Acoustic Alchemy is a British contemporary instrumental and smooth jazz band formed in England in the early 1980s (c. 1981), originally fronted by acoustic guitarists Nick Webb and Simon James. The band is currently fronted by Greg Carmichael and Miles Gilderdale.

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1981-1989: Early days

During the 1980s, there was little grateful audience for this form of music in the UK, and the big players in the genre were all American. The pioneering sound of two duelling acoustic guitars — Simon James on nylon and Nick Webb on steel — was a fresh touch on the genre, often backed up by a double bass, percussion, and occasionally string quartet The Violettes. A couple of records were pressed by Webb, but at a considerable loss. In the mid-1980s, James left the band; in the 1990s he would go on to form Kymaera, a similar, albeit more Latin oriented band. In 1985, Webb then discovered Greg Carmichael, a guitarist with a London pub band called The Holloways (not affiliated with the current indie band of the same name) who became James' successor.

The new pairing got work playing as an in-flight band on Virgin Atlantic flights to and from the United States — after sending some demo material to Nashville-based label MCA, the band was called six weeks later to record their first album. The pair had literally played their way to America, and in 1987 released their debut album, Red Dust And Spanish Lace . The project saw them joining forces with other like-minded musicians such as Mario Argandoña on percussion and Bert Smaak on drums. The album was the first of many to be recorded at the Hansa Haus Studios, in Bonn, Germany. This was where they met sound engineer Klaus Genuit, who has worked on many of the band's albums.

Red Dust And Spanish Lace was an instant hit — the first single, "Mr. Chow", fused aspects of Chinese music with reggae. Two more albums followed with MCA — Natural Elements (1988) and the poppier Blue Chip (1989). The title track from Natural Elements became well known in the UK as the theme music for the popular BBC TV programme Gardeners' World .

1990-1998: Mainstream success

Acoustic Alchemy were soon tempted away from MCA to the world's biggest jazz label, GRP Records. Six more albums followed, starting with the 9-track Reference Point (1990), featuring a cover of Dave Brubeck's classic, "Take Five". Then a live favourite, the track was the band's only recorded cover to this day. The critically acclaimed Back On The Case (1991) followed, a ten-track collection which rivalled the innocent brilliance of the band's début four years previous.

Webb also uncovered fourteen early tracks from 1982 – 1987, featuring Simon James, which were released as a compilation called Early Alchemy (1992). The New Edge (1993) and Against The Grain (1994) followed.

For their eighth album, Arcanum (1996), the band decided to take a retrospective look back by re-recording some of the band's most popular tracks. The album was recorded in London's Pinewood Studios, along with the string section of the London Metropolitan Orchestra. The collection included three new tracks, "Columbia", "Something She Said" and "Chance Meeting", along with recreations of nine classics.

Positive Thinking (1998) was to be Acoustic Alchemy's last album with original frontman Nick Webb. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer prior to starting work on it, and became progressively worse throughout the project. In the end, he could only offer inspiration, as he was too weak to play at recording sessions. Nick Webb died on February 5, 1998. However, the album was perceived as one of the band's best.

1999: Reform and changes

After Nick Webb's passing, Greg Carmichael decided to continue with the band, but with big changes. He brought in understudy Miles Gilderdale as his playing partner, and the band moved label to EMI's Higher Octave, home of fellow guitarist Craig Chaquico, and popular synth trio 3rd Force. The début album on the label, The Beautiful Game (2000) brought dramatic changes. New, stronger influences came from all sorts of genres, and it soon became clear that experimentation and diversity were to be a key element to the new band.

The Beautiful Game saw the introduction of Anthony "Fred" White playing keyboards. A 30 year old from the north of England who is currently writing his own album.

AArt (2001) was released a year after, and was their biggest release to date. Playing for over an hour, containing fourteen tracks, and with assistance from saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Acoustic Alchemy's third album with Higher Octave, Radio Contact (2003), featured the band's first ever track to include a vocal, "Little Laughter", performed by Jo Harrop. Harrop was a backing vocalist, found by Gilderdale whilst doing a session with Latin singer Enrique Iglesias.

The band's previous release, American/English (2005), is an eleven track collection which further explores a wide range of varying genres, all with the signature Acoustic Alchemy feel.

Early in 2006, bassist Frank Felix left the band, to concentrate on other projects. The position now has been filled by two bass players; former Incognito and Down to the Bone bassist, Julian Crampton for UK dates and Gary Grainger (brother of longterm drummer Greg Grianger) in the US.

