The interesting thing about a good retrospective is that it really isn't a collection of 'greatest hits,' but an opportunity for the musician to look again at his (or her) own work and select out the pieces from the past that mean the most now. Sometimes, this brings the listener new insights as well. Alex De Grassi is the kind of musician that one doesn't forget easily. His ability is astounding, his instruments include unusual built guitars, and his vision of where he wants to go leaves not stone untur..
Whether you call it jazz or folk, Alex DeGrassi has the ability to paint vivid aural pictures of pastoral natural settings. His smooth and obviously complex style of picking transmits a relaxing meditative quality on his best tunes.
"The first years of being a recording artist passed in ignorant bliss," Yokosuka/Japan-born and California-raised Alex de Grassi describes the beginning of his musical career in the liner notes to his "Windham Hill Retrospective." "I was succeeding with almost no formal musical training ... I tuned the guitar funny and didn't even think about what notes I was playing."Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, don't be deceived. The man who wrote these lines is one of the world's leading finger style guitarists; and..
