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Artist
Greg Howard
12+ albums
instrumentalFusionchapman stickguitar virtuosochapman stick players
about
As one of the world’s most traveled concert soloist on The Chapman Stick®, Greg Howard has given many listeners their first experience of its unique sound. This innovative electric stringed instrument employs a two-handed tapping method created by guitarist and Stick inventor Emmett Chapman in the late 60's. Each hand plays its own part on the strings, tapping and holding notes independently for a full keyboard-like style, but with all the expressiveness and timbral color of a stringed instrument. Melody, bass, counterpoint and chords are all simultaneously possible in the hands of one musician. Howard’s catalog of recordings is as unique as his instrument. Whispers (1987), was the first all-solo all-original Stick recording; and his latest CD, Lift (2000), finds him fronting a Dutch fusion quartet, occupying myriad roles amid bass, lead and percussion instruments. Between these two poles Greg has explored jazz and Latin music in a band context (Shapes, 1994 and Sol, 1997), pan-cultural improvisation (Transmigration, 1996) and a new form of improvised music and poetry he calls “groove poetry” (Code Magenta, 1995). He’s even released a live one-hour solo concert improvisation (Water on the Moon, 1998). With well over one thousand performances in front of diverse audiences, and twelve recordings under his belt, Greg has made the instrument his own. His repertoire includes dozens of original compositions, as well as a wide array of material from the Renaissance through
