Chalmers Edward "Spanky" Alford was an American gospel, jazz, and neo-soul guitarist.
17 Facts About Chalmers Alford
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Chalmers Alford was well known for his playing style, utilizing chord embellishments.
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Chalmers Alford had an illustrious career as a gospel quartet guitar player in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with groups such as the Mighty Clouds of Joy.
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Chalmers Alford played guitar as part of The Soultronics, alongside Questlove, James Poyser, Pino Palladino, and Anthony Hamilton.
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Chalmers Alford was a teacher, and was credited with teaching Raphael Saadiq, Isaiah Sharkey, and others to play guitar.
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Chalmers Alford provided guitars on the 2003 Roy Hargrove album Hard Groove.
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Around this time was Chalmers Alford was put into contact with J Dilla, who sought to use Chalmers Alford's ability to reproduce guitar parts note-for-note to bypass sampling laws.
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The final era of Chalmers Alford's career was spent in Huntsville, Alabama, where he performed locally and taught a generation of area musicians from the locally known guitar store, T-Shepard's Guitars.
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Chalmers Alford began playing bass professionally at local churches around this period of time as well.
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Chalmers Alford died in March 2008, at the age of 52, in Huntsville, Alabama due to complications from diabetes.
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Chalmers Alford's funeral was held at Saint Luke Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville.
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Chalmers Alford's playing style was an eclectic mix of gospel and jazz influences.
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Chalmers Alford's playing utilized a mix of jazz inspired chord embellishments, chord extensions, gospel style passing chords.
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Compositionally, Chalmers Alford was inspired by artists such as Stevie Wonder.
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Chalmers Alford cited the piano as a source of inspiration for his intricate moving inner-voice chord melodies.
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Chalmers Alford's playing on the Tupac Shakur track "Words 2 My Firstborn" demonstrates his ability to write instrumental hooks that meld both hip-hop and gospel guitar styles.
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Chalmers Alford's playing on this track demonstrates his influence from jazz guitarist George Benson, and his solo is a great example of his ability to create chord melody hooks that help drive the track forward.