Greg Grant

Biography

Greg Grant started playing music when his mother made him take violin lessons when he was 8, that didn't last long, however, and Zoot from the Muppet Show inspired him to start playing the saxophone at the age of 9, and he's been playing ever since. Born in New York City, raised in New York State, he grew up near one of the most diverse melting pot cities on the planet. He studied Classical and Jazz at Oberlin College/Conservatory for a bit, but realized that he wanted to experience life and music outside the walls of an ivory tower. He admires and is inspired by many different styles of music from all over the world ranging from Jazz to Rock, Folk to Techno, Classical to Electronic, Ambient, Textural, Flamenco and Arabic. This love of diversity caused him to travel around quite a bit. He lived in Barcelona, Spain for almost four years but has been more or less nomadic, traveling around Europe, Canada, Central America, and the U.S.A. Now based in northwestern Montana, Greg built Strawbale Studio, a recording studio that functions on solar power and is completely off the grid. He continues to travel around, finding new influences and inspiration for his music.

After being mainly a saxophonist for many years, he has added guitar, voice, and drums to his musical palette. He came to the realization that his favorite musicians were the ones who could write well crafted songs, that serve as a springboard into improvised jamming. He has added his musical style to Jazz orchestras, World Music groups, Blues bands, Rock bands, Funk Rock bands and Experimental groups. He has done many solo performances as well at nightclubs, bars, coffeehouses, cultural centers, universities, festivals, fairs, concert halls and in parks and on the street all over North America and Europe. Greg is a sonic adventurer who likes to explore unknown territory. The music that attracts him dives into deep places that pulls both him and his listeners along. Some major influences on him are: King Crimson, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, Cat Stevens, Greg Brown, John Fogerty, John Coltrane, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell, Ani Difranco, PJ Harvey, Ali Farka Toure, The Beatles, Brian Eno, Wim Mertens, Steven Reich, Laurie Anderson, Keith Jarrett and Dead Can Dance.

When asked about himself, Greg replied, "I love developing my skills as a songwriter and musician, but it is only to serve the music. I'm not interested in huge amounts of technique that show off my abilities and stroke my ego. Technique is necessary, but only to the point that it allows the music to come through fluidly and powerfully. I think that if you approach music with this attitude then you end up doing things that you never would've been able to imagine. The music uses you and plays through you and what comes out of you is a surprise, even to yourself! I'm not interested in playing something the same way over and over again, even if it's at a high level of playing. I'm interested in using songs I am comfortable with in order to get to that place where I can go away from the song to an unknown, magical place that even I don't know about, and then come back to the song. I love musicians that have that proper balance of structure and freedom. Too much structure leaves me bored and stifled, and too much freedom leaves me wanting something more solid and well crafted... It's a difficult thing to achieve, but it's what I strive for."

Discography

Past Shows Journal

8/14/10. The Stonefly Lounge, Coram, MT
Great vibe to this place, some places just feel good, you know? It was a chill night, not a whole lot of people, but the people that were there were really into the music and those are always the best nights - when you make that connection. Hope to be back here soon, especially after they finish their new addition and bigger stage.

8/7/10. Crush Wine Bar Whitefish, MT
After the last gig with the trio being so noisy and loud, I was looking forward to a more chill evening at the Crush. Wrong - it was a high school reunion and super loud in there while we were setting up. We are still trying to get some good live video and we didn't even want to set up the camera cause it was so loud. It did clear out a bit and turned into a good time. My only regret is that I didn't hit the chocolate fountain before they took it away, oh well.

8/3/10. Whitefish Farmer's Market, Whitefish, MT
This market just keeps growing and growing, lots of people out and about. Coming down from the woods and trying to find a parking spot it kinda feels like a city. This was a fun time, good weather and good people.

7/23/10 - 7/25/10. Arts in the Park, Kalispell, MT
Our 7th or 8th year doing this event - we do the sound and I play each day as well. I really really appreciated being a part of it this year and am very grateful to be able to... Having had my arm broken has renewed my gratitude for being able to be a musician/sound engineer. Everything old is new again! This was a great event this year and I'm already looking forward to next year. It is an interesting way to mark the passage of time, these annual events where you see a lot of the same people that you haven't seen for the whole year. Life is good.

7/17/10. Cafe Jax, Eureka, MT
A hot summer evening in Eureka out on the patio/deck. It felt like somewhere kinda tropical. This was a great evening at Eureka's newest live music venue. It' so nice to be playing a gig so close to home, I love it.

7/8/10. Craggy Range, Whitefish, MT
This was another night with the trio - Vinnie on drums and Eric on Bass and 8 string guitar. Linda used the video projector at the Craggy and put awesome visuals on the walls... Lots of bizarre and psychedelic imagery. Cats boxing, orcas floating around the bar, mandalas and robots and.... very cool. Pretty good turnout for a Thursday night in the Fish. Kelly West killed it as the opener - playing hi hat and kick drum while singing and playing guitar.

6/26/10. Cafe Jax, Eureka, MT
Savannah did a great job creating an awesome atmosphere for music and dining and drinking and hanging. This was the second night ever of live music here and I'd say it should keep on going - Eureka needs this! I had a great time playing.

6/19/10. Grand Central, Fernie, BC
Shred Kelly recorded 7 of their 11 song CD with us at Strawbale Studio and invited me to open for them at their CD release party. This was a kick ass night! I had a blast playing to 150 people or so. Even though I was playing solo, people were dancing and rocking out with me - Fernie Rocks!! The rest of the evening was a great time as well, stayed up all night walking to different people's houses and then we played guitar outside until the sun rose with some great Fernie folks and most of Shred Kelly.

5/28/10. Craggy Range, Whitefish, MT
The first night in two years or so that I played with a band - Vinnie on drums and Eric on Bass and 8 string guitar. We had played a wedding and a show 2 years ago and fortunately they still remembered the songs. We rocked the place! Not a whole lot of people out tonight in Whitefish, but still had a great time playing and getting people dancing. Kelly West opened the show, she is so great...

2/13/10. Chocolate Lover's Ball, Eureka, MT
We did the sound for this evening and I got to play 4 songs and man it feels good to play again. I broke my arm in November and this was my first performance in front of people since then. My arm, wrist and hand are still so weak, I couldn't have played more than 4 songs, but this was the perfect little mini gig for me to get back to being a musician again. Star's events are always a great time!