Gerald Gradwohl – from the Beginning!
„The Early Days“
Since his childhood Gerald was always interested in music. In the beginning however, it was not strings, but in his parents house (Margaretha and Anton Gradwohl) mum’s pots and pans got tortured with wooden spoons wrecking one or the other string of nerves. His first favourite band was The Sweet (yes- the ones with the high heels). They were followed by Kiss and AC/DC. Angus Young was his first big guitar-hero. (At that time I copied some riffs and solos – but you could not say it was a transcription at that time!) When I was 10 I started playing the guitar (Music School of Wr.Neustadt) probably just because Mum and Dad got rid of their pots and pans. During this time the musical taste changed to the metal-fraction ( at least what it was at that time). Iron Maiden, Saxon, Judas Priest were hip. Until he reached the age of 16 hard rock was the only thing that counted. Was it Heavy Metal in the beginning, was it mainstream Hard Rock (Van Halen, Toto, Journey …) later on. His brother Günter (I’m sure I wrecked his nerves, too) predicted: „Sooner or later you’ll listen to some different kind of music!“ (He was into jazz and stuff like that). Original quotation Gerald: „Never ever“.
With 12 he founded the first band, named GRAMAGA (1979/80) with his schoolmates Bernhard Macheiner and Oliver Gattringer:
Bernhard Macheiner – out of tune piano
Oliver Gattringer – funny drums – even at that time he was a brilliant at drumming – but he couldn’t reach the bass drum
and of course Gerald – guitar, horrible vocals
Style: everything that was possible
Lyrics-sample: „Papa leave Angie here, leave her here! .. :))
There were actually no live-performances, but on the other hand a lot of funny rehersals and recording sessions with the use of cassette recorders.
After the guitar teacher at the Music School had shown Gerald Minor Pentatonic, Sor, Tarrega, Bach and all these guys became even less interesting than they were before. Farewell to the Music School – long live Rock’N’Roll!
2nd Band: „TRUCKER“ (~1981-83)
This was real Hard Rock with his friends:
Robs Jeschke – Vocal
Martin Schönbauer – Bass
Stefan Stamm – Drums
This band was taken seriously and there even were the first concerts in the area of Wr.Neustadt. After some time there was a changing of name and personnel: „WIDE SPREAD“ (ca.1983-86) with Bernhard Macheiner on additional keyboards and Oliver Gattringer on drums – it was almost a GRAMAGA-Reunion! Later on Schönbauer left the band. The new man was Berhard Eder who however got substituted by Andy Pieber later on. There were some local successes e.g. the winning of a band contest, being on TV occasionally … So it turned out that this Mainstream Hard Rock Band had become the first professional project of Gerald Gradwohl. By the way: He even wrote 50 Hard Rock songs!
„The Professional Days“
During that time there was one musician that became of great importance for Gerald – Gary Moore.
Gerald got himself all the records Moore was on – you could say he was probably the most enthusiastic Gary Moore fan at that time.This was probably one of the reasons for changing the musical taste tending more to some jazz-oriented music.
One has to admit that he was always interested in music that was played perfectly (Toto, Jeff Beck etc.). The biggest influence, and probably the reason for the change in style, was Mike Stern (around 85 / 86). His album „Upside Downside“ was the perfect mixture of jazz and rock for Gerald. (I listened to Stern exclusively for two years and transcribed lots of songs and solos).
Another milestone was the first album of Chic Corea´s Electric Band („Got A Match?“ – took me hours of practising!) On this record Gerald discovered a guitar player named Scott Henderson. From that time on up till today Henderson is Gerald’s favourite guitar player, who influenced him the most.
An article in the „Guitar Player“ magazine dealing with Frank Gambale caught the eye of Gerald. Gambale’s unbelievable sweeping-technique changed Gerald’s guitar playing completely. Gambale became one his favourites, too ( Many people forget about Frank as a fantastic rhythm-guitar player!)
From now on rock music was not that interesting any more and racing up and down the finger-board in clerical keys wasn’t either. So in 1986 Gerald started the study of jazz guitar in Vienna. He graduated two years later obtaining first-class honours.
Since he was quite efficient even at the very beginning of his studies, he used his time at the conservatory for widening his musical horizon in respects of harmony and composition.
At the time he also got the first jobs as a professional guitar player, playing in different commercial dance bands and cover-bands. The intensive analysis of jazz and jazz-related music led to founding a band called:
FACE TO FACE (1988-94) which had to be changed into
CATS & CAMELS because of some legal reasons.
