Dennis Gabbeart

Bio

My Bio

As the newest member of this sextet, I am excited to be on board playing with a GREAT group of musicians and guys. I am looking forward to growing more musically from this experience.

I have been told by my parents that my rock and roll days started while still in the womb at an Emerson, Lake and Palmer concert in 1977 and my constant kicking throughout the concert. I was born September of 1977 and from a very early age, I was exposed to a wide array of musical styles and artists thanks to my father.

At the age of six, I got my first toy record player for Christmas and album "Abbey Road" by The Beatles. Listening to that album would start my music obsession and career. The Beatles have been my number one musical influence throughout my life. Very shortly after, my father began teaching me chords on his 1957 Stratocaster. I think I got my first real guitar (Sears Silvertone with a case amp) at the age of seven. Throughout my childhood, I took guitar lessons and spent a sick amount of time trying to learn the tunes I would hear played on the stereo by my father and mother which consisted of tunes by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Who, Led Zepplin, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, and various Motown and oldies artists.

I can remember from my early childhood family members requesting me to bring my guitar and play at birthday parties, picnics, and holiday celebrations. At the age of ten, I went to my first rock concert and saw Eric Clapton. Seeing him really fueled my desire to learn the guitar even more. It was also about this age that I began learning the alto saxophone in school. At the age of eleven, when I was in sixth grade, I performed on my guitar with the school band at a school concert to the tune of "I Got My Mind Set On You" , I also won a music scholarship to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp the same year.

It wasn't until high school that I began playing in various garage bands with friends trying to imitate songs from the grunge movement. We would play house parties, and coffee houses in the area. During my senior year, our band Black Medicine played at and threw a huge kegger party and the money that we made went to record a demo of original material. Shortly after we recorded the demo the band split. During my high school years, I continued with the school band playing the alto and baritone saxophone. It was also during this time I had taken a liking to jazz music and joined a jazz lab band at HFCC.

During my college years, I put the guitar on back burner and spent most of my energy on playing saxophone. I attended Eastern Michigan University where I studied on the sax and majored in Music Therapy. I received my Bachelor of Music Therapy August of 2002 and was granted my MT-BC (Music Therapist Board Certified) credentials April 2003. I am currently a private practice music therapist in the metro Detroit area working with a variety of populations. I have since picked the guitar back up and am playing it a lot again.

I still continue to play the saxophone in the Henry Ford Big Band. Being involved with this group has allowed me to travel around the world and perform at some pretty prestigious events and festivals including the Inauguration of George Bush in D.C., Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the IAJE Festival.

I am open minded to and listen to all types of music. My top musical influences for guitar are (NUMBER ONE) The Beatles, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Chuck Berry. Other artists that have fueled my musical obsession include jazzers Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Thelonious Monk, Art Pepper, Wes Montgomery, and Kenny Burrell.

My equipment includes a robin blue Philip Kubicki Strat type guitar equipped with EMG David Gilmour pickups, a 1950\"reissue" Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul Studio, a Vox Valvetronix AD120VT amp, and sometimes a 1x12 Marshall Jubilee amp.