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NEWS

Gibson Jazz Contest winners in Tokyo

At the 8th Annual Gibson Jazz Guitar contest in Tokyo (Sept. 25), 104 solo entrants and 15 bands competed for only 13 semi-finalist spots (five bands and eight solo). First place in the band category went to Takeon, with their original jazz/fusion piece, "Engage." The solo award went to Naoto Suzuki with his interpretation of Pat Metheny's classic "Question and Answer." The winners received a Gibson ES-175 Reissue and an ES-335.





Judges for the competition included professional jazz guitarists Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Kazumi Watanabe and Toshiki Nunokawa, plus a music journalist from the influential magazine Jazz Life, which co-sponsored the contest.

Gibson Buddies


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Morgan Freeman, Bill Luckett, and Howard Stovall, owners of the world famous "Ground Zero Blues Club" hosted the Get Out The Vote All Star Jam (Oct. 1) in Clarksdale, Mississippi, to encourage voting for the election in November. Performers included George McCorkle from the Marshall Tucker Band, Eric Heatherly, Dave Gibson from the Gibson Miller Band, Michael Smotherman (who penned Bonnie Raitt and Ray Charles duet, "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind"), Billy Ray Reynolds (writer of "Lilly's White Lies," and "Makin' It Hard On The Workin' Man"), and local Clarksdale blues prodigy Jacqueline Nassar.

Ain't That Sweet

With his Gibsons in tow, guitarist Matt Drake has hit the road for the past eight weeks with Capitol artist Skye Sweetnam to promote her new album, Noise from the Basement. Matt has been seen playing his Alpine White Les Paul Supreme (most recently on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Sept. 20) and his Gibson J-200 Western Classic. Look for more TV appearance soon from these two

Epi and Metallica rock

Producers of the "Jane Pauley Show" scouted the studio audience (Sept. 30) to find the biggest Metallica fan and picked Shirley Alvarez as the winner. Shirley took home a brand new Epiphone guitar, which was signed by all four Metallica band members. During the show, the guitar was presented to Shirley, and Kirk Hammett even taught Jane how to play guitar. Metallica has sold 90 million albums and gone beyond their cult-like status to become the most famous heavy metal band of all time. Check out their new documentary film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.

Slingerland on air

Jordan Ploski, drummer for Ryan Cabrera, rocked a Slingerland drum kit on "Good Morning America" (Sept. 20). Jordan also jammed on his Slingerlands with Ryan on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (Oct. 7).

Paul Weller rocks NYC

While in New York for the week, Paul Weller finished up a recording session for rollingstone.com at Quad Studios (Sept. 29) with a Gibson SJ-200 Vine. Paul was busy all week promoting his upcoming V2 album, Studio 150. Most of Paul's playing is done on his own finely aged Gibson J-45.

Randy Travis 'Stars' with his Gibson

Grammy-winning country music icon Randy Travis was a star yet again, this time on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the induction ceremony (Sept. 27), Randy was joined by Jon Voight and other Hollywood stars as he posed over his star with his trademark Gibson Doves in Flight guitar. Randy rose to the top of the entertainment business with his #1 country records like "Forever and Ever, Amen" and "Honky Tonk Moon" and then expanded his career into television and film roles.

Gibson cleans house

Gibson is aiding Jay McGraw (son of Dr. Phil McGraw) and FOX TV in life makeovers for families in need. On "Renovate My Family," Fox's life-improvement program where a panel of makeover professionals (stylist, interior designer, construction crew, etc.) completely overhaul the lives of the chosen family, Gibson helped with the family renovation by donating a Thunderbird bass to 10-year-old aspiring musician Omar Biggens. The Biggens (Mela, Anthony, Chrishara, Zikea and Omar) needed help getting out of the rat race and getting back to being a family. Another family, the Cole-Remier family (Tina and Randy, Ashley, Lauren and Ian) received an Epiphone G-400 Xtreme guitar and Goth Xtreme bass, when they were madeover from goth musicians to suburban sweetness.

Boston's got the Blues

The Boston Blues Festival (Sept. 22-26) honored the rich history and heritage of the blues with a kickoff party, guitar workshop, Mojo Blues Bar Bash, Overdraught After Fest Bash, and two days of a full music lineup. Performers included Carey Bell, Lil Joe Washington, Doug Macleod, Shor'ty Billups and many others. Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Carey Bell, Lil Joe Washington and Shor'ty Billups. Gibson man B.B. King was also on hand, and signed the Gibson ES-345 reissue for auction.

Gibson's Unsung Hero

Gibson helped Boston celebrate its home-grown music at the annual NEMO Conference and Boston Music Awards (Oct. 1-3). The three-day event featured a tradeshow and panel discussions with top music industry execs, as well as live music all over Boston, including performances by Aerosmith, Godsmack, Linkin Park, Staind, Guster, Howie Day, Splender and many others. The NEMO Conference finished up with the Boston Music Awards. Local player Tim Gearan received the "Unsung Hero Award," along with a Gibson Les Paul that was presented onstage by Morphine's Billy Conway.

Song for song

Songwriter101.com has given away a Gibson Songwriter Deluxe to winner Donah Hunter of Queens, NY. Donah's name was drawn randomly by Joe Serling (Moby, Maroon 5) from over 3100 entries. The contest was held online on Songwriter's website. David Bills of BMI presented the Songwriter Deluxe to Donah in the Gibson/Baldwin Showroom in NYC. Donah also plays piano and drums and is now teaching herself guitar.

Gibson and Ghetti

Popular French singer/guitarist Nicolas Ghetti visited the Gibson Guitar Paris offices recently where he spent some time playing the Gibson J-45. Ghetti is a Universal Recording Artist on the AZ label and will be releasing his first CD throughout France in late October.

Tokyo - the next Apple

Apple computers featured August as a month of music at their flagship Ginza district store in the heart of Tokyo. Gibson joined forces with Apple to present some of the best live talent that Tokyo has to offer, including new Columbia Records artist Eri Takenaka. Armed with one of Epiphone's new Masterbilt acoustics, Eri played to a standing room only audience (Aug. 22).

News on gibson.com

UPCOMING on gibson.com... Interviews with Jim West (Weird Al), Jeff Foskett (Brian Wilson), Chris Carraba of Dashboard Confessional, and Kings of Leon.