David Bromberg
Encyclopedia
David Bromberg is an American
multi-instrumentalist
, singer, and songwriter. Bromberg has an eclectic style, playing bluegrass
, blues
, folk
, jazz
, country and western
, and rock and roll
equally well. He is known for his quirky, humorous lyrics
, and the ability to play rhythm
and lead guitar
at the same time. In 2008, he was nominated for a Grammy Award
.
, New York
, Bromberg attended Columbia University
in the 1960s and studied guitar with Reverend Gary Davis
during that period. He has played with many famous musicians, including Jerry Jeff Walker
, Willie Nelson
, Jorma Kaukonen
, Jerry Garcia
, Rusty Evans (The Deep
) and Bob Dylan
, and co-wrote the song "The Holdup", with former Beatle
George Harrison
, who played on Bromberg's self-titled 1971 album.
Bromberg began releasing albums of his own in the early 1970s on Columbia Records
. His seven-minute rendition of "Mr. Bojangles
" from 1972's Demon in Disguise, interspersed with tales about traveling with song author Jerry Jeff Walker
, earned Bromberg progressive rock radio
airplay. The riff from the song "Sharon," on the same album, was sampled by the Beastie Boys
for the song "Johnny Ryall
" on their seminal album Paul's Boutique
. In 1973, he played mandolin, dobro, and electric guitar on Jonathan Edwards' album Have a Good Time for Me
.
Bromberg currently lives in Wilmington
, Delaware
, where he and his wife, artist Nancy Josephson, own an extensive violin
sales and repair shop, with a partial subsidy from the City of Wilmington, Delaware. He occasionally performs at Wilmington's Grand Opera House
, where he and his wife are major donors, as well as at the new World Cafe Live at the refurbished Queen Theatre. Bromberg is proficient on fiddle
, many styles of acoustic
and electric guitar
, pedal steel guitar
and dobro
.
Bromberg released his first new studio
album
since 1990 with Try Me One More Time on 27 February 2007, on Appleseed Recordings. The disc
includes Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
" and Elizabeth Cotten
's "Shake Sugaree." The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Traditional Folk Album at the 50th annual Grammy Awards in 2008.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, singer, and songwriter. Bromberg has an eclectic style, playing bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, folk
American folk music
American folk music is a musical term that encompasses numerous genres, many of which are known as traditional music or roots music. Roots music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, country music, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, country and western
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
equally well. He is known for his quirky, humorous lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
, and the ability to play rhythm
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
and lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
at the same time. In 2008, he was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
.
Musical career
Raised in TarrytownTarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Bromberg attended Columbia University
Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II...
in the 1960s and studied guitar with Reverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was an American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo and harmonica...
during that period. He has played with many famous musicians, including Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is probably most famous for writing the song "Mr. Bojangles.-Biography:...
, Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
, Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen Jr. is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist, best known for his work with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna.-Biography:...
, Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, Rusty Evans (The Deep
The Deep (band)
The Deep was a short-lived American rock and roll band formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the mid-1960s. Their style of rock and roll can be characterized as protopunk at times, while at others, their music delves into more psychedelic sounds...
) and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, and co-wrote the song "The Holdup", with former Beatle
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
, who played on Bromberg's self-titled 1971 album.
Bromberg began releasing albums of his own in the early 1970s on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. His seven-minute rendition of "Mr. Bojangles
Mr. Bojangles
Mr. Bojangles may refer to:* Bill Robinson, African-American tap dance performer, also known as Mr. Bojangles* Mr. Bojangles , a song written by Jerry Jeff Walker, covered by several artists**Mr...
" from 1972's Demon in Disguise, interspersed with tales about traveling with song author Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker
Jerry Jeff Walker is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is probably most famous for writing the song "Mr. Bojangles.-Biography:...
, earned Bromberg progressive rock radio
Progressive rock (radio format)
Progressive rock is a radio station programming format that prospered in the late 1960s and 1970s, in which the disc jockeys are given wide latitude in what they may play, similar to the freeform format but with the proviso that some kind of rock music is almost always what is played...
airplay. The riff from the song "Sharon," on the same album, was sampled by the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
for the song "Johnny Ryall
Johnny Ryall
Johnny Ryall is the third track on Paul's Boutique by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989.* Produced & written by the Beastie Boys & the Dust Brothers.* Engineered by Mario Caldato & Allen Abrahamson....
