tony has also worked as production and post-production Sound Engineer for films and Public Service Announcements, for the award-winning filmmaker Elizabeth Bouiss (Pink, White and Blue; Speak Your Mind; Masters of Dissent and others) and for New York Music and Video Productions (PSAs for Children's Health Fund, International Planned Parenthood Federation, American Academy of Dermatology, and many more). Tony's own CD of solo 12-string guitar music, "Native of the Rain," was released by Robert Fripp's label Discipline Global Mobile records in 1997. © String Theory Music http://www.tonygeballemusic.com/bio.php