Peter Van Gelder (born March 19, 1940) is a sitarist and musician who played saxophone and bass in The Great Society. Van Gelder moved to San Francisco after college and learned bass to play in The Great Society; he played saxophone on

White Rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! ...

. He became interested in Indian music after working at a San Francisco radio station and took a summer class at

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

with

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he ...

where he learned to play sitar. Deciding to continue his studies with Khan in Kolkata, he lived in India for three years and became a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan. While in India, he met other musicians with whom he formed the band The Saddhu Brand when he returned to California. He is an instructor at the

Ali Akbar College of Music The Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) is the name of three schools founded by Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan to teach Indian classical music. The first was founded in 1956 in Calcutta, India. The second was founded in 1967 in Berkeley, Californi ...

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...

Early life

Van Gelder grew up in a household where his parents listened to Western classical music. He played clarinet and trumpet as a child.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:van Gelder, Peter Living people World music musicians Sitar players 1940 births