Sam Bardfeld
“Sam Bardfeld is a marvelously gifted violinist, composer and arranger.”
—K. Leander Williams, Time Out New York
“Bardfeld has a loose arm and a mercurial mind . . .” **** 4 Stars
—Paul de Barros, DownBeat Magazine
“Violinist Sam Bardfeld makes his case for ‘weird, joyous, art’ on this wildly eclectic outing…Bardfeld combines a touch of Stuff Smith’s playfulness with a Charles Ives aesthetic on his first album as a leader in 12 years.” [4 Stars]
- Bill Milkowski, Downbeat Magazine
“Brilliantly odd and altogether lovely” - Nate Chinen, WBGO, Take Five
“This is the great violin album that Monk never made…One of the top ten jazz albums of the year so far.” - LucidCulture
Violinist/composer Sam Bardfeld proudly announces the release of his new trio album, Refuge, the follow up to the critically-acclaimed The Great Enthusiasms, his second for Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records, and his fourth as a bandleader. On Refuge, to be released on March 24, 2023, Bardfeld once again called upon the eclectic, multifaceted propulsion of drummer Michael Sarin, and welcomes into the fold, the virtuosic and creative pianist Jacob Sacks.
A refuge is a haven, not an escape. It’s a space to exercise one’s idiosyncrasies. This album serves that purpose for Bardfeld, Sarin and Sacks. It also serves as further expression of Bardfeld’s penchant for the tradition of “weird” iconoclasm in American music. It is no accident that critics place Bardfeld in this tradition of Monk, Ives, and Stuff Smith. As Bardfeld states, “It is one of humanity’s great cultural feats. The joy, the darkness, and the eccentricity of American culture are our birthrights, our refuge.”
The music on Refuge follows a similar line to its predecessor, The Great Enthsusiams. It is at once lyrical, quirky, forward-looking, and deeply rooted in tradition. Bardfeld’s playing swings hard and integrates abstraction and expressiveness. One can hear references to a wide range of musicians stretching from Stuff Smith, Lee Konitz, and Eric Dolphy to 'post-jazz' contemporaries like Mary Halvorson. Sacks is an excellent harmonic partner and his piano virtuosity and off-kilter sense of humor fit perfectly into Bardfeld’s world. Sarin brings his tremendous gifts for orchestration, musical wit, sympathetic dialogue, and overall intelligence. The unusual instrumentation, with no bass, creates extra harmonic and textural space and adds intimacy to Bardfeld's unique compositions.
In addition to five new Bardfeld compositions, the trio covers two songs that fit the theme - Andrew Hill’s ‘Refuge’ and Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Atlantic City.’ Bardfeld explains, “Andrew Hill has been called ‘one of the great overlooked geniuses of jazz’ because of his commitment to a singular, unconventional voice - a personal language that, like that of his hero Monk, is angular, lyrical, and harmonically unique. ‘Refuge’ is the opening track of his magnum opus, Point of Departure (1964). The song ‘Atlantic City’ is a personal favorite among Springsteen’s recordings (from his 1982 Nebraska album). It is a vision of hope and refuge in a noir world. As the chorus states, ‘everything dies, baby, that’s a fact, but maybe everything that dies someday comes back.’ Bardfeld had the pleasure of recording and performing this song on tour with Springsteen and it stuck with him.
Both Bardfeld’s playing and writing for this trio are unique and Sacks and Sarin inhabit his musical universe beautifully. Sam is a teller of musical stories that are odd, poignant, lyrical, and in the American tradition. He says, “As there is community in the expression of shared joy, there is community in weird, personal, iconoclastic stories and voices. With America’s recent flirtation with autocracy, these stories are more salient now than ever.”
Sam Bardfeld and Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records proudly announce the release of his new recording, The Great Enthusiasms (BJUR 064), featuring pianist Kris Davis and drummer Michael Sarin. Available September 29, 2017.
The trio’s music falls somewhere in the overlapping vectors of inside (‘harmony-based’), outside (‘free’) and downtown jazz. Bardfeld has created his own jazz violin language that lies in between the straight-ahead violinists and the free-jazzers. The Penguin Guide To Jazz (5th ed.) states, “Bardfeld has devised a language which takes in classical models, jazz harmony and pure sound”. His playing swings hard and integrates abstraction and expressiveness. One can hear references to a wide range of musicians that stretch from Stuff Smith, Lee Konitz, and Eric Dolphy, to 'post-jazz' contemporaries like Mary Halvorson. Kris Davis is a perfect foil and it's a little bit of a revelation to hear her brilliance and creativity in all the varied contexts Bardfeld creates. Michael Sarin (Dave Douglas, Thomas Chapin, etc) brings his tremendous gifts for orchestration, musical wit, sympathetic dialogue and overall intelligence. The unusual instrumentation, with no bass, creates extra harmonic and textural space and adds intimacy to Bardfeld's unique compositions.
