Philip Gelb is actively involved in 2 careers; as a shakuhachi player and teacher and also a vegetarian chef. Both of these interests began at an early age while growing up in Brooklyn, NY. He began studying music at the age of 9, starting with the guitar and switching to shakuhachi, after encountering this incredible instrument at the age of 24 during his last year of College at the University of Florida. He began cooking very young and became a vegetarian at the age of 18 during his first year of College.

As a shakuhachi player, he has become one of the most active performers and teachers in North America. As a teacher he e runs the Bay Area shakuhachi School, teaching traditional and modern music to over 30 students, with branches in Oakland, Santa Rosa, making this one of the largest shakuhachi teaching organizations outside of Japan! Although he performs and mostly teaches traditional music (both Japanese and Jewish), he focuses as a performer on new and contemporary music, working with numerous composers to develop new repertoire as well as composing some of his own works.

His current projects include:

• Solo concerts of new and traditional music
• The Natto Quartet with Shoko Hikage (koto), Tim Perkis (computer) and Chris Brown (piano, computer) (their recent CD has made 3 top ten CD release lists for 2003)
• A trio with Alex Cline (percussion) and Dana Reason (piano)
• Collaborations with dancer/choreographer, Eri Majima

In addition he has an active freelance career as an improvisor and is a frequent guest with various ensembles that have included including The Seattle Creative Orchestra, Triaxium Ensemble, Sfsound ensemble and numerous other groups. He has premiered over two dozen pieces for shakuhachi solo and in a variety of contexts with other instruments. Some of the composers he has collaborated with and premiered pieces by are: Pauline Oliveros, Chris Brown, Dana Reason, Jon Raskin, Phillip Greenlief, Matthew Sperry, Tom Baker, Christian Asplud, Hugh Livingston, William Ludtke, Yoshiaki Onishi, and Christopher Shainan. As a composer himself, he has written music for solo shakuhachi, for all his own ensembles and for shakuhachi and string ensembles. He frequently colaborates with choreographers such as Eri Majima, Koichi Tamano, and June Watanabe. As a teacher, he gives lectures, demonstrations and performances at many Colleges in North America such as Stanford, Mills, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Riverside, U. of the Pacific, U. Florida, Florida State University, Stetson College, Mcgill University, Rollins College, and Cornish College of the arts. He is a regular faculty member of the incredible Lark Music Camp, each summer in the Mendocnio Woodlands. (http://lark camp.com).

He has performed all over the United States and In Japan, Europe and Canada at major festivals and venues as well as alternative art spaces, galleries and other venues.

He has released numerous CDs on labels such as 482 music, Deep Listening, EMI-japan, Leo, Sparkling Beatnik, Abray, Limited Sedition, Artship and Ryokan.

Philip Gelb began studying shakuhachi in 1990 while a graduate student in Ethnomusicology at Florida State University with Dale Olsen. He then continued his studies in New York with Ronnie Seldin and now studies with Yoshio Kurahashi.

As a vegetarian chef, Philip Gelb runs his own personal chef and small event catering business. He focuses mostly on vegan cuisine from Japan, China, Italy and the Mediterranean using locally, seasonally based organic ingredients, taking full advantage of the excellent agricultural and cultural resources of Northern California.

Philip Gelb holds a BA in anthropology from the University of Florida and a certificate of excellence in World Music from Florida State University.

For more information: Email: phil@philipgelb.com Phone: (510) 393-6096

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