Karl E. H. Seigfried
Encyclopedia
Karl E. H. Seigfried is a German-American jazz
, rock
, and classical
bassist
, guitarist
, composer
, bandleader
, writer
and educator based in Chicago
.
Seigfried has performed and taught on the double bass
"in virtually all musical styles - from classical to avant garde jazz." His projects in Chicago and his wide-ranging collaborations have largely been centered on an effort to promote multiculturalism in music. Critics have compared his double bass
approach to those of Malachi Favors
, Henry Grimes
, Charlie Haden
, Charles Mingus
, and Sirone
.
Outside of his work in music, Seigfried writes and teaches as a Norse mythologist.
, and Jim Baker) "embraces a wide variety of styles and techniques." Seigfried has performed with a broad range of modern jazz performers, including Robert Barry, Anthony Davis
, Jimmy Ellis
, Henry Grimes
, Peter Kowald
, and Bobby McFerrin
. Although not a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
, Seigfried has performed with members from all generations of the Chicago organization, including Fred Anderson
, Gerald Donovan / Ajaramu, David Boykin, Ernest Dawkins
, Fred Hopkins
, Aaron Getsug, George Lewis
, Nicole Mitchell
, Roscoe Mitchell
, Jeff Parker
, Avreeayl Ra, and Isaiah Spencer. He has also played double bass with several notable big bands, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra
and the Dick Jurgens
Orchestra, and the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble. In 2008, he performed a duet for jazz bass and live drawing with British comic book artist Boo Cook
for the Third Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival in Chicago. He currently leads the New Quartet and the Seigfried Trio.
In the classical world, Seigfried is member of the Chicago Sinfonietta
and performed with them for collaborations with Poi Dog Pondering
and Muddy Waters
guitarist John Primer
. He is Principal Bassist of the Chicago Sinfonietta Chamber Ensemble and has been featured in their collaborations with Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Shedd Aquarium
, and Joffrey Ballet
. As Principal Bassist of the eoria Symphony Orchestra], he has led the bass section behind soloists Emanuel Ax
, Joshua Bell
, Evelyn Glennie
, Hilary Hahn
, Sharon Isbin
, Yo-Yo Ma
, Mark O'Connor
, and Itzhak Perlman
. He is also Principal Bassist of the Heartland Festival Orchestra and has recorded and performed as the Principal Bassist of the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble. A member of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra
, he often plays principal, jazz, and electric bass for the group. He played bass for the Chicago premieres of both the Lord of the Rings Symphony and the Music of Final Fantasy.
In rock, Seigfried plays lead guitar for the Soul Power Trio and is bass and guitar for the alternative country
band the Lost Cartographers. He is a member of the space rock supergroup Spirits Burning
, which features members of Hawkwind
, Blue Öyster Cult
, Citizen Fish
, Gong
, Jefferson Starship
, Psychic TV
, Soft Machine
, The Tubes
, and Van der Graaf Generator
; their psychedelic cover of "Ace of Spades
" (featuring Hawkwind
vocalist Bridget Wishart
) was included on the 2008 Motörhead album "Sheep in Wolves' Clothing."
) has been described as "the true definition of the Chicago avant-garde. Their music sometimes floats calmly like a river and sometimes swings with great violence." The solo recording demonstrates that Seigfried's "musical influences, as heard in his playing, are many and varied: the listener will detect styles such as jazz, classical, old guitar-based rural blues (think Robert Johnson), perhaps even traditional Japanese music." Of the quartet recording, "ein grosses Thema des Albums auch in musikalischer Hinsicht ist das Überschreiten von Grenzen und das Hinterfragen der eigenen Werturteile"("a large theme of the album, also in a musical respect, is the transcending of borders and the questioning of our own value judgements"). Portrait of Jack Johnson features "The Boxing Bassist Suite," which includes musical portraits of three twentieth-century boxing champions who were also jazz bassists: Jack Johnson
, Archie Moore
, and Ezzard Charles
; the album cover was painted by British comic book artist Boo Cook
and designed by American comic book graphic company Comicraft
. It was named a Top 10 Album of 2010 by the editor of Jazziz Magazine, received four stars from Down Beat
Magazine and was named "Editor's Recommended New Release" by the New York City Jazz Record.
