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Sam Bardfeld
Sam Bardfeld is a violinist, composer, arranger and author. He is a member of The Jazz Passengers and a frequent collaborator of Bruce Springsteen's. He has worked as sideman with a long list of jazz, pop, folk and experimental acts including Elvis Costello, John Zorn, Calexico, Anthony Braxton, Henry Butler, Debbie Harry, Steven Bernstein, John Cale, Kris Davis, Savion Glover, The Red Clay Ramblers, Nancy Sinatra, Willie Colon, The String Trio of NY, Hank Roberts, Johnny Pacheco, Dar Williams, and Chuck Prophet among others.
Bardfeld’s latest recording with pianist Kris Davis and drummer Michael Sarin, The Great Enthusiasms (BJUR, 2017), earned acclaim from top critics including Nate Chinen who called it "brilliantly odd and altogether lovely" (WBGO, 2017); Bill Milkowski, who said "[Sam's playing] combines a touch of Stuff Smith's playfulness with a Charles Ives aesthetic - Four Stars!" (Downbeat, 2017); and LucidCulture "this is the great violin recording Monk never made, one of the 10 best jazz records of the year." His earlier recordings, Taxidermy (CIMP, 1999) and Periodic Trespasses (FreshSounds, 2006) also earned acclaim, including a “4-Star” rating in Downbeat magazine, raves in Jazz Times, Jazziz magazine and “4-Stars” in All Music Guide (both recordings). He has performed with his own group at jazz festivals and clubs throughout Europe including Banlieues Bleues (Paris), Sud-Tirol (Italy) and Porgy and Bess (Vienna). In 2019, Bardfeld was voted #5 in the El Intruso International Jazz Critics Poll in the Violin/Viola category.
In addition to being a member of the Jazz Passengers, Sam's jazz playing is featured as a member of Roy Nathanson's Sotto Voce and Joel Harrison's String Choir and he has toured and/or recorded with Michael Attias' Sextet, Royal Hartigan's Blood Drum Spirit, Butler/Bernstein and the Hot 9, Steven Bernstein's MTO, Anthony Braxton's Trillium Orchestra, Ingrid Laubrock’s Orchestra, Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks and many other groups.
Sam’s arranging credits include work for Calexico, Nancy Sinatra, film music for Hedwig and the Angry Inch composer Stephen Trask, and work on the Broadway-bound production of Lone Star Love with The Red Clay Ramblers. He has also served as string contractor for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (2009 MSG and 2016 US tour), Gilberto Santa Rosa (Carnegie Hall) and Chuck Prophet (2014 US tour).
In the 1990’s, Sam’s immersion in NYC’s fertile Salsa and Latin Jazz scene led to writing a book, Latin Violin (Hal Leonard, 2002), considered to be the authoritative work on the Afro-Cuban violin tradition. He is also an instructor of jazz violin at the New School jazz program in NYC.
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The Hemphill Stringtet: The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill
by Troy Dostert
One of the most multifaceted saxophonists to come out of the 1970s-80s jazz avant-garde, Julius Hemphill exuded both fervid power and delicate sensitivity, always with an underpinning of swing to help anchor him within the jazz tradition. While his iconic releases like Dogon A.D. (Mbari, 1972) and Flat-Out Jump Suite (Black Saint, 1980) are rightly considered classics, exemplifying Hemphill's rich harmonic sensibility and improvisational prowess, sometimes forgotten are the wonderful duet releases he recorded with one of his go-to colleagues, ...
Continue ReadingThe Hemphill Stringtet: The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill
by Mark Corroto
Let us borrow a famous tagline from the dairy industry: Got Hemphill? If not, it is time to take a closer listen. Julius Hemphill (1938-1995) was a towering figure in the creative music scenes of both St. Louis, where he co-founded the Black Artists' Group (BAG), and New York's vibrant loft jazz scene of the 1970s and '80s. At a time when Miles Davis was going electric and fusion bands were battling for airtime against the neo- conservative ...
Continue ReadingThe Hemphill String Stringtet: The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill
by Glenn Astarita
The Hemphill Stringtet's debut album, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill is a vibrant tribute to the late jazz composer and saxophonist Julius Hemphill (1938--1995). This string quartet, featuring violinists Curtis Stewart and Sam Bardfeld, violist Stephanie Griffin and cellist Tomeka Reid, reimagines Hemphill's compositions with a fresh chamber music perspective. Formed in 2022, the ensemble aims to amplify Hemphill's legacy as a pivotal Black American composer while infusing his blues-inflected jazz with improvisational flair rooted in African American traditions. ...
Continue ReadingSam Bardfeld: The Great Enthusiasm
by Stefano Merighi
Sam Bardfeld scrive acute note di copertina ricordando in breve la formazione culturale di un giovane nella New York degli anni settanta, dopo le dimissioni di Nixon. Una città depravata, decadente, eppure sfolgorante nella sua iperbolica creatività. La musica caraibica accanto alle prime follie di Zorn; la ruvidezza del CBGB a pochi passi dai recital di Ravi Shankar. Una cornice stimolante a dir poco, per un musicista che in effetti ha fatto tesoro di tale varietà stilistica, arrivando da adulto ...
Continue ReadingSam Bardfeld: Periodic Trespasses
by Robert R. Calder
Vibes, bass and drums make an interestingly different rhythm section, one that Bobby Hutcherson long ago used to help jazz musicians reach new places without exiling them from their origins. One musician the master vibraphonist helped was Eric Dolphy, who is mentioned in this set's notes. Quite right, there is some Dolphy in Sam Bardfeld, who plays violin very well, on the lyrical side.
On “There Could Have Been More of It," a nice track, Sean Conly's bass pins things ...
Continue ReadingSam Bardfeld: Periodic Trespasses (The Saul Cycle)
by John Kelman
Ask most artists and they'll tell you their albums tell a story. The idea of musical narrative is nothing new--listen to any ECM disc, where emotional arcs often transcend any collection of discrete pieces. Rare, however, are the recordings where there's an all-encompassing theme. Rarer still are those that tell a specific and self-contained story. Percussionist Brad Dutz's Nine Gardeners Named Ned (pfMentum, 2005) was one such record; New York violinist Sam Bardfeld tells the story of the imperfect but ...
Continue ReadingSam Bardfeld: Periodic Trespasses (The Saul Cycle)
by Andrey Henkin
With his second release as a leader (and first for Fresh Sound), violinist Sam Bardfeld presents an album full of modern Jewish intellectual reflection, as practiced by such diverse artists as Saul Bellow and Woody Allen, but couched in terms owing more of a debt to Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage. But given those two foundations, this album is neither radical Jewish culture a la Tzadik nor progressive rock. It is instead another fine entry into the seemingly ...
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