" on their seminal album Paul's Boutique
Paul's Boutique
Paul's Boutique is the second studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989, on Capitol Records. Featuring production by the Dust Brothers, the recording sessions for the album took place in Matt Dike's Apartment and the Record Plant in Los Angeles from 1988 to...
. In 1973, he played mandolin, dobro, and electric guitar on Jonathan Edwards' album Have a Good Time for Me
Have a Good Time for Me
Have a Good Time for Me is the third studio album released by singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards in 1973. Different from his previous two albums, Have a Good Time for Me contained no original new material from Edwards, rather covers from musical artists Jimmie Rodgers, Joe Dolce, Malcolm McKinney...
.
Bromberg currently lives in Wilmington
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
, where he and his wife, artist Nancy Josephson, own an extensive violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
sales and repair shop, with a partial subsidy from the City of Wilmington, Delaware. He occasionally performs at Wilmington's Grand Opera House
Grand Opera House (Wilmington, Delaware)
The Grand Opera House, also known as The Grand or Masonic Hall and Grand Theater, is a 1,208-seat theater for the performing arts in Wilmington, Delaware. The four-story building was built in 1871 by the Delaware Grand Lodge of Masons to serve as a Masonic Temple and auditorium. The construction...
, where he and his wife are major donors, as well as at the new World Cafe Live at the refurbished Queen Theatre. Bromberg is proficient on fiddle
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, many styles of acoustic
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
and electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, pedal steel guitar
Pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
and dobro
Dobro
Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
.
Bromberg released his first new studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
since 1990 with Try Me One More Time on 27 February 2007, on Appleseed Recordings. The disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
includes Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
"It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" is a song written by Bob Dylan that was originally released on his seminal album Highway 61 Revisited, and also included on the compilation album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits 2 that was released in Europe. An alternate version of the song appears on...
" and Elizabeth Cotten
Elizabeth Cotten
Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten was an American blues and folk musician, singer, and songwriter.A self-taught left-handed guitarist, Cotten developed her own original style. Her approach involved using a right-handed guitar , not re-strung for left-handed playing, essentially, holding a right-handed...
's "Shake Sugaree." The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Traditional Folk Album at the 50th annual Grammy Awards in 2008.
Discography
David Bromberg has released a number of solo albums, and has contributed musically to many albums by other artists.- David Bromberg (1971)
- Demon in DisguiseDemon in DisguiseDemon in Disguise is an album by David Bromberg. His second album, it was released by Columbia Records in 1972. It was released as a CD by Wounded Bird Records in 2005....
(1972) - Wanted Dead or AliveWanted Dead or Alive (David Bromberg album)Wanted Dead or Alive is an album by David Bromberg. It was his third album, released by Columbia Records as a vinyl LP in 1974. It has been released as a CD several times — by Sony Music Media in 2004, by SBME Special Markets in 2008, and by Columbia Records in 2011...
(1974) - Midnight on the WaterMidnight on the Water (David Bromberg album)Midnight on the Water is an album by David Bromberg. His fourth album, it was released by Columbia Records as a vinyl LP in 1975. It was released in CD format by Sony Records in 1994, and by SBME Special Markets in 2009...
(1975) - How Late'll Ya Play 'Til?How Late'll Ya Play 'Til?How Late'll Ya Play 'Til? is an album by David Bromberg. His fifth album, it was released by Fantasy Records as a two-disc LP record in 1976....
(1976) - Reckless Abandon (1977)
- Out of the Blues: The Best of David Bromberg (1977)
- Bandit in a Bathing Suit (1978)
- My Own House (1978)
- You Should See the Rest of the Band (1980)
- Long Way from Here (1987)
- Sideman Serenade (1989)
- The Player: A Retrospective (1998)
- David Bromberg Quartet Live: New York City 1982 (2003)
- David Bromberg Quartet at MerleFest 2006 (2006)
- Try Me One More Time (2007)
- Use Me (2011)