Gordon Giltrap is one of the most respected and influential guitarists of his generation. Ritchie Blackmore has proclaimed him “One of the best acoustic players in the world” and even Jimmy Page has cited him as a major influence.
Born in 1948, Giltrap became a highly regarded teenage singersongwriter and guitarist on the London folk circuit, signing to the Transatlantic label and releasing his self-titled debut in 1968. By his third album, 1971’s A Testament Of Time, arranger Del Newman’s strings had given his work a more orchestral feel and after Giltrap (1973) he switched from being the lead singer to making instrumental music. Although a latecomer to progressive rock, Giltrap made his name in that genre – and proved that it was not killed off by punk – by recording a landmark trilogy of albums: Visionary (1976), Perilous Journey (1977) and Fear Of The Dark (1978), as part of a prog supergroup playing electric and acoustic guitar with former Caravan bass guitarist John G Perry, drummer Simon Phillips and keyboardist Rod Edwards. He scored a hit single in 1977 with Heartsong, which was nominated for an Ivor Novello award.