The Long and Winding Road

George Schoendorfer first picked up a guitar at 2 years of age, well...not really he picked up a broom and started air guitar festivals in front of a mirror. Every toy guitar he was given was quickly dispatched ala Pete Townsend (early signs??)

At the tender age of 9 he finally threatened his parents with mayhem unless they provided lessons, so they capitulated and signed him up for classical guitar and jazz as a means of payback. This turned out quite well anyway as in four years he was doing recitals and channeling Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Santana and anyone really fast. His older cousins saw to it that he went to see every major artist that came to Miami at the time. It included the major soul artists as well in order to widen his throat and broaden his palate.

Soon he was sitting in with every itinerant garage band and open jam in the area meeting the likes of Mike Pinera, Ted Nugent, etc. This caused a commotion at home because he started to draw the attention of numerous bar bands but was too young to play in bars; God forbid. Like anything else, this didn't stop him and he was soon sneaking out to play with guys 2-3 years older in bars(only guys played in bands back then).

After reaching drinking age, he was free doing the Big Daddy's circuit, dance halls, parties, studios and everywhere they would listen to the monstrous licks coming from his Kustom stack.

About that time he joined the fire department and met the first love of his life. With a growing family, the ability to play out much soon withered and he stashed the guitar(his beloved '66 Strat) in the closet for ten years. He was working with a talented fellow firefighter/guitarist one day when he was asked to bring his guitar in to work. That led to a collaboration with Gary Gonzalez and Relative Viewpoint(a famous local folk trio)for over a year where he met Paul Messina, a similarly talented flutist and saxophonist. This fortuitous meeting led to an excursion into jazz for the next 2 decades as Flashpoint Jazz band.

The various lineups of that group allowed him to work with many talented local musicians that inspired him to return to his roots as a blues-latin-rock aficionado in an incarnation called George Schoendorfer and Friends. He works in that framework(and any) to this day.

Clean Clean

Clean Clean

Artist Name
00:00 / 00:00