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LL: What kind of music/artists were you exposed to growing up?

MPG: While my mother played some piano and enjoyed playing duets and trios with her children on
the living room piano, she wasn’t the one who filled my ears with music. My father couldn’t play note
one on an instrument, but he could sure play the hell out of the stereo and had very cool and eclectic
taste! He made damn sure that there was always music in the air and his kids all played at least one
instrument. On my parent’s first date he took
Mom to see Billie Holliday with Count Basie’s

small band, and just before I was born, he took
her to see The Miles Davis Sextet. I’ve been told
that I started kicking early in the first set (must
have heard Paul Chambers pumping that bass
and needed to see it for myself).

Growing up we heard Leadbelly, Big Bill
Broonzy, Louis Armstrong, Odetta, and Sonny
Terry with Brownie McGhee, along with Irish,
European and American Folk, Jazz and Gospel
(Dad allegedly got down on his knee and
proposed to Mahalia Jackson. Mom’s response
was “Get up, you silly man”!). By the time I

attended my first electric Blues show (James
Cotton at State University of New York Stony
Brook in the very early ‘70’s) I was already
unable to relate to most of the modern music my generation were listening to. When Matt “Guitar”
Murphy grabbed what I like to call the magic note, bending the strings with that huge smile on his
face, my life was forever changed. That driving Chicago shuffle just swept me up in its huge wave
and left me craving more. Having already played upright bass and tuba in school, I was destined to

be a low-down bass-playing bottom feeder.

LL: When and how did you first start playing the bass?

MPG: When I was 9 years old I started playing upright bass in school. The teacher was able to teach
me the basics of playing with a bow and how to figure out reading bass clef music, but after that I
was pretty much on my own. Once exposed to electric Blues I saved up my lawn mowing and snow-
shovelling money to buy a hollow-body electric Harmony bass for $25 and started digging deep into
those wonderful 3 chord progressions. Formally trained bass players often just shake their heads at
how I play (I really can’t explain it either!), but all I really care about is my feel and making the rest
of the band sound better. Since I tend to adhere to the K.I.S.S. Method (Keep It Simple Stupid) I’ve

got a reputation for being the drummer’s best friend!

LL: Would you tell us about some of the blues artists and bands you’ve played with over the
years?

MPG: My first band of note was the Back Pocket Blues Band. We played the local (L.A.) Blues venues,
opening for such legends as Willie Dixon, Otis Rush, Lonnie Brooks, and Buddy Guy/Junior Wells.
Local cats like Coco Montoya, Juke Logan, Debbie Davies, and Spencer Davis would often sit in. Next
came John Marx and The Blues Patrol (where I learned so much about different styles of blues and

was inspired to return to the upright bass).