Guillaume Gargaud is a French composer and improvisational guitarist. He has played on some twenty-nine albums, and has composed a substantial body of music for contemporary dance and cinema. He has collaborated with Stephen Grew (UK); Burton Greene, Marc Edwards, Ben Bennett, and Jack Wright (US); Eero Savela, Simo Laihonen, Libero Mureddu (Finland); and many more. He performs solo in Europe, and in the United States and Canada. He lives in Le Havre in France, where he also teaches improvised music.

Reviews

“..we discover a guitarist who plays the acoustic wonderfully, working to crystallise the moods conjured by the techniques being used: atonality, complex melodic lines and, in the tradition of the contemporary guitarist, fast runs around the fingerboard, a search for counterpoint, dramatically placed glissandi, an exploration of sounds at the bridge, etc. Strange Memories is part of that category of works that marvellously exploit the technical and emotional characteristics of the instrument”

Review of the album Strange Memories by Ettore Garzia for Percorsi Musicali

“To describe Gargaud as some sort of “incredible one-man string band” is no exaggeration. Albeit that he ignores explicit references to well-defined styles and any narcissistic riff. In short, a “guitar pendulum” in the best improvisation tradition. Especially for fans of Dirk Serries.”

Review by Georges Tonla Briquet For Jazz’Halo

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