Biography
An inquisitive and restless musical spirit, Dr. Buzz Gravelle is a fretless guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, recording artist, music professor, and business owner.
His love for contemporary composition was first kindled through his studies at UCLA with the late guitar pedagogue Theodore Norman. Buzz’s compositions are informed by a modernist’s perspective, yet are lyrical and expressive.
Buzz is one of few professional fretless classical guitarists in the US. He believes it’s potential has largely been untapped, and has set about to raise awareness of its possibilities through original compositions, a strong online presence, pedagogical materials, lecture/demonstrations, interviews, podcasts, and performances. In 2019 he released to popular acclaim "The Realm of Endless Concepts", an album of all original compositions for fretless classical guitar. His new album, "Mirage of the White Rainbow", released in 2024, continues to further expand on the possibilities of the fretless classical guitar.
Previously Buzz was a founding member of the Modern Arts Guitar Quartet (active 1991-1994), an ensemble of guitarists/composers that explored the leading edges of new music for guitar--prepared guitar, serialism, minimalism, and aleatoric music. the MAGQ performed throughout the Western United States and Europe. Buzz was also a founding member and mandolinist of ensembleFRET, a performance collective (active 2012-2018). It's programs featured music for guitar, mandolin, and arpeggione, in expandable combinations with guest vocalists and instrumentalists.
Buzz holds both M.F.A. and D.M.A. degrees in Music from UCLA. In addition to his studies with Peter Yates and Theodore Norman, Buzz has studied composition with Manuel Enriquez, Roger Bourland, and Ian Krouse; lute and theorbo with Michael Egan; and jazz guitar with Warren Nunes.
Buzz has over thirty years of experience as a music educator. He has been on the faculty of California Polytechnic University at Pomona for 17 years, where he teaches music theory and other classes and coordinates the guitar studies program. He is also the owner and founder of the Santa Monica Academy of Music, now in it's 27th year.
In June 2021 Buzz co-founded G&G Guitars. official and exclusive resellers of Altamira fretless guitars. Buzz helped design fretless versions of Altamira's standard classical guitars, plays, and endorses Altamira fretless guitars.
