Laurie Geltman - Master Guitarist and Talented Composer ...by Devon Cathlin

Master Guitarist
Talented Composer

Photo of Laurie Geltman ...Article by Devon Cathlin

...by Devon Cathlin

       There are a lot of different faces on the music scene. From Beethoven to jug bands and a myriad in between, the one thing that is universal is the way everyone brings their own persona to what they do when music is, basically, what they really love to do. Some people are magic, weaving a sound that is both unique and evocative. Some are mechanical, experts at counting and clicking away at the perfect timbre, cadence, whatever it takes to make it exactly as written.

       And then there's Laurie Geltman. Playing her guitar with both the beauty of expertise and the passion to evoke emotion from her audience, she is, in a phrase, a guitarist's guitarist. This woman rocks! Talking to her, you immediately know she's anything but a slouch with the craft and art of music. Throw out the wrong word – she catches it. Act innocent and she'll know whether you're bluffing or not. Would-be rockers, you aren't going to sit in with Laurie and pretend to be able to play. She's going to know if you do, if you practice, what your music knowledge is, where you're sitting musically. In a world full of I-know-C-F-and-G musicians, Laurie Geltman is a treasure beyond compare. She's a real, live, honest to goodness, trained talent. Why she isn't world famous and flying around in jets decorated with gold records is beyond the ken of many a fan.

      That isn't to say she hasn't garnered a lion's share of honors. She pulled down a Boston Music Award for Outstanding Female Vocalist, was invited to Kathmandu to perform in a concert to benefit the Snow Leopard Foundation, played the 1998 Lilith Fair Tour, won the Boston edition of the Levi-Strauss-Lilith Fair Emerging Talent Search, and was a semi-finalist in the WBCN Rock 'n' Roll Rumble. She's shared the stage with such luminaries as Joe Cocker, Emmylou Harris and Sarah McLachlan, to name just a few.

      Oh, you wonder (being a want to be, or soon to be, or if only I could be, musician), how does someone get that good? Geltman, in her own inimitable way, capsulizes it so perfectly a thousand musicians and ten thousand writers are going to wish they'd said it first. "Cut your fingernails and play the guitar," she says with more than a little passion. This is a woman who, if faced with skepticism at a sound check, will walk in and let go with a blazing lead to set the record straight. Her attitude is that women, when faced with gender biases, should get out there and do it. Geltman hits it right on the head when she says, "Women who play really good know they aren't playing like a guy, they're playing really well." She admits that when she has a guitar strapped across her shoulder she doesn't "have a gender" and that "it's not an angry, competitive thing" but more of "really [being] in the moment." To that we can all say a very loud, "Bravo, Laurie!" That's what being a woman and being a guitarist should be all about. Or, to borrow from Geltman, "play real good and turn it up louder."

       At the same time, she knows women guitarists are, as she puts it, "a rare breed." Yet she commented, "I didn't have the cultural stereotype, my identity was so firmly wrapped up in being a guitarist." Playing guitar since age seven, Geltman took lessons to her college days. Even then she attended Boston's prestigious jazz-based Berklee College of Music earning a degree in Film Scoring. In the meantime, she chocked up some real music experience with a stint as a street player in Paris. (Geltman paints and does photography as well plays and writes music. She went to Paris to study art.) At an age when most of us were busy fussing over what to do on Friday night, Laurie was trekking to the Pompidou Center, putting down a hat and playing for money. Still more of her time was taken up playing with the Ralston Wandering Jazz and Blues Band, taking the cash they'd made and stopping in a bar where other Parisian street musicians hung out. The group would stay there talking music until the money was gone, then start the process all over again. Laurie Geltman was unique then and even more so now.

      Lately, Laurie has been doing the acoustic circuit. She plays frequently in the Northeast and is in the process of lining up a return to Alaska and the West Coast. But, with influences like Patty Smith and Neil Young, whom she says is her biggest hero, Laurie runs the gamut of all kinds of rock and is hoping to get back into it more in the future. She truly loves the energy of rock venues and likes it best when her music is a "real primal experience." You can almost feel the energy emanating from her when she talks of writing more rock songs and moving further along that path.

      This woman doesn't have boundaries and that's just exactly the way we like her. Her musicianship is exceptional, her songwriting mesmerizing, her attitudes about music and life intriguing and refreshing all at the same time. She morphs back and forth from the world of electric to acoustic like quicksilver and does it with panache. She'll step back and let someone else shine, then glow like the full moon when she's out front and center. She claims having an instrument in her arms is "very natural" and it shows in the vivid work she does. Yes, Laurie Geltman can sing. Yes, she's a great songwriter. She's all of that with a bullet, in fact. But the Laurie Geltman who can stun us, as not a whole hell of a lot of musicians can, is Laurie Geltman the guitarist. An axe in her hands transcends the norm so grandly that it's what she really is. A guitarist. A great guitarist.

I asked Laurie what advice she would give to women who want to be guitarists. Here are some of her answers to which we say, "Yay, Laurie!"

Love learning the theory. (Laurie believes in having a sold foundation of musical knowledge.)
[Learn to play well and the] ability is always there. [Then all you need is] momentum, confidence and rhythm.
Play to CDs and records to get practice.
Have confidence and if you feel you want to be an improviser, just do it.
Just step up to the plate and go for it.

Management/Fan Mail: Rosebloom Productions
PO BOX 347, Boston, MA 02134

Laurie's Website http://www.lauriegeltman.com	Laurie's Email List http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GeltmanROX
Booking or Publicity rbproduct7@aol.com	Laurie's CD Sales http://www.lauriegeltman.com/pages/cds.html