is the only scholarly work on the African-American Chicago bassist. His teachers included Jimmy Cheatham
, Richard Davis, Carol Kaye
, and Bertram Turetzky
. Seigfried is currently working with Bertram Turetzky
on the pioneering double bassist's autobiography, and he is a long-time writer on boxing for East Side Boxing. His scholarly work on Norse mythology
appears at The Norse Mythology Blog.
He is Bass & Guitar Faculty at Carthage College
, Music History & Norse Mythology Faculty at Loyola University Chicago
's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and Norse Mythology Faculty at Newberry Library
. He previously held faculty positions at Knox College, Rock Valley College
, and Western Illinois University
.
As a sideman:
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...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and educator based in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
Seigfried has performed and taught on the double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
"in virtually all musical styles - from classical to avant garde jazz." His projects in Chicago and his wide-ranging collaborations have largely been centered on an effort to promote multiculturalism in music. Critics have compared his double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
approach to those of Malachi Favors
Malachi Favors
Malachi Favors was a noted American jazz bassist best known for his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...
, Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes is a jazz double bassist, violinist, and poet.After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music scene by 1970...
, Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
, Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
, and Sirone
Sirone (musician)
Norris Jones, better known as Sirone was an American jazz bassist and composer.-Biography:Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Sirone worked in Atlanta late in the 1950s and early in the 1960s with "The Group" alongside George Adams; he also recorded with R&B musicians such as Sam Cooke and Smokey Robinson...
.
Outside of his work in music, Seigfried writes and teaches as a Norse mythologist.
Performing
In his role as jazz bassist, Seigfried is one of the innovative Chicago jazz musicians who have come to public attention since the early 1990s; this new generation (including David Boykin, Jeff ParkerJeff Parker (musician)
Jeff Parker is an American jazz and rock guitarist based in Chicago. Parker is best known as an experimental musician, working with avant-garde electronic, rock, and improvisational groups....
, and Jim Baker) "embraces a wide variety of styles and techniques." Seigfried has performed with a broad range of modern jazz performers, including Robert Barry, Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis (composer)
Anthony Davis, better known as Tony Davis , is an American composer, jazz pianist, and student of gamelan music.-Biography:...
, Jimmy Ellis
Jimmy Ellis
James Albert "Jimmy" Ellis is a retired boxer from Louisville, Kentucky. He fought in what some consider to be the greatest heavyweight era of all-time, which included Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Jerry Quarry, Floyd Patterson, Oscar Bonavena, Earnie Shavers and George Chuvalo among...
, Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes
Henry Grimes is a jazz double bassist, violinist, and poet.After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music scene by 1970...
, Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald was a German free jazz musician.A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with a large number of European free jazz and American free-jazz players during his career, including Peter Brötzmann, Irène Schweizer, Karl Berger, Fred...
, and Bobby McFerrin
Bobby McFerrin
Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. is an American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.-Life:...
. Although not a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians is a non-profit organization, founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States, by pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran....
, Seigfried has performed with members from all generations of the Chicago organization, including Fred Anderson
Fred Anderson
Fred Anderson may refer to:*Fred Anderson , former National Football League defensive lineman*Fred Anderson , Major League Baseball player...
, Gerald Donovan / Ajaramu, David Boykin, Ernest Dawkins
Ernest Dawkins
Ernest Dawkins is an American jazz saxophonist, principally active in free jazz and post-bop.Ernest Khabeer Dawkins was a neighbor of Anthony Braxton as a child. He played bass and drums early in life before switching to saxophone in 1973...
