Joesf Glaude
Guitarist/composer Joesf Glaude is truly a
gypsy spirit, a bohemian in the truest sense of the word.
He has spent his life living in places as diverse as Nova
Scotia, Canada - Kerela, India - Ashton Under Lyne, England
- Santiago Attitlan, Guatemala - Zaire, Africa - and all over
the U.S.
"Music has as much to do with where we are as who we
are. We are influenced, stylistically, by our experiences
as well as by what we hear."
Joesf draws on this wide range of influences to create. .
. "an instrumental art form of textures, moods and melody.
It is an improvised music based on very structured ideas".
Influenced strongly by artists as varied as African guitarist
Ali Farka Toure, sitar player Ravi Shankar, jazz artists from
Duke Ellington and Eric Dolphy to classical composers from
C.P.E Bach to Stravinsky.
More than just a guitarist, Joesf also plays mandolin, banjo,
tenor banjo, tenor guitar, harmonica, melodica, flute, dulcimer,
bass and violin.
Joesf's CD's have been a great addition to my music library.
He is as good a guitarist as I have ever had the pleasure
to enjoy.
"Flyingman" - WAWL
Chattanooga, TN
"I have often been asked why I don't overdub the instruments
instead of writing parts for others. The answer is quite simple
- I believe that music should breathe ... it is alive and
the interpretation of those parts by others enhances the musical
experience. I have never heard a CD in which one person recorded
all the parts that did not sound one-dimensional. I also enjoy
playing (even in the studio) with musicians."
"In the studio all recordings are done live; As Thelonius
Monk said, if you can't do it in three takes you can't do
it. Classical and jazz artists have recorded that way for
years. I am not anti-technology, but do tend to avoid overusing
technology. I don't want to separate the natural sound of
the instruments from the listener."
Joesf's love of music came very young - " I remember,
it was the late sixties and the Beatles song "She Loves
You" came over the radio; I can still describe the whole
scene - even what my mother was wearing. I knew then that
I wanted to be a musician and that Christmas I got a harmonica.
I drove my family nuts playing "Love Me Do" and
Dylan songs."
At the age of ten he decided he wanted to play guitar, so
his Grandfather Glaude gave him his tenor banjo. "It's
not that I was unappreciative, I just really wanted a guitar.
So, I tried learning a lot of folk music, stuff by Lobo, Peter,
Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio and Ian and Sylvia as well
as any ragtime or New Orleans music I could find". He
also learned to play the Autoharp that was at his church.
"Sister Mary Paschel always had time for us kids".
It was at this time that he discovered Bluegrass and the
Mandolin. " It was a revelatory thing. I discovered the
similarities between instruments - anything I could play on
tenor banjo, I could play on mandolin and with a few adjustments
the guitar."
"I got my first mandolin at a yard sale and my first
guitar by trading some of my Beatles cards, an Elvis poster,
my X-men comics
and half my collection of 45's".
This convinced his parents of his commitment to music so
his father got him guitar lessons from Charlie Johnson, a
local jazz guitarist. Mr. Johnson tried to ground Joesf in
basic theory and chord structures, but it was at the same
time that he discovered girls and opted to form a punk rock
band "Tropical Skin Disease".
Mr. Johnson's lessons were not completely wasted because
he left with an appreciation of theory and the knowledge that
in order to write good music you must know what good music
is. That means understanding why it is good and how to re-create
it. Ultimately, you do play what you hear. " Even though
I was playing in a punk rock band I was still listening to
a variety of music."
By his senior year in high school he was playing tenor guitar
and dulcimer in a folk band (Oracle), 5-string banjo, mandolin,
acoustic guitar and bass in a country/bluegrass band (90 Proof)
and 12-string guitar in a Christian folk/rock band (clipper).
By college, he discovered a real passion for the guitar -
theoretical as well as practical. As a guitar major at Christopher
Newport College in Virginia he began playing with the Williamsburg
Chamber Orchestra, as well as a jazz combo (The Wiz Kids)
and a swing band (Duke). "The Wiz Kids also played Dixieland
and I would switch between guitar and tenor banjo."
His longest running band was Mirrors and Changes, a jazz/fusion
group (in the vein of " Weather Report", "
Headhunters" etc.) for whom he played guitar, keyboard
and six string bass.
After a six year stint as the head guitar instructor at Oral
Roberts University in Tulsa, Joesf returned exclusively to
the performing arts focusing on small groups or solo acoustic
music (which he refers to as neo-classical) and jazz.
Joesf's philosophy of music, regardless of style, is a very
"jazz" philosophy. One in which you play free ...
and if you play it the same way twice you are doing something
wrong. " Music should evoke a spectrum of thoughts, ideas
and emotions, without having to surrender to words. Music,
like life, is about growth and growth means change."
What Joesf tries to convey in his music is life experience
and faith.
"From the liturgies and vespers at mass and from the
Poor Claire nuns I learned the value of silence and spirit.
From classical I learned the importance of structure and melody.
From jazz I learned freedom. And from world music I learned
to challenge myself with new ideas."
Joesf Glaude studied music and guitar at Christopher Newport
College in Newport News, Virginia. He has played guitar for
nearly twenty years and has taught for ten - including six
years as professor of classical and jazz guitar at ORU in
Tulsa, Oklahoma. |
