jackgates

.::Biography

My first exposure to live guitar music was hearing the flamenco shows at the Spaghetti Factory in San Francisco when I was a child. Early guitar influences were Andres Segovia, Christopher Parkening, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jorman Kaukonen/Jefferson Airplane. The Beatles made a huge impression in terms of their songwriting, vocal harmonies and arrangements.

Out of curiosity I attended a concert by the great North Indian sitarist Nikhil Banerjee. I continued to investigate and became increasingly fascinated, which led to studies at the Ali Akbar College of Music in the 1970’s with George Ruckert, a fine classical musician, as well as Ashish Khan. Ashish was a fairly strict teacher who really showed us the value of repeated physical practice.The effect of hearing Ali Akbar Khan’s music was like being immersed in an ocean of sound. I learned that creating music is a craft that requires discipline, memory, intuition, technique and inspiration.

I listened to John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Ralph Towner, Julian Bream, Baden Powell, Miles Davis, Robben Ford , John McClaughlin and performed with many experimental, theatrical and commercial music projects.

The main guitaristic developement of my playing occurred during the private studies with classical guitar virtuoso David Tanenbaum. David showed me how to get the most sound out of a nylon string with fluid and relaxed motion.

My aesthetic has been shaped by the fact that my mother is a visual artist. Being part of a constant process of perception and appreciation, I often think of chords and melodies in terms of colour which generate moods and emotions.

I continue to develop my compositional skills in solo and ensemble settings and have performed and recorded with many different artists in jazz, pop, Brasilian and South American styles including: Marcos Silva with Sueldo Soares, Juanita and Nayo Ulloa, Lisa Silva and Voz do Brasil, Silvia Nakkach, Claudia Gomez, Chalo Eduardo’s Brasilian Beat, Jon English, Tim White, Celso Alberti, David Belove, Klezmania,The Blake Street Hawkeyes, Chuck Metcalf, Kit Walker and Jeff Narell.

In 1996 I released my first original music CD entitled New Geography. The new CD of original material Earth Messenger, recorded by Garth Webber, will be released in 2003. I am currently playing, writing arrangements and producing.