, Fred Hopkins
Fred Hopkins
Fred Hopkins was a Chicago double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz movement. He was a member of the avant garde jazz trio Air and David Murray's Low Class Conspiracy; he frequently worked with the cellist Diedre Murray...
, Aaron Getsug, George Lewis
George Lewis
George Lewis may refer to:*George Lowys or Lewis , mayor of Winchelsea*George Lewis , track and field athlete from Trinidad and Tobago*George Lewis , New Orleans jazz clarinettist...
, Nicole Mitchell
Nicole Mitchell (musician)
Nicole Mitchell is an American jazz flautist and former president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians .-Biography:...
, Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell is an African American composer, jazz instrumentalist and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb—if idiosyncratic—saxophonist." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past...
, Jeff Parker
Jeff Parker (musician)
Jeff Parker is an American jazz and rock guitarist based in Chicago. Parker is best known as an experimental musician, working with avant-garde electronic, rock, and improvisational groups....
, Avreeayl Ra, and Isaiah Spencer. He has also played double bass with several notable big bands, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra
Glenn Miller Orchestra
The Glenn Miller Orchestra was originally formed in 1938 by Glenn Miller. It was arranged around a clarinet and tenor saxophone playing melody, while three other saxophones played the harmony...
and the Dick Jurgens
Dick Jurgens
Dick Henry Jurgens was an American swing music bandleader, who enjoyed great popularity in the late 1930s and early 1940s....
Orchestra, and the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble. In 2008, he performed a duet for jazz bass and live drawing with British comic book artist Boo Cook
Boo Cook
Boo Cook is a British comic artist, whose work mainly features in the comic 2000 AD.-Career:Cook's art has appeared in the ABC Warriors and Judge Dredd, as Asylum and Dead Men Walking .In 2005, Cook graduated to regular work on the flagship story on 2000 AD, Judge Dredd, mostly to scripts by...
for the Third Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival in Chicago. He currently leads the New Quartet and the Seigfried Trio.
In the classical world, Seigfried is member of the Chicago Sinfonietta
Chicago Sinfonietta
The Chicago Sinfonietta is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. The stated mission of the orchestra is to "serve as a national model for inclusiveness and innovation in classical music" and to "help America become a true cultural democracy, in which everyone can share fully in its...
and performed with them for collaborations with Poi Dog Pondering
Poi Dog Pondering
Poi Dog Pondering is an American musical group, noted for its cross-pollination of diverse musical genres, including various forms of acoustic folk music, and electronic music. Founded in Hawaii in 1985, the band moved to Austin, Texas in 1987, where they recorded their first three albums...
and Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
guitarist John Primer
John Primer
John Primer is an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:He played guitar at Theresa's, a club in Chicago, between 1974 and 1980. He was influenced by Muddy Waters' former sideman, Sammy Lawhorn, who taught him to play slide guitar...
. He is Principal Bassist of the Chicago Sinfonietta Chamber Ensemble and has been featured in their collaborations with Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Shedd Aquarium
Shedd Aquarium
The John G. Shedd Aquarium is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago, Illinois in the United States that opened on May 30, 1930. The aquarium contains over 25,000 fish, and was for some time the largest indoor aquarium in the world with of water. The Shedd Aquarium was the first inland aquarium with...
, and Joffrey Ballet
Joffrey Ballet
The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1956. From 1995 to 2004, the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. The company regularly performs classical ballets including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, while balancing those classics with pioneering modern...
. As Principal Bassist of the eoria Symphony Orchestra], he has led the bass section behind soloists Emanuel Ax
Emanuel Ax
Emanuel Ax is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is currently a teacher on the faculty of the Juilliard School. He is considered one of the best known concert pianists of the 21st century.-Early life:...
, Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...
, Evelyn Glennie
Evelyn Glennie
Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, DBE is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. She was the first full-time solo percussionist in 20th-century western society.-Early life:Glennie was born and raised in Aberdeenshire...
