Grossman has a sky high reputation as one of the world's great blues guitarists, as well as being an accomplished music teacher. From the off he acknowledged the portion of his audience who were to study his technique and see what they could learn for their own playing - and that most of these would be men in their sixties and seventies! He then proceeded to, affectionately, take the piss out of them for the remainder of the gig.
He talks to the audience a lot, even over his own playing at times, in a quiet, calm, chatty style that draws you in. Stories from his own musical past, illustrations of the varying guitar styles he was exposed to in early life, and frequent explanations of what he was doing and why. The latter mostly aimed at the nerds of course, but put across in simple enough terms that even a musical ignoramus like me could follow most of it.
It was impossible not to be impressed with the technical ability of Grossman's playing. To get bass, rhythm and melody simultaneously from just those six strings, and to make it look so easy, is a mark of musical genius. And although his singing voice lacks range, he delivers lyrics in a conversational style that is very distinctive. But the music was just a bit too one-tempo throughout, apart from an excellent sixties medley as the final number, and for the ordinary punter it could sometimes get a bit dull. I saw a few yawns around the room. Grossman is more of a musician's musician than an entertainer.
One for the afficianados.
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