Bop! Bang! Boom! Blissfully established these past six years as an independent artist calling his own shots, jazz guitarist/composer Grant Geissman has a liberating three-word response to anyone who ever offered their so-called expertise about how to make the ideal recording: Bop! Bang! Boom! “Bop!” because the multi-talented guitarist’s wildly eclectic new set on Futurism has some swinging bebop tunes. “Bang!” because drummers and percussionists are “banging away” throughout. And “Boom!” because Geissman, sixteen albums into a storied solo career that began in 1978, is still exploding with new creative directions and unlimited musical possibilities. Since his early days recording and touring with Chuck Mangione—an era which included Geissman’s now iconic electric guitar solo on Mangione’s 1978 hit “Feels So Good”—Geissman has continued a colorful musical history, culminating recently with his critically acclaimed 2009 recording Cool Man Cool, which featured Mangione performing with jazz legend Chick Corea on the Geissman composition “Chuck and Chick.”...
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Bop! Bang! Boom! Blissfully established these past six years as an independent artist calling his own shots, jazz guitarist/composer Grant Geissman has a liberating three-word response to anyone who ever offered their so-called expertise about how to make the ideal recording: Bop! Bang! Boom! “Bop!” because the multi-talented guitarist’s wildly eclectic new set on Futurism has some swinging bebop tunes. “Bang!” because drummers and percussionists are “banging away” throughout. And “Boom!” because Geissman, sixteen albums into a storied solo career that began in 1978, is still exploding with new creative directions and unlimited musical possibilities. Since his early days recording and touring with Chuck Mangione—an era which included Geissman’s now iconic electric guitar solo on Mangione’s 1978 hit “Feels So Good”—Geissman has continued a colorful musical history, culminating recently with his critically acclaimed 2009 recording Cool Man Cool, which featured Mangione performing with jazz legend Chick Corea on the Geissman composition “Chuck and Chick.”
Over the years, the versatile guitarist has contributed to recordings by hundreds of artists, including Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Robbie Williams, Michael Feinstein, Lorraine Feather, Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, and David Benoit as well as early heroes like Van Dyke Parks, Ringo Starr and Klaus Voormann. A massive Beatles fan growing up, Geissman was able to fulfill a lifelong dream by playing on Ringo’s Ringorama album and playing for a recording and documentary about the life of Voormann, a famed bassist, artist and longtime Beatles intimate (“Klaus Voormann: A Sideman’s Journey”). Geissman currently co-writes the music for the hit CBS sitcoms “Two and a Half Men” and “Mike And Molly.” He also co-wrote the theme to “Two and a Half Men” (“Men, men, men, men, manly men!”), for which he was nominated for an Emmy. Bop! Bang! Boom! is the third album in a loosely fashioned trilogy that reflects Geissman’s shift to more traditional jazz expressions. The powerfully eclectic follow-up to Say That! and Cool Man Cool includes amped-up ventures into numerous genres that reflect Geissman’s multitude of passions. “The key to making meaningful music for me is to not limit myself stylistically.
I actually can’t envision writing an album where every track sounds the same. One of the reasons I created my own label, Futurism, was so that I could explore anything I wanted—which to me is what an artist is supposed to do. I don’t know what happens after Bop! Bang! Boom!, it might be completely different. But it’s not about having a master plan, it’s about writing and recording music that excites and inspires me.”
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