On Friday, February 28, Stringology performs at Taps at the
Guardhouse in Fort Worden from 6-8pm as part of the weekly
Friday music series. Stringology performs songs from the hot jazz
repertoire of the 1920’s, from “The Great American Songbook” of
the 1930’s and ‘40’s, and melodies from guitar legend Django
Reinhardt. Eric Bogart’s guitar work draws heavily on the jazz
manouche vocabulary, painting artistic flourishes above “rock-
solid rhythm back-up” of Terianne Stratton on ukulele and Tracy
Grisman on bass. The name Stringology reflects their enthusiasm
for the ’study of strings’.

Eric Bogart developed a remarkable approach to swing guitar in the Djangoesque jazz manouche style after already accumulating a lifetime of musical experience. Hailing from the Bronx as a young musician, Eric Bogart earned the distinction of being the final drummer to perform on stage with big band giant Benny Goodman. Years later, when Bogart was living in Miami, Florida, he continued to perform regularly with jazz greats and began leading his own groups as a guitarist. Over the years, Bogart has performed with a long list of jazz luminaries including Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola, and Howard Alden. He has toured with the John Jorgenson Quintet and has performed with the Boston Pops.

Terianne Stratton was always more interested in music considered
outside of the mainstream pop and rock that surrounded her
growing up. In 1974, her first Django Reinhardt record received
more spins than anything else she owned. A visual artist and a
dancer, she says that meeting Eric Bogart opened the door to an
“in-depth education”, she says. One day, a friend put a ukulele in
her hands and suggested she would take to it quickly. Shortly
thereafter, the pair founded Stringology and began performing
with Terianne on ukulele and Eric on guitar.

Tracy Grisman has childhood memories of visiting Port Townsend;
her great-great-grandfather arrived in the late 1800s. Originally a
cellist, Tracy picked up guitar at age fifteen, but it wasn’t until moving to the peninsula with her school-aged children that she seriously began studying guitar. Tracy picked up her first Django CD at the suggestion of Quimper Sound, Port Townsend’s local
record store. “I fell in love with that music,” she says. After many
lessons with the ‘Late Great Pete Toyne’, she recorded rhythm
guitar behind Toyne on the 2003 release Early Swing Now. A few
years later, she married mandolin maestro David Grisman. The
encouraging environment introduced Tracy to the upright bass,
and after playing bass around the house or at jam parties, she
joined two Bay Area bands and has performed as a substitute
bassist for the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience. In addition to
her musicianship, Tracy Grisman is an interdisciplinary artist in
drawing and painting and she is a recent graduate of Goddard’s
MFA IA program located on the Fort Worden Campus