, Hilary Hahn
Hilary Hahn
Hilary Hahn is an American violinist.Hahn was born in Lexington, Virginia. Beginning her studies when she was three years old at Baltimore's Peabody Institute, she was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age ten, and in 1991, made her major orchestral debut with the...
, Sharon Isbin
Sharon Isbin
Sharon Isbin is a widely-recorded American classical guitarist, recording artist, concertizer, and the founder of the Guitar Department at the Juilliard School.-Early life and education:...
, Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
, and Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...
. He is also Principal Bassist of the Heartland Festival Orchestra and has recorded and performed as the Principal Bassist of the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble. A member of the Rockford Symphony Orchestra
Rockford Symphony Orchestra
The Rockford Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra in Rockford, Illinois, USA.-History:The Rockford Symphony Orchestra, incorporated in 1943, began performing concerts in 1934 under the direction of Arthur Zack. He continued to lead the orchestra as Music Director and Manager until...
, he often plays principal, jazz, and electric bass for the group. He played bass for the Chicago premieres of both the Lord of the Rings Symphony and the Music of Final Fantasy.
In rock, Seigfried plays lead guitar for the Soul Power Trio and is bass and guitar for the alternative country
Alternative country
Alternative country is a loosely defined sub-genre of country music, which includes acts that differ significantly in style from mainstream or pop country music...
band the Lost Cartographers. He is a member of the space rock supergroup Spirits Burning
Spirits Burning
Spirits Burning is a musical collective that has released a combination of ambient, jazz and full-on space-rock with input from many of the genre's luminaries, most notably Gong's Daevid Allen and members of Hawkwind. Spirits Burning is overseen by American composer/producer Don Falcone.-History:In...
, which features members of Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
, Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...
, Citizen Fish
Citizen Fish
Citizen Fish is a ska punk band that has been together since 1990. The band often makes strong social and political statements, dealing with themes such as anti-consumerism, vegetarianism, questioning the status quo, and encouraging people to get along with one another...
, Gong
Gong
A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
, Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s. The group is a spin-off from the iconic 1960s psychedelic/folk group Jefferson Airplane. The band has undergone several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name...
, Psychic TV
Psychic TV
Psychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...
, Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
, The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
, and Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester. They were the first act signed to Charisma Records. The band achieved considerable success in Italy during the 1970s...
; their psychedelic cover of "Ace of Spades
Ace of Spades (song)
"Ace of Spades" is a song by the English band Motörhead, released in 1980 as a single and the title track to the album Ace of Spades. The song spent 12 weeks in the United Kingdom Singles Chart, peaking at #15.-Overview:...
" (featuring Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
vocalist Bridget Wishart
Bridget Wishart
Bridget Wishart is a vocalist and performance artist who performed with Hawkwind from 1989 to 1991, appearing on the albums Space Bandits, Palace Springs, California Brainstorm and Take Me to Your Future and, among others, the Nottingham 1990 video.She obtained BA in Fine Art from Newport Art...
) was included on the 2008 Motörhead album "Sheep in Wolves' Clothing."
Recording
Seigfried's recordings include the trio albums, Boykin, Seigfried, & Reed and Portrait of Jack Johnson; the album of solo bass, Criminal Mastermind; and the work for mixed quartet, Blue Rhizome; all of which feature his original compositions. The first trio recording (with saxophonist David Boykin and drummer Mike ReedMike Reed
Professor G. Mike Reed is an American computer scientist and Director of UNU/IIST, Macau, part of the United Nations University since 2005. Previously he was at the Oxford University Computing Laboratory where he was also a Fellow in Computation of St Edmund Hall, Oxford...
