Alex De Grassi

Alex de Grassi (born February 13, 1952, in Yokosuka, Japan) is a Grammy Award nominated American fingerstyle guitarist. de Grassi came from a musical family. His grandfather was a violinist with the San Francisco Symphony. His cousin, William Ackerman, founded Windham Hill Records and signed de Grassi to his label. de Grassi's first album "Turning: Turning Back", an instrumental collection of solo guitar pieces, was released by Windham Hill in 1978. His next album, "Slow Circle" (1979) was his last for Windham Hill to exclusively feature solo guitar work. As the label shifted away from folk into a more new age sound de Grassi was joined by an ensemble of Windham Hill artists on subsequent albums.

For his fifth album, "Altiplano" (1987), released by RCA Novus rather than Windham Hill, de Grassi turned to more of a jazz sound. After one more new age album he began mixing in world music influences, particularly South American music, on his album "The World's Getting Loud" (1993), his last release for Windham Hill. He reprised the South American theme on "Tata Monk" (2000). de Grassi was nominated for a Grammy Award for his 1998 album "The Water Garden."