Gordon Giltrap

Emerging from the late-1960s London folk circuit alongside peers such as Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, the widely admired and adaptable British guitarist and composer Gordon Giltrap issued two singer/songwriter sets on the Transatlantic label before attaining broad commercial recognition in the latter 1970s through instrumental prog rock releases, most notably the standout 1977 album Perilous Journey. His path extended across the 1980s and 1990s via excursions into new age and relaxation music before circling back to instrumental acoustic origins with the notable 1998 album Troubadour. A regular collaborator, Giltrap has cut records with numerous associates, among them two projects with jazz guitarist Martin Taylor, one outing alongside Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and another with Wakeman’s son Oliver Wakeman. His varied credits further encompass orchestral compositions and music for many television programs.

Born in Kent in 1948, Giltrap was raised in the South East London area of Deptford, taking up the guitar at age 12. Developing a personal technique without formal lessons, he performed in neighborhood rock groups during his early teens before gravitating toward the mid-1960s London folk community that included John Renbourn, John Martyn, and Bert Jansch. In 1966, at age 18, Giltrap signed with Transatlantic Records and delivered his self-titled debut two years afterward. Blending inventive instrumental works with vocal songs that incorporated experimental and psych elements, the album was succeeded in 1969 by the comparably styled Portrait, his final Transatlantic release. That spring he toured with noted U.K. busker Don Partridge and soon co-founded the acoustic rock band Accolade. Although he contributed several songs and lead guitar to the group, Giltrap departed Accolade in 1970 after their debut album appeared. Issued in 1971, A Testament of Time adopted a more conventional singer/songwriter narrative approach complete with sectional structures and modestly expanded arrangements, marking his sole MCA release. After a short stint on Philips that yielded 1973’s Giltrap, he adopted a new direction centered on instrumental pieces and orchestrally inclined prog rock.

Appearing in 1976, Visionary drew from the art and poetry of William Blake and represented Giltrap’s initial effort in this revised style. Having achieved greater success in this realm than with his earlier singer/songwriter work, he assembled the Gordon Giltrap Band, toured behind Visionary, and completed the 1977 successor Perilous Journey, another instrumental prog album that became his biggest seller to that point. Reaching number 29 on the U.K. albums chart, Perilous Journey also produced the hit single “Heartsong,” later adopted as the theme for the BBC travel series Holiday. Coincidentally, another Giltrap composition, “The Carnival,” subsequently served as the theme for the rival ITV program Wish You Were Here…?. Issued in 1978, Fear of the Dark continued the direction of the preceding two albums and completed a trilogy that solidified Giltrap’s successful later career phase.

Although 1979’s The Peacock Party broadened his prog rock palette, it also signaled the return of Giltrap’s acoustic guitar work on several tracks, a direction he pursued further on 1982’s Airwaves and 1984’s In at the Deep End, two sets that tilted more toward new age than progressive music. Returning fully to his original acoustic guitar focus, Giltrap recorded the spare Elegy in 1986, presenting solo six- and 12-string instrumentals with only occasional electric guitar and bass. After the 1987 Christmas release A Midnight Clear, he devoted the early 1990s to assorted personal projects and collaborations. In addition to the live sets On a Summer’s Night (1991) and Live at the BBC (1995), he recorded a duets album with jazz guitarist Martin Taylor, composed and performed the classical work The Brotherhood Suite inspired by pre-Raphaelite painters (1995), and supervised reissues of his two Transatlantic albums. In 1996 he appeared with early influence Cliff Richard in the West End musical Heathcliff. Two years later, in 1998, Giltrap released the career highlight Troubadour, an intricate instrumental album uniting his acoustic precision with lush orchestral arrangements by Del Newman.

Issued in 2000, Music for the Small Screen gathered the assorted television scores Giltrap had created throughout his career. That same year he received an invitation to join the British entertainment fraternity and charity The Grand Order of Water Rats, whose members have included comic actor Charlie Chaplin and Queen guitarist Brian May. He stayed active through the early 2000s both live and in the studio, releasing the spare Under This Blue Sky in 2002, the 2003 covers collection Remember This, and the pastoral 2004 album Drifter. During this time he also partnered with hypnotherapy specialist Ian Wood on the mental-health project Receptive Relaxation, pairing tranquil Giltrap compositions with spoken affirmations by Wood; between 2011 and 2012 they issued seven volumes in the series. Following a second guitar duets album with Martin Taylor in 2005, he issued the live CD/DVD set Gordon Giltrap and Friends Live at the Symphony Hall Birmingham. Another live recording, the solo concert As It Happens, appeared in 2007 together with the studio album Secret Valentine.

In 2010 Giltrap joined progressive keyboard legend and longtime friend Rick Wakeman for the duo album From Brush & Stone and delivered the solo album Shining Morn later that year. A few years afterward he collaborated with Wakeman’s son, keyboardist Oliver, on Ravens & Lullabies, which returned Giltrap to the harder prog rock sound of his late-1970s albums. A further collaboration arrived in 2017, this time with keyboardist Paul Ward on The Last of England, which blended prog, folk, pop, and classical elements.