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Grammy-Nominated David Bowie Guitarist Reeves Gabrels

Presented by Regent Theatre at Regent Theatre

July 22, 2009

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Reeves Gabrels is a Grammy-nominated guitarist/songwriter/producer best known for both his work with David Bowie and his aggressive guitar style that combines the visceral energy of rock, the harmonic sophistication of jazz, the emotional honesty of blues and country, and an ear for the unusual. A furious cut-and-paster in the studio and an evil genius of atonal improvisation on stage Gabrels explores sonic extremes with a great, adaptive intuition for what each song needs most. He shows that his limitless technical and compositional skills can still shine without restraint. "Gabrels is one of those guitar players that, quite simply, redefine guitar craft--a bona fide 21st-century guitar god who deserves massive amounts of Justin Timberlake-style fame." --. Michael Molenda, Editor In Chief, Guitar Player Reeves Gabrels – Biography Reeves Gabrels (b.1956) is an American guitarist, best known for his long partnership with British singer David Bowie, working together regularly from 1987 to 2000. Gabrels was born in Staten Island, New York in June 1956. His mother was a typist and his father worked on tugboats in New York Harbor. Gabrels started playing guitar at age 13, and the following year (1971) his father arranged for lessons with the father's friend and contemporary Turk Van Lake, who lived in the neighborhood. Van Lake (1918-2002) was a professional musician who had played with Benny Goodman and others. After high school, Gabrels attended the Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts in New York City but continued to play guitar. Through some session musician work he met noted jazz guitarist John Scofield, from whom he took a few lessons. Gabrels moved to Boston to attend the Berklee School of Music, which he left several credits short of a degree in 1981. Gabrels had an active performing career in Boston before and after his professional association with David Bowie began in the late 1980s. During the 1980s and early 1990s Gabrels was a member of such Boston bands as The Dark, Life on Earth, Rubber Rodeo, The Bentmen and Modern Farmer. Modern Farmer (Gabrels, Jamie Rubin, David Hull and Billy Beard) issued a self-titled record on Victory/Universal in 1993. Gabrels first met David Bowie in 1987 during a Bowie tour for which Gabrels' then-wife, Sara Terry, worked as publicist. Gabrels later (1989-1993) joined forces with Bowie and the Sales brothers (drummer Hunt Sales and bass player Tony Sales) in the rock band Tin Machine. Later, Gabrels became an essential part of Bowie's nineties sound, most notably on Outside (1995), Earthling (1997), and hours... (1999), the latter two of which he co-produced. Gabrels and Bowie also created the soundtrack to the computer game Omikron: The Nomad Soul in 1999 for the game's French publisher. Gabrels ended his professional association with Bowie in late 1999. Independent of his work with Bowie, Gabrels maintained a wide-ranging career as composer/songwriter, musical collaborator, and solo performer/producer. Solo records by Gabrels include The Sacred Squall of Now (Rounder/Upstart, 1995); Ulysses (della notte) (Emagine, 2000); Live, Late, Loud (Myth Music, 2003); and Rockonica (Myth Music/Favored Nations/Sony, 2005). Ulysses was nominated for a Grammy as a 1999 Internet release, before becoming available the following year on CD. Gabrels has written soundtracks for films including David Sutherland's The Farmer's Wife (Frontline, 1995) and for PBS productions, and collaborated with Public Enemy on the song "Go Cat Go" for the Spike Lee film He Got Game (soundtrack, Def Jam, 1998). He wrote the "club music" portions of the soundtrack for the video game Deus Ex. Gabrels and slide guitarist David Tronzo joined forces on a virtuoso instrumental album, Night in Amnesia, issued by Rounder in 1995. Gabrels also worked with Robert Smith of The Cure during the 1990s, collaborating on The Cure's track "Wrong Number" and "A Sign >From God" (as COGASM) as well as co-writing the song "Yesterday's Gone" which Smith sings on Gabrels' album Ulysses. Gabrels appears with Club D'Elf on Now I Understand, (Accurate Records, 2006), the first studio recording by a Boston-based underground dub/ jazz/ Moroccan/ trance/ electronica group led by bassist Mike Rivard; the album also features John Medeski & Billy Martin (Medeski, Martin & Wood), DJ Logic, Mat Maneri, Duke Levine, Alain Mallet, Mister Rourke, and more. In 2008 German record label AFM released New Universal Order by X-World/5, a Heavy metal supergroup made up of guitarists Gabrels and Andy LaRocque, vocalist Nils K. Rue, bass player Magnus Rosén, and Los Angeles-based drummer Big Swede. Since 2006 Gabrels has been based in Nashville, Tennessee where he often performs in a trio with drummer Jeff Brown and bass player Kevin Hornback ("Reeves Gabrels and His Imaginary Friends").