I got my first guitar in my teens and although I learned some basic chords through group lessons I learned more from watching friends play and absorbing their influences.
Turning professional around 1970 was a huge career change for me as I had been working as a lab technician while studying a chemistry diploma, however music was calling!
I was directed to Sue Ellis, an excellent classical guitar teacher who got me into the masters and after 6 months of lessons I had AMEB Qualifications of Year 12 Theory and Practice.
Now I wanted to learn to play jazz, but there were no contemporary music colleges here at that time, so I went to a local guitar teacher by the name of Barry Morton for 3 months who suggested looking up Barry Galbraith in NYC.
As luck would have it, I had auditioned for and was offered a gig in a cover band which was touring OZ and this allowed me to pay my way to the US to study privately with Barry Galbraith, John Abercrombie and Bill Connors.
Back in Melbourne I was able to hook up with the acoustic bass player Murray Wall who had recently returned from studying with Lennie Tristano. This resulted in a regular jazz duo gig at Bogarts playing bebop and standards.
From 1976-2003 I worked as a pit guitarist for numerous musical theatre productions and recently appeared on the Andrew Lloyd DVD Masterpeice recorded 2001 in China.
In 2000 the fusion trio Triangle was formed featuring Michael Mathews on bass and Justin Humphries on drums to explore some latin, funk and jazz rhythms, which resulted in the release of the CD Against the Grain. The band played many interesting gigs including a live to air performance on PBS Fm106.7 for Bitches Brew, supporting the Dave Weckl Group at the Corner Hotel on his 2002 Australian Tour and a rare residency at Manchester Lane every Tuesday for 6 months thru Jul-Dec 2002.
The following year I began writing music for my first solo recording titled Outside In which was released independently in Dec 2003.
In 2005, after returning from New York, I formed a jazz duo, the Bebop Bros with long time friend Gary Costello on double bass to play and record a CD of the most influential tunes from the bebop era. We performed at various venues around Melbourne with the CD being released in October 2006.
The Last Word Trio, my current project is shaping up as the most experimental jazz/fusion combination yet.
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHYBebop Bros - Gary Norman/Gary Costello (NEW3224.2)Oct 2006
Outside In - Gary Norman/Contemporary Solo guitar (GN001)Dec 2003
Against the Grain - Triangle/Fusion Trio (VM 012007-1) Sept 2001
Masterpiece - Andrew Lloyd Weber DVD/CD (VCD0206) Sept 2001
Stray Dog Waltz and Other Stories - Raga Dolls (RD002) June 2002
Wordless Meanings - Raga Dolls/Classical Quartet(move MD3249)May 2001
The Dinner Party - Kaz Mitchell (KM001)Feb 2003
Night Falls - Raga Dolls (RD003) Nov 2006
