The Grace First Concert Series is welcoming some world-renowned guitarists and musicians to Southern California as part of the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show to the Grace First Sanctuary on Monday, January 19 at 7:30pm. The evening will include performances by Vicki Genfan (recently voted Guitar Player magazine’s Guitar Superstar 2008), Steve Lawson with singer-songwriter Lobelia, and Jim Bybee.
Drawing from folk, jazz, pop, soul and world music, Genfan uses 29 alternate tunings and a percussive technique she calls “slap-tap” to accompany expressive vocals that dig deep emotional depths. She has been recognized among the world’s greatest guitarists and musicians at festivals such as The International Montreal Jazz Festival, Germany’s Open Strings Guitar Festival, Italy’s Soave Guitar Festival, as well as at venues and Performing Arts Centers across the U.S. and abroad. In 2005 she was one of the featured artists on “La Guitara,” the first compilation CD featuring female guitarists from around the globe, released by Vanguard Records. With several additional recordings behind her, recent acquisitions of the six-string banjo, 12-string and baritone guitars, high demand at clinics and music camps and an ongoing European presence, Genfan continues to reach beyond musical borders and into new territory.
A recent Wall Street Journal article described the judges’ reaction to her playing— the judges being Andy Summers (of The Police) and heavy metal guitar heroes Steve Vai and George Lynch. ” Wow,” Summers said. “I’ve really got to work on my guitar playing.”
“If I could play like that,” Vai said, “I’d stay at home and entertain myself.” Lynch said, “I didn’t know girls could actually play guitar like that.”
Lobelia and Steve Lawson’s musical collaboration is one that could only happen in the Internet age. She is an award-winning singer-songwriter from the U.S., and he is an ambient music pioneer and the UK’s leading solo bass guitarist. Discovering each other’s music on MySpace, they set about recording together, swapping files across the web, before their musical orbits aligned and they performed together in New York in 2007. They have performed as a duo in six countries, done a 7,000-mile, 24-state tour of the U.S., and have a live album under their belt. The coming together of Lobelia’s spikey intelligent pop and Steve’s ambient electronica creates an amazing sound that is both catchy and spacey, hip and hummable.
Jim Bybee is a Long Beach native son who now lives in the Pacific Northwest. After many years as a sideman, Jim has turned his attention to solo work. By combining the acoustic guitar with electronics, Jim creates a virtual orchestra with a single instrument, evoking drama, beauty, and passion. His playing has been called “beautiful” and “superb,” and he’s often referred to as a “wizard” on the guitar. Released in late 2006, his solo guitar debut CD Woodshed includes both original compositions and covers that have been greatly influential to him.
The concert will take place in the sanctuary of Grace First Presbyterian Church, on Monday, Jan. 19 at 7:30pm. Grace First Presbyterian Church is located at 3955 Studebaker Rd. at the corner of Los Coyotes Diagonal. The show is a free-will donation concert.
For more information about the concerts, contact Stan DeWitt, minister of music, at (562) 420-3393.
