Acoustic Alchemy

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Since 1987, the English band Acoustic Alchemy has pushed the limits of the acoustic guitar by embracing a spectrum of musical styles ranging from straight-ahead jazz to folk, rock, world music, and beyond.

The band’s story begins with two guitarists, Nick Webb and Simon James, who recorded a self-financed, self-produced album in the mid-1980s entitled Acoustic Alchemy. Shortly after the release, James left the partnership to study flamenco guitar in Spain, leaving Webb to promote the record on his own.

For the last decade, the band lineup has been made up of Greg Carmichael on nylon-string guitar, Miles Gilderdale on steel-string acoustic and electric guitars, Fred White on keyboards, and the powerhouse rhythm section of Greg Grainger on drums and his brother Gary Grainger on bass.

Through it all, the overriding mission of Acoustic Alchemy has been to reach the widest possible audience by pushing the potential of instrumental music to embrace a broad range of styles without being limited to any specific genre.

One of contemporary jazz’s early superstar acts . . . killer melodies and grooves

—Jazz Monthly

Sparkling guitar work

—Washington Post