Grant Geissman - Biography

Guitarist/composer Grant Geissman is a much in-demand studio musician who has recorded with such artists as Quincy Jones, David Benoit, Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello, Chuck Mangione, Paula Abdul, Ringo Starr, John Tesh, Keiko Matsui, Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson, Placido Domingo, Luis Miguel, and Julio Iglesias. He has also played on the scores for such TV shows as Two and a Half Men, Monk (playing the Django Reinhardt-style acoustic guitar solo on the theme), Dawson's Creek, Touched by an Angel, Boy Meets World, and Family Affair, as well as on movies like Because I Said So (starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore), Austin Powers/The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Cable Guy, My Dog Skip, Tomb Raider II, Private Parts, Star Trek: Resurrection, The Majestic, and Anaconda.

With the legendary, eclectic musician/composer Van Dyke Parks, Geissman has worked on Parks’s solo recording projects, and on music for the HBO children's program Harold and the Purple Crayon, for which Parks and Geissman were nominated for an Annie Award. He has also assisted Parks on three movie projects, providing additional music for The Ponder Heart (PBS), Call Me Claus (Showtime), and Monday Night Mayhem (Showtime). Geissman also assisted composer Dennis McCarthy on the quirky feature film Die, Mommy, Die, produced by Anthony Edwards. Writing with Randy Rogel, Geissman also has three original songs in Nickelodeon's animated film Charlotte's Web II, as well as a song in the Disney animated film Winnie the Pooh:Springtime with Roo.

Geissman is also a popular Contemporary Jazz recording artist in his own right, with thirteen highly regarded albums as a solo artist. Geissman's trademark over the course of his solo recordings—from Good Stuff in 1978 through 2006's Say That!—has been applying his formidible string virtuosity to his strong, signature melodies. Stylistically he has never failed to push envelopes: from his fiery Latin excursions on 1995’s Business As Usual, the more organic, acoustic, classical flavors of 1993's Rustic Technology, to his eclectic, blues and funk-drenched Higher Octave release In With the Out Crowd (which was inspired by the great mid-'60s Ramsey Lewis classic, "The In Crowd").

While most of his previous albums were conceived and completed with a definite timeline at hand, sometimes letting his recordings evolve and breathe over time (as they did on In With the Out Crowd) leads to a certain creative freedom which allows for positive, unexpected things to happen. And various serendipitous events have kept Geissman very busy. He recently reached a career milestone and personal accomplishment by playing on former Beatle Ringo Starr’s recent release, Ringo Rama. Geissman recently completed a high resolution DVD release celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Grant Geissman Quintet called There and Back Again (released on AIX Records). And his latest release on Futurism Records, Say That!, marks a full return to his mainstream jazz roots.

Anyone who has followed Grant Geissman's history knows that it was his electric guitar which allowed him to make his initial and perhaps most enduring stamp on pop culture, the still-revered improvised solo on Chuck Mangione's 1978 pop crossover hit, Feels So Good. A San Jose, California native who grew up on a steady diet of Beatles, Eric Clapton, surf guitar music and later jazz and blues greats Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and B.B. King, Geissman was in his senior year of college as a classical guitar major at Cal State Northridge in Los Angeles when a mutual friend recommended him for a gig with Chuck Mangione. With Mangione, Geissman recorded a number of albums, toured the world, and appeared on virtually all of the major TV programs of the time that featured live musical acts. With all of his subsequent achievements as a composer, recording artist and session player for TV, film and jingles, Geissman is still very gratified that "the solo" from Feels So Good is now considered to be a classic.

Five of Geissman's previous Contemporary Jazz releases reached the top 10 on the national airplay charts, with two of them, Flying Colors and Time Will Tell, rising to the #1 position on the Gavin, Mac, and Radio & Records Charts. The complete list of his solo recordings is Good Stuff, Put Away Childish Toys, Drinkin' from the Money River, Snapshots, All My Tomorrows, Take Another Look, Flying Colors, Rustic Technology, the compilation CD Reruns, Business as Usual, In With the Out Crowd, There and Back Again, and Say That!

Quite apart from his musical career, Geissman is one of the country's largest collectors of MAD Magazine and 1950s E.C. Comics memorabilia. He has authored three definitive books on the subjects: Collectibly MAD (Kitchen Sink Press, 1995), Tales of Terrror! The EC Companion (with Fred von Bernewitz, Gemstone/Fantagraphics, 2000), and Foul Play! The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics! (HarperDesign, 2005).

Whatever influences his music is celebrating at any given time, Grant Geissman is always finding new and innovative rhythmic and stylistic twists around those great melodies he's become famous for. The guitarist Chuck Mangione once dubbed "General Grant" is most decidedly on the inside track to continued success.