Gambale Frank

Frank Gambale was still a vital part of Chick Corea's Elektric Band when he recorded The Great Explorers, a hard-hitting, aggressive effort that generally has more in common with the instrumental rock of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani than the more complex jazz-fusion he embraced with Corea and Steve Smith's Vital Information.

MVP stands for the Mark Varney Project. He has been a longtime recruiter of guitar speed demons such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Tony Macalpine. Here he brings together accomplished and established players. It is a very intense fusion recording that can be an intimidating listen both in terms of technique and the consistent intensity maintained throughout…

Frank Gambale live performance and instructional video jam packed with over two and a half hours of live shredding with Frank on guitar, Ricc Fierbracci, on bass, and the drummer that seems to be everywhere these days, Steve Smith. Special guest Steve Tavaglione plays sax on two tracks. The DVD includes a ninety minute concert performance from Frank and the band, over two hours of instructional footage, including a sixty minute one on one lesson, and a tab booklet with six songs.

One has to give high marks to guitarist and composer Frank Gambale. While an unabashed jazz-rock fusioneer, Gambale has always made music that was as interested in lyricism and inventive harmonic interplay as complex riffs and arpeggios. Gambale is a composer of the first order and, as he has gotten older, his writing style has become increasingly engaging melodically; his sense of harmonic architecture is full of shapes and colors and is weighted by use of the imagination that indulges flights of whimsy. He also understands on a cellular level the importance of ensemble communication. Accompanied by Billy Cobham on drums and either Ric Fierabracci or Steve Billman on bass, Gambale offers listeners 12 new cuts.

Thunder from Down Under is the third studio album by guitarist Frank Gambale, released in 1990 through Victor Entertainment and reissued on 24 April 2001 through Samson Records.