GRP decided to re-release a documentary-style video of Acoustic Alchemy, entitled Best Kept Secret , on July 25, 2006. It was released in DVD format, and contained archived live performance and documentary footage, featuring Nick Webb. A Region Free version, for international fans, was released September 25, 2006.

On the February 4, 2007, Acoustic Alchemy announced that they had recently completed recording their new album, This Way , due to be released in the United States on June 6, 2007. Comprising eleven tracks, it features special guest appearances from trumpeter Rick Braun and collaborations with label-mates Down to the Bone.

Discography

Singles

In 1991, GRP Records released Volume 2 of their GRP Christmas Collection. Acoustic Alchemy played "The Early of Salisbury's Pavane" (track #7 at 3:03 long).

DVDs

Acoustic Alchemy has produced two DVDs:

• DVD of Sounds of St. Lucia: Live (2003)
• Best Kept Secret (2006)

Albums

Year	Title	Members
		Steel string guitar	Nylon string guitar	Electric guitar	Bass	Keyboards	Drums	Percussion	Special instrument
1987	Red Dust And Spanish Lace	Nick Webb, John Parsons	Greg Carmichael	None	Werner Kopal	Rainer Bruninghaus	Bert Smaak	Mario Argandoña	None
1988	Natural Elements	Nick Webb, John Parsons	Greg Carmichael	None	Konrad Mathieu	Rainer Bruninghaus	Bert Smaak	Mario Argandoña	None
1989	Blue Chip	Nick Webb	Greg Carmichael	John Parsons	Klaus Sperber	Rainer Bruninghaus	Bert Smaak	Mario Argandoña	Karl-Heinz Wiberny (Saxophone)
1990	Reference Point	Nick Webb	Greg Carmichael	None	Patrick Bettison, Abe White	Terry Disley	Dan Tomlinson	Mario Argandoña	Randy Brecker (Trumpet, Flugelhorn), Little Terry Dee (Harmonica)
1991	Back On The Case	Nick Webb	Greg Carmichael	None	Klaus Sperber	Terry Disley	Bert Smaak	Mario Argandoña	Ludwig Gotz (Trombone)
1992	Early Alchemy	Nick Webb	Simon James	None	Jeff Clyne, Ron Mathewson	None	None	Mario Argandoña	The Violettes (String quartet)
1993	The New Edge	Nick Webb	Greg Carmichael	None	Dave Pomeroy, Patrick Bettison	Rainer Bruninghaus, Terry Disley	Dan Tomlinson	Mario Argandoña	Derrick James (Saxophone)
1994	Against The Grain	Nick Webb	Greg Carmichael	John Parsons	Paul Harriman	Mike Herting, Terry Disley	Bert Smaak	Mario Argandoña	None
1996	Arcanum	Nick Webb	Greg Carmichael	John Parsons	Dennis Murphy	None	John Sheppard	Mario Argandoña	None
1998	Positive Thinking...	John Parsons	Greg Carmichael	Miles Gilderdale	Dennis Murphy	Rainer Bruninghaus	John Sheppard	Mario Argandoña	None
2000	The Beautiful Game	Miles Gilderdale	Greg Carmichael	Miles Gilderdale, John Parsons	Frank Felix	Anthony "Fred" White	Geoff Dunn	Scooter de Long	Terry Disley (Piano)
2001	AArt	Miles Gilderdale	Greg Carmichael	Miles Gilderdale	Frank Felix	Anthony "Fred" White	Pete Lewinson	Richard Bull	Terry Disley (Piano), Fayyaz Virji (Trombone), Snake Davis and Jeff Kashiwa (Saxophone)
2002	The Very Best of Acoustic Alchemy	Various
2003	Sounds of St. Lucia: Live	Miles Gilderdale	Greg Carmichael	None	Frank Felix	Anthony "Fred" White	Richard Brook	None	None
2003	Radio Contact	Miles Gilderdale	Greg Carmichael	Miles Gilderdale	Frank Felix	Anthony "Fred" White, Jamie Norton	Greg Grainger	Mario Argandoña	Neil Cowley (Piano), Jo Harrop (Vocal), Eddie M (Saxophone)
2005	American/English	Miles Gilderdale	Greg Carmichael	Miles Gilderdale	Frank Felix	Anthony "Fred" White, Jamie Norton	Greg Grainger, Bert Smaak	None	Eddie M (Saxophone)
2007	This Way	Miles Gilderdale	Greg Carmichael	Miles Gilderdale	Julian Crampton	Anthony "Fred" White	Greg Grainger, Bert Smaak	None	Neil Cowley (Piano), Terry Disley (Piano), Rick Braun (Flugelhorn), Jeff Kashiwa (Saxophone)