Musical Biography
Gilbert Jean Thierry Namur
Writing this Musical Biography is opening up
a flood of memories. As I write it, I know
more will come to me. I also know that my
closest friends and family will help me fill
in the voids. I tell you this up front as I
know that this document will be dynamic. I
will add to it and edit it over the next few
months until I have it right.
Ever since I can remember, there has been
music in my life. As a young child in
Belgium, my parents exposed me to French
musicians like Sacha Distel and Georges
Brassens. As well, there was often classical
music being played on our stereo by the likes of Mozart,
Beethoven and Chopin. My sisters Michele and
Carol in turn made sure to round this out by
introducing me to the Beatles, Elvis Presley
and eventually in 1970, Carlos Santana. By
the time I was eight, I distinctly remember
often falling asleep humming or singing
songs and found it most interesting to try
to make up my own melodies. I need to say
here that my parents and my sisters were
always supportive of my music, always an
encouragement but never ever pressured me.
At first, it was actually my sister
Michele’s guitar that I used. A lovely
nylon strung instrument. If my memory serves
me, my first guitar was a Kent acoustic
nylon strung guitar. Then, for my tenth
birthday, Michele bought me an electric
guitar and amp. I remember being so thrilled
with this. After bedtime, you know .. the
lights out bit when you are a kid, I would
sneak out of bed, plug that guitar in and
with the volume way down I would pluck away
hoping to not get caught. Eventually I
purchased an Aria steel string guitar
through paper route earnings on which I
learned to sing and play many folks and pop
songs. At that time, around 14 years old, I
was hammering out such tunes as Gordon
Lightfoot’s Canadian Railroad Trilogy (which
took me ages to memorize the lyrics to) as
well as songs by The Beatles, Three Dog
Night, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Simon
and Garfunkel and Tom Rush.
While I never really had too much in the way
of formal instruction, I did have a teacher
for a while back then by the name of Ted
Quinlan. Ted would walk me through some of
the more complex chord changes I could not
figure out. However, he did something
remarkable. After every lesson, he would sit
me down in front of his stereo and have me
listen to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of
Invention. At the time, I could not really
fathom why but what he did was open my ears
in ways I would only come to appreciate
later. Ted has gone on to become one of the
most versatile guitar players in Canada and
was the recipient of the 1998 Jazz Report
Award for Guitarist of the Year.
Soon after this, I was riding the bus to
high school one day. A girl by the name of Andrianna Santini (I sure hope I have the
spelling right) had overhead me speaking
about music and chatted with me on the
subject of bands. A few days later, and to
this day I have no idea why, she came onto
the bus with 3 albums for me to check out.
King Crimson’s Court of the Crimson King,
Emerson Lake and Palmers first album and The
Yes Album. These albums had an enormous
impact on me. Understand that the segue from
Three Dog Night to King Crimson was huge. I
believe that it was Ted Quinlan’s
“expansion” of my ears that helped me
quickly appreciate this music. The Yes album
in particular was what led me to my next
major step .. I started thinking of the
guitar more as a lead instrument.
I developed a taste for progressive rock and
fusion and started listening to bands like
Gentle Giant, Strawbs, Supertramp, Pink
Floyd, Jeff Beck, Steely Dan, Frank Zappa
and as much Yes as I could get my hands on.
I would sit for hours working out Steve
Howe’s (guitarist for Yes) solos note for note. This forced me
to develop much better technique which was
essential to playing these pieces. By the
time I started listening to jazz fusion
guitarist Al Di Meola, I
had enough technique to take a stab at some
of the pieces on Elegant Gypsy and Casino.
In my 20’s I moved to Western Canada and
continued to work on speed and scales ..
scales .. scales! I think this is something
so many guitar players go through.
Thankfully, I was introduced to the music of two players
who would forever change the way I think
about the instrument. Larry Carlton and Pat Metheny. What did I learn? That the space
between notes is so much more important than
how much we play. That the melody is the
thing. That dynamics and heart are
paramount. I do not mean to say by this that
any of the aforementioned players do not
have these attributes. Each of them helped
me to grow in unique ways. Larry Carlton and
Pat Metheny just really drove the point home
to me.
Over the years, I have had many
opportunities to join bands that played top
40 cover tunes. I always passed on these
opportunities, as I wanted to do my own
thing. So, instead of playing music, I
embarked on an entrepreneurial journey with
the idea that once I made tons of money (yea
right), I would be able to afford to produce
my own music. I have had good success in the
corporate world and in my own businesses.
Along the way, I got so involved in the
means, that I lost sight of what I really
wanted to accomplish and who I really am.
A musician.
I never stopped writing though and have
amassed well over 100 songs and a great many
ideas I need to explore.
And so, here we are. Another segue to cross.
From businessman to musician. It’s a little
scary in some ways and yet so exciting in
others. I cannot predict where this will
lead but I do know it is a road I must take.
And so take it I shall never forgetting
those that helped me get here. That is why
this document is so important for me to get
right. It reminds me of how blessed I have
been and while moving forward is the
objective, looking back is very empowering.
