
B I O G R A P H Y
Printable Text Biography
The David Bromberg
Band live show remains as unique as ever.
Concerts by David and his band are extraordinary events, and
performances follow no set pattern of selection.
Give and take between performer is complete, spontaneous, and
totally sincere. As the
NY Times noted “He has such control of his audience that he can, at
one moment, hold it in his hand with a tender, touching yet funny
anecdotal song, and then set it romping and stomping with a raucous
bit of raunch. He is
electrifying.”
Born in
Philadelphia on September 19, 1945, Bromberg grew up in Tarrytown, New
York. Inspired by the
music of Pete Seeger and the Weavers, among others, he began studying
the guitar at age 13. After
graduating from Tarrytown High School, he enrolled at Columbia
University intent on a career as a musicologist.
Drawn to Greenwich
Village’s flourishing coffeehouse folk music scene in the
mid-1960’s, Bromberg opted for performance combined with his
studies; he left school in the middle of his second year, however, to
devote full time to his music. Shortly
thereafter, his extraordinary guitar picking and exceptional stylistic
range brought him to the attention of many other musicians. Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, John Hurt, the Reverend Gary Davis,
Tom Paxton, and Chubby Checker are only a few of the notables who
sought Bromberg out as a back-up artist for recording.
In all he has played as a sideman on over 100 albums.
A singular
performer/writer/arranger, Bromberg’s remarkable musical versatility
and innovative resourcefulness have earned vast critical and popular
acclaim. He is also impossible to classify, as one critic perceptively
wrote, “David Bromberg fits no pigeonholes.
He is part of everything contemporarily musical.
He is a product of blues, country, jazz, folk, and classical
music. From his early
success as a guitar virtuoso, Mr. Bromberg has developed into a
brilliant entertainer.”
In 1970 Bromberg
decided to go it on his own, and following a spectacular, unscheduled
performance at England’s Isle of Wight Festival that year, he was
signed to his first recording contract, which resulted in the release
of four albums: David Bromberg, Demon in Disguise, Wanted Dead or
Alive, and Midnight on the Water with Columbia, now
Sony. Two compilation
albums have subsequently been released.
In the spring of 1977, Bromberg moved to the San Francisco Bay
where he recorded several albums for Fantasy, including the double
album How Late’ll Ya Play ‘Til?.
In the fall of 1980
Bromberg dissolved his band and moved to Chicago where four years
later he was graduated from the Kenneth Warren School of Violin
Making. The late eighties
and early nineties saw Bromberg tour only occasionally and mostly as a
solo artist. Bromberg now
considers these occasional reunions as a way to see old friends and
play great music again. The
days on the road for extended periods simply do not fit his primary
interests as a father and businessman.
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