The line-up was:
Bernhard Macheiner – Keyboards
Oliver Gattringer – Drums
Michael Fischer – Saxophones
Andi Hanauska – Bass
1st CD-release 1990:
Cats &Camels -„Face To Face“(Bellaphon/CDLR 45038) The style was „fusion“ (but not the kind you hear in shopping malls). Even today Gerald still sticks to this production although it’s old stuff today.
The strong desire to play in a trio leads to the foundation of: „THREEO“ (1989-2002?)
with Richard Filz, drums and Wolfgang Wograndl, bass
Filz and Gradwohl knew each other since they were kids, because they grew up in the same neighbourhood. Searching for the real „killer-bass-man“ they found Wolfgang Wograndl who Richard knew from another band. The musical collaboration also led to real friendship that will hopefully last forever. In the beginning the style was more or less Modern Jazz, meanwhile the composition spread in a wide spectrum so that it is quite hard to catagorize – it’s Electric Jazz – yes, that’s closest.
Working continuously led to the release of 3 CDs so far featuring guest musicians such as Bob Berg, Rick Margitza, Martin Fuss, Bumi Fian, Viktor Gernot. Countless tours throughout Europe and festival appearances all over the world followed.
The CD ‚THREEO-Live‘, feat. Bob Berg was voted the best jazz album of 1998 by readers of one of Austria’s largest music magazines.
Besides this, probably the most important project, Gerald always played jobs of different kinds. The collaboration with „Tangerine Dream“, the world-wide best known German legendary cult-band, is highly worth mentioning. Gerald even played on two Tangerine Dream CDs and played live-concerts in London (96) and Osnabrück (Klangartfestival 99). But there are also commercial gigs with Andy Borg or Bill Ramsey ( It not only gives you money – it’s also fun!)
Playing with the Austrian „Hallucination Company“ (1995-99) was one of the important stations for gathering experiences and routine.
„Christina Zurbrügg“ Rhythm and Yodelling Projekt with Christina Zurbrügg-voc., Reinhard Ziegerhofer-bass,Peter Rosmanith-perc.
Sisters of OU! – Soul/Funk with Juci Janoska, Diuana Jirkuff – voc,
Myriam Filz – bass,voc, Albin Janoska-keyb.,Tommy Böröcz-dr
Sandra Pires – before she got famous!!!
1998 he starts the project „the powergrade“with the drummer Nico Bernhardt. Jojo Lackner was the original bass player, but he left the band in ’99 and was replaced by Wolfgang Wograndl.
2001 the line up changed again. Wograndl quits the band to concentrate on his solo works. Since then Harry Weinkum was the new bass player.
In the year 2000 Gerald had been awarded the cultural prize for music in Austria.
In November 2002 Gerald records his Solo album ‚ABQ‘ in the Open Arts Studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico which features 3 top musicians
of the international jazz and fusion scene:
Gary Willis – bass (Wayne Shorter, Allan Holdsworth) and Kirk Covington – drums (Zawinul Syndicate, Scott Henderson) presumably
constitute the most independent rhythm group on the scene and here, with their dynamics and power, they present themselves in their best groove.
The two radiate an energy one would normally only find in their band Tribal Tech (Scott Henderson), and together with Gerald Gradwohl
they form a fusion trio on „ABQ“ that stands unequaled to this day! (suggestion listening: „Albuquerque Road“)
With BOB BERG, Gradwohl has arguably found one of the most sought after saxophone players in recent years for this project.
The New Yorker has already played and recorded with many giants of the jazz scene, which again speaks in favor of the quality of
Gradwohl and this CD. Whether in the accustomed aggressive tenor in the opener „Pau Wau“ or in „Coltrane“ style to the changes
of „Giant Steps“ (an arrangement of the Coltrane classic), Berg is always playing with his soul and lends the recordings a special note
with his originality and presence.“Bob and I have really become good friends during this production;
he was very supportive in every situation and always gave his best!“
All the more distressing was the news that Berg was killed in a traffic accident in New Work 3 weeks after the recording.
„ABQ“ was therefore the last production Bob Berg had recorded.
The CD is dedicated to one of the greatest saxophone players of today – a great musician and person who sadly is no longer with us!
„ABQ“ was recorded LIVE in the studio – at a later stage some rhythm guitars were added – and largely features composed pieces
which also leave the musician ample leeway for improvisation.
With „ABQ“, Gerald Gradwohl has successfully produced a dynamic and spirited production that emphasizes not only his qualities as a guitarist.
In Fall 2003 the Gerald Gradwohl Group is on presentation tour with the following lineup:
G.G.-guit, Kirk Covington-drums, Harry Weinkum-bass, Thomas Kugi-sax
please check out the website for further infos from 2003 until now!
best regards, GG
