I’ve seen LA-based session guitarist Grant Geissman in a variety of settings in the local jazz scene, ranging from big band work with Gordon Goodwin to a Steely Dan tribute to swinging small group jams. No one plays better, and his albums are always a treat for guitar freaks, as not only does he play perfectly in a variety of hip settings, but he lists each different guitar for the specific song. No wonder one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou Shalt Not Covet”!
His go-to guitar seems to be the 1966 Epiphone Riviera guitar, but he also has time for a 1965 Gibson SG, Martin 1966 00-18 (I HAD ONE OF THOSE!), and a Jerry Jones 6-string Dan bass, just for good measure. As far as teammates, there’s a core of the top tier Angelenos in Bernie Dresel-Ray Brinker/dr, Trey Henry/b, Russell Ferrante-David Garfield/key, Jim Cox/org, with some cameos by Kevin WInard/cong, Tom Scott/ts and even a parachute drop by Robben Ford, John Jorgenson, Josh Smith and Joe Bonamassa (who threw his ’52 Telecaster in the trunk for the gig).
The music? WHEW! Geissman,, Smith and Joe B get kinda blue on a lusicious “One G and Two J’s”, while “Whitewalls and Big Fins” has Jorgenson cruising the Caddy with polished chrome. Geissman sounds as tasty as Larry Carlton on the hip soul’d “Rage Cage” with Cox on the humming B3, while there’s a deft calypso on “Side Hustle” and a Latin cruiser for “Carlos En Siete”. Scott blows smoke rings on his tenor for the jumping “This and That” while Robben Ford gets swampy on the gritty “Robben’s Hood”. I mean, what MORE do you want from a guitarist?!?