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Stefan Grossman
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Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American guitarist, teacher and businessman.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, he began playing guitar at the age of nine, when his father bought him a Harmony f-hole acoustic guitar. Later he moved on to an archtop Gibson which he played between the ages of nine and eleven, taking lessons and learning to read music. However, he was bored by the type of music he was required to play and gave up the guitar for about three years.
At the age of 15, Grossman discovered the blues and folk music in the recordings of such artists as Elizabeth Cotten, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins and Woody Guthrie.
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Encyclopedia
Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American guitarist, teacher and businessman.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, he began playing guitar at the age of nine, when his father bought him a Harmony f-hole acoustic guitar. Later he moved on to an archtop Gibson which he played between the ages of nine and eleven, taking lessons and learning to read music. However, he was bored by the type of music he was required to play and gave up the guitar for about three years.
At the age of 15, Grossman discovered the blues and folk music in the recordings of such artists as Elizabeth Cotten, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins and Woody Guthrie. He began again taking lessons but this time from a legend - the Rev. Gary Davis, then resident in the Bronx. Becoming totally enamoured of Rev. Davis' music, Grossman began spending eight or ten hours at a time with Rev. Davis; not only did the young player absorb vast amounts of instruction, he also used his tape recorder to document much of Rev. Davis' music, including material which has never become available on Rev. Davis' many commercial recordings. Grossman also developed a personal but highly effective form of tablature to record instruction from Rev. Davis; this was to become the foundation of his own published instructional materials.
Although the music of Rev. Davis was to form the foundation of Grossman's playing, it was by no means the only music he was listening to. In the folk and country blues revival of the 1960s he was listening to Broonzy, Brownie McGhee and Lightnin' Hopkins and beginning to collect old 78 rpm records from the 1920s and 1930s. This brought him into contact with other collectors, including John Fahey, Ed Denson, Bernie Klatzko, Tom Hoskins and Nick Perls. Collecting the 78s developed into searching for the artists who had recorded them, with many successes: during the mid-60s, Grossman met, befriended and studied guitar with Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Skip James, Mississippi Fred McDowell and other major blues artists.
In 1964 Grossman and a group of friends formed the Even Dozen Jug Band. Although they only recorded one LP on the Elektra Records label (long since out of print but available at iTunes), other members were also to have successful musical careers, including David Grisman, Steve Katz (Blood, Sweat and Tears), John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful), Joshua Rifkin and Maria Muldaur. Following the demise of the EDJB, Grossman rehearsed for a few months with Janis Joplin and Taj Mahal but the project foundered due to contractual complications. Subsequently he spent about three months with The Fugs and a further four months with a band called Chicago Loop. At the same time, however, he was beginning his career as a guitar teacher. With his friend Rory Block he produced and released one of the earliest (if not the very first) guitar instructional LPs, How To Play Blues Guitar and began the publication of a five volume series of instructional books with Oak Publications called the Oak Anthology of Blues Guitar. These drew on his studies with Rev. Davis and the other older blues artists and on his obsessive listening to old 78s. The Country Blues Guitar, Delta Blues, Texas Blues, Ragtime Blues Guitar and Rev. Gary Davis/Blues Guitar have remained in print through various editions. They were well received by other guitarists seeking to learn the various styles of acoustic blues.
Following their publication, Grossman travelled to Europe as a first step on a planned journey to India which was not completed. In London he stayed at first with Eric Clapton whom he had met whilst in Chicago Loop and met guitarists and singers on the British folk scene including Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Davy Graham and Ralph McTell and The Young Tradition. He began playing in folk clubs around the country and made his first solo recordings for the Philips/Fontana label (Aunt Molly's Murray Farm and The Gramercy Park Sheikh) and then for Nathan Joseph's Transatlantic label, including Yazoo Basin Boogie and Ragtime Cowboy Jew(see discography). He also travelled widely in Europe and eventually settled in Italy, where he lived for seven years. Travelling around Europe for gigs brought him into contact with many other fine guitarists, but few of them had record deals; Grossman saw a niche in the market for solo acoustic guitar records which were accompanied by a tablature book to allow the buyer to try playing the arrangements and, with his friend Ed Denson taking care of the US side of business, founded Kicking Mule Records. Over the next few years KM released albums by such artists as John James, Happy Traum, Ton van Bergeyk, Dave Evans, Peter Finger and the late Sam Mitchell. Grossman also released his own original and instructional albums on KM, the latter including seminal works such as Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques, How To Play Ragtime Guitar and Famous Ragtime Guitar Solos which had a major influence on acoustic guitarists in Europe, the UK and the USA. During these years Grossman was also touring as a solo artist and in partnership with John Renbourn and continuing to write and publish instructional books, often accompanied by the then new technology of a cassette tape.
In 1987 Grossman returned to live in the US. He toured much less - at least partly due to a painful back problem - and began to consolidate his various teaching and instructional materials under the roof of one company, Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, working at first in cooperation with the Shanachie Records company . He was quick to see the potential of video as well as audio as an instructional tool: budding players could buy an instructional tape for the cost of a single 'real' lesson and have it constantly available. The material which had appeared on LPs such as How To Play Blues Guitar now became available to watch as well as hear. Nor was Grossman the only instructor: the Guitar Workshop 'faculty' included such artists as Chet Atkins, John Renbourn, Woody Mann, Ari Eisinger, John Miller, Larry Coryell, David Laibman, Ernie Hawkins and many others.
Grossman also began to acquire concert footage of the old blues and country artists who had been rediscovered in the 1960s and had often made TV appearances; this was the basis of Vestapol Videos, which edited and reissued this footage. It was a breakthrough for younger guitarists to be able to watch Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins, Rev. Gary Davis and many others long after these players had died. Vestapol rapidly expanded to include concert footage from living artists too. Although originally issued as video tapes, almost all of this material (both instructional and concert) has in the last few years been re-issued on DVD. The Guitar Workshop mails worldwide from its bases in New Jersey and Yorkshire.
Much of the music which Grossman recorded on vinyl during his years in Europe has been reissued on CD, as have many of the Kicking Mule albums (although the vinyl LPs remain treasured collectors' items). One of the most significant recent CD reissues (2008) is of the original How To Play Blues Guitar LP from 1967, including outtakes and later recordings from subsequent editions of the album. The skills of the two young guitarists (Grossman was only 19 and Rory Block a mere 14 when the LP was recorded) remain remarkable after over forty years. The LP tracks are on the CD Country Blues Guitar: The Archival Recordings 1963-1971 (SGGW103) by Rory Block and Stefan Grossman.
Stefan Grossman resumed touring in 2006, since when he has appeared in Europe and Japan as well as the US. He is a frequent visitor to England (where he has family) and conducts well-attended guitar workshops as well as giving concerts. He remains a market leader in making instructional materials available in many formats, most recently online: the Guitar Workshop has its own YouTube channel where clients can sample the wares available. Music CDs and DVDs now come with a pdf file of the music and tablature instead of a booklet.
In 2008 C. F. Martin & Company honoured Stefan Grossman with a Custom Edition guitar, the HJ-38 Stefan Grossman Custom Signature Edition, adding his name to an illustrious list of guitarists who have been so honoured.
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