Born in October of 1981, Brandon spent his early years in Torrington, Connecticut. It was there that he would discover his love for music as a young child. What began as the curious discovery of a magical wooden “thing†with 6 metal wires that could make all kinds of weird sounds, hidden in a box under his parents bed, would quickly lead to a never ending passionate search for knowledge, experience, growth, and awareness through the canvas of sound.
Though he experimented wildly with the sounds his mother’s guitar could make and then later on his own JC Penny quarter size acoustic, Brandon’s first formal training in music began around the age of 8 when he began playing violin in the school orchestra. It would be 4 or 5 years later that he would rediscover the guitar, and realize that with that, not that he had chosen his path in life, but rather that it had chosen him.
Starting his first year of high school, Brandon filled his schedule with every music class he could take, from Intro to Guitar, to Choir, to Music Theory. Sophomore year he began playing in the Torrington High School Jazz Ensemble. He would often skip class and hide in the storage closet in the music wing practicing all day. While playing with this group he would have the chance to perform in various band competitions all over the state as well as on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. In 1997 he was accepted in to the Greater Hartford Academy of the Performing Arts in Hartford, CT, where he would have the chance to study with Jim Martin and Dave Santoro. In 1999 he was awarded the Judges Choice Award at the Berklee College of Music Jazz Festival while performing with his Academy Jazz Combo. It was during his high school years that he had his first experiences in musical theater while playing guitar in the orchestra for such productions as Leader of the Pack, 45 Minutes from Broadway, and William Shakespeare’s The Tempest featuring music composed by his teacher and mentor, Tom Schuttenhelm.
After not quite successfully completing high school, Brandon spent a year studying privately with guitarist/composer Eric Miller at George’s Music Center in Torrington, before returning to school in 2001 to study Jazz and Popular Music Performance at the Hartford Conservatory. Here he studied with Joe Carter, Suzan Mazer, Jim Martin, and his now good friend and mentor Lloyd Chisholm. It was during his time spent with Lloyd that Brandon would begin his ‘real world’ education process, as the two frequently attend jam sessions, performances, and began playing gigs together outside of the classroom. It was Lloyd who would also plant the seed of the idea of playing in a showband on a cruise ship, which would blossom some years later.
Over the next few years Brandon taught a full schedule of private students at George’s Music Center in Torrington, as well as for the National Music Workshop in West Hartford, CT. He also began working steadily as a pit orchestra musician for community and college musical theater productions all over the state. He has performed in productions of such classics as God Spell, Hair, Annie, Hello Dolly, Bye Bye Birdie, and The Sound of Music, as well as Bat Boy, Once on This Island, Cabaret, and Grease, to name a few.
In July of 2004 Brandon moved to Seattle, Washington. When his plans to continue college fell through due to a lack of finances, Brandon began teaching at 4/4 School of Music where he taught private lessons as well as guitar classes over the next 3 years.
In June of 2005 Brandon began working with Jerk Alert Productions, an independent theatrical revolution. Over the next three years under the direction of Jason Anfinsen, the company produced 3 runs of Stimulus a long form, organic improv show, for which Brandon played guitar, Haener vs. Haener a sketch comedy show featuring the hilarious marital comedy of Jerry and Lori Lee Haener, for which Brandon had his first taste of producing, and finally, 3 seasons of Hogwash, An Improvised Tall Tale, an interactive, educational theater experience that integrates art, music, and drama into an improvised story created by suggestions from the children in the audience. Over the course of a year and a half of producing Hogwash in Seattle Brandon filled the rolls of musical director, producer, sales representative, and on site coordinator for the groups touring show that performed in many schools in the Seattle area as well as for groups at the Seattle Children’s Museum. Hogwash was a featured performance at Bumbershoot, Seattle’s biggest arts and music festival, in 2007.
In 2007, Brandon also went to work for Wing It Productions, the company that co produced Hogwash, with Jerk Alert, where he performed music for Jet City Improv, the company’s short form improv group that performed every weekend at the Historic University Theater.
During his time in Seattle Brandon has also performed with the Michael Owcharuk Sextet, Soul Kata, The Hot McGhandis, and Dig the Particulars, as well as lead his own projects such as the Brandon Gibbons Trio, and The G.O.H. ensemble, a one off group featuring Michael Owcharuk ..boards and Daniel Hunt on drums. The group commissioned local video artists to submit work to which the trio improvised a musical score live during two performances in one night at Egan’s Ballard Jam House in Ballard. Other musicians that Brandon performs with regularly while in Seattle include Nate Omdal, Ev Stern, Kevin Stevens, Jim Knodle, Beth Fleenor, and Dave Bush.
In February of 2008 Brandon went to work for Carnival Cruise lines. After 3 months as a sideman in the showband he was offered a fill in position as Musical Director, which he accepted, finishing out his first contract. He came back after a short vacation, and was promoted officially to one of the fleets Musical Directors. Over the past year Brandon has worked on the Carnival Sensation, out of Port Canaveral, Florida and the Carnival Ecstasy, out of Galveston, Texas. He is currently working on the Carnival Victory, out of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In the meantime...check out the blog for updates and random ramblings The Gibbons Gazette
A Taste of Ship Life...
The Bahamas
The Shows
Past and Current Projects Include...
The Brandon Gibbons Trio
"Straight ahead, guitar driven jazz!" The Brandon Gibbons Trio repertoire includes all of the favorite Jazz, Swing, and Bossa Nova standards from the 1920's through the 1950's as well as bebop and post bebop music from the 1950's on. The Trio is available for wedding receptions, private parties, and corporate events whenever Brandon is residing on land for any amount of time. For booking information email: [email protected]
The i.f.b.
The i.f.b. is a funk/psycho-blues quintet featuring Brandon Gibbons on guitar, Ethan Thomas on sax, Michael Owcharuk at the keyboards, Ben Deitzen fretting the bass and Mike Hams behind the drums. The band performs original music that fuses elements of rock, funk, jazz, classical, and disco and pushes the boundaries of modern music one more step in the right direction.
The Hot McGandhis
Like your jazz funky side up?? Then you'll love these guys! The Hot McGhandis play well balanced mixture of modal jazz favorites, 'standards with a twist', and some straight up funk! You can catch them every Wednesday night from 9:30 to midnight at Sully's Snowgoose Tavern on the corner of NW 62 street and Phinney Ridge! It's a guaranteed good time!
The District Lounge
Jim Knodle
Michael Owcharuk
Jim Parsons
Nate Omdal
Brandon Gibbons
Private Lessons
Brandon Gibbons offers private and group guitar lessons as well as music theory and improvisation lessons for any instrument.
Developed over the past ten years, the Gibbons Guitar Method is a balanced system that incorporates music theory, ear training, sight reading, and the inter-relationship of melody and harmony and how they relate to the guitar fret board while developing different aspects of the students technique. A custom-tailored program is designed for each student based on their individual needs, abilities, and goals. Each program also incorpoates music that the student likes to listen to and wants to play. Whether you're an absolute beginner, or a seasoned player looking to expand your knowledge of music and the guitar, Brandon's patient and supprotive teaching method makes learning fun and easy. Click on the blog entitled, Rates and Information for prices and availability.
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