Much of Bardfeld’s favorite American music is eccentric and forward while grounded in the vernacular. “Maybe it’s not a total accident that my three most important employer-mentors are all great musician-poets of weird America and all with significant local roots: Bruce Springsteen, Roy Nathanson (Jazz Passengers), and Anthony Braxton. Bruce is (among other things) a poet of the noir side of the city – the ne’er-do-wells and hookers and guys looking for a piece of the action. Roy’s stories, musical and literate, are infused both by Dolphy and a New York urbanity that is universal in its eccentricity and vulnerability. The time I spent performing and recording (soloing on an ‘avant hoedown’) in Braxton’s ‘Trillium J’ Opera was also a profound education in the lengths to which a complex, idiosyncratic personal language can be developed and yet represent a uniquely American story,” explains Bardfeld in the album’s liner notes.
More on the music on The Great Enthusiasms: The song titles of Bardfeld’s compositions are all derived from Richard Nixon quotes -- principally from his resignation speech, in which Nixon quotes Teddy Roosevelt. “Fails While Daring Greatly” is a bluesy chamber-jazz piece from outer space. Bardfeld's solo is a whimsical post-bop jaunt and Davis' a muscular free jazz statement. Sarin adds his characteristic humor, sympathy and coloristic genius to the whole endeavor. “Resignation Rag” combines a modified second-line groove with a futuristic violin melody that, with its swoops, pops and wide intervals, evokes Stuff Smith and Dolphy. Bardfeld's and Davis' interplay sounds telekinetic. Davis' solo statement and duet with Sarin evoke a freewheeling Monk. "Winner Image" starts out with a slow building and virtuosic violin solo by Bardfeld weaving in and out of harmony. Davis creeps in with an off-kilter ostinato leading to a head with Tim Berne-like tension. The rendition of the classic Springsteen/Patti Smith tune, "Because the Night,” skews the intervals of the original piano vamp, making it a weirder sort of night. The cohesion of the verse turns into a free chant-like chorus summoning nocturnal passions. "The Great Enthusiasms" is an Andrew Hill-like post-bop swing tune with a touch of folksiness. Davis' solo brings out the bi-tonality of the writing while Bardfeld moves from harmony into a short free duet with the pianist. The Band’s “King Harvest (Has Surely Come),” is a playful re-imagining, with Davis covering the proto-synth bass part in her lowest range and splotchy chords in her highest. Bardfeld solos mightily over the verse changes and Davis ends the song with an eloquent solo statement that re-connects with the song's subject matter, the hardships of a depression-era sharecropper. "The 37th Time I Have Spoken" starts with Bardfeld strumming ethereal chords on the violin as Davis and Sarin engage in quiet dialogue. A mix of meditation and mayhem ensues and the piece closes as it started with ethereal dialogue and strumming.
The Great Enthusiasms is Bardfeld’s ‘weird America’ record. A reflection on American music in all of its glorious eccentricities, and simultaneously an affirmation that artists must rise up and create and perform, especially in the face of abject political dissoluteness in the Trump era. Bardfeld elaborated, “Nixon’s resignation speech was my first memory of being part of a collective political body…Though Dick was a paranoid, hateful crook, there’s intelligence and complexity in him that one cannot imagine existing inside our current president. During this current dark stain in our country’s history, let’s continue to make weird, joyous art.”
Sam Bardfeld is a violinist, composer and arranger. He is a member of The Jazz Passengers and a frequent collaborator of Bruce Springsteen's - a veteran of three recordings and two tours. He has worked with a long list of jazz, pop, folk and experimental acts including Elvis Costello, John Zorn, Calexico, Anthony Braxton, Debbie Harry, Steven Bernstein, John Cale, Kris Davis, The String Trio of NY, The Red Clay Ramblers, Nancy Sinatra, Willie Colon, Johnny Pacheco and The Soldier String Quartet among others.
Bardfeld’s recordings, The Great Enthusiasms (BJUR, 2017), Taxidermy (CIMP, 1999) and Periodic Trespasses (FreshSounds, 2006) have earned acclaim, including a “4-Star" rating in Downbeat magazine, raves in Jazz Times, Jazziz magazine and “4-Stars" in All Music Guide (first two). 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 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, Steven Bernstein's MTO, Anthony Braxton's Trillium Orchestra 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.
Sam studied violin technique with Gerald Beal and Joey Corpus and improvisation with Bill Barron, George Garzone and Richie Beirach. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1990 where he studied music, anthropology and history. In 1991 he received a year-long Ford Foundation grant to study ethnomusicology at Wesleyan.