) has been described as "the true definition of the Chicago avant-garde. Their music sometimes floats calmly like a river and sometimes swings with great violence." The solo recording demonstrates that Seigfried's "musical influences, as heard in his playing, are many and varied: the listener will detect styles such as jazz, classical, old guitar-based rural blues (think Robert Johnson), perhaps even traditional Japanese music." Of the quartet recording, "ein grosses Thema des Albums auch in musikalischer Hinsicht ist das Überschreiten von Grenzen und das Hinterfragen der eigenen Werturteile"("a large theme of the album, also in a musical respect, is the transcending of borders and the questioning of our own value judgements"). Portrait of Jack Johnson features "The Boxing Bassist Suite," which includes musical portraits of three twentieth-century boxing champions who were also jazz bassists: Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (boxer)
John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...
, Archie Moore
Archie Moore
Archie Moore, born Archibald Lee Wright , was light heavyweight world boxing champion who had one of the longest professional careers in the history of that sport....
, and Ezzard Charles
Ezzard Charles
Ezzard Mack Charles was an African-American professional boxer and former world heavyweight champion. He holds wins over numerous Hall of Fame fighters in three different weight classes. Charles retired with a record of 93 wins, 25 losses and 1 draw.-Career:He was born in Lawrenceville, Georgia,...
; the album cover was painted by British comic book artist Boo Cook
Boo Cook
Boo Cook is a British comic artist, whose work mainly features in the comic 2000 AD.-Career:Cook's art has appeared in the ABC Warriors and Judge Dredd, as Asylum and Dead Men Walking .In 2005, Cook graduated to regular work on the flagship story on 2000 AD, Judge Dredd, mostly to scripts by...
and designed by American comic book graphic company Comicraft
Comicraft
Comicraft is a company which provides graphic design and lettering services to various companies.-History:The company was founded by Richard Starkings in 1992. Starkings had been working for Marvel UK for five years, but left London for New York, circa 1990...
. It was named a Top 10 Album of 2010 by the editor of Jazziz Magazine, received four stars from Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
Magazine and was named "Editor's Recommended New Release" by the New York City Jazz Record.
Writing and teaching
Seigfried holds a doctorate in Double Bass Performance, and his treatise on Wilbur WareWilbur Ware
Wilbur Ware was an American jazz double-bassist known for his hard bop percussive style.Born in Chicago, Ware taught himself to play banjo and bass. In the 1940s, he worked with Stuff Smith, Sonny Stitt and Roy Eldridge. In the 1950s, Ware played with Eddie Vinson, Art Blakey, and Buddy DeFranco...
is the only scholarly work on the African-American Chicago bassist. His teachers included Jimmy Cheatham
Jimmy Cheatham
Jimmy Cheatham was an American jazz trombonist and teacher who played with Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and Ornette Coleman. In 1978, Cheatham was invited to head the jazz program at University of California, San Diego and, in 1979, he was appointed head of the African American and jazz...
, Richard Davis, Carol Kaye
Carol Kaye
Carol Kaye is an American musician, best known as one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in history, playing on an estimated 10,000 recording sessions in a 55 year career....
, and Bertram Turetzky
Bertram Turetzky
Bertram Turetzky is a contemporary American double bass soloist, teacher, and author of The Contemporary Contrabass , a book that looked at a number of new and interesting ways of playing the double bass including featuring it as a solo performance vehicle with no other instrumental...
. Seigfried is currently working with Bertram Turetzky
Bertram Turetzky
Bertram Turetzky is a contemporary American double bass soloist, teacher, and author of The Contemporary Contrabass , a book that looked at a number of new and interesting ways of playing the double bass including featuring it as a solo performance vehicle with no other instrumental...
on the pioneering double bassist's autobiography, and he is a long-time writer on boxing for East Side Boxing. His scholarly work on Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
appears at The Norse Mythology Blog.
He is Bass & Guitar Faculty at Carthage College
Carthage College
Carthage College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Situated in Kenosha, Wisconsin midway between Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the campus is on the shore of Lake Michigan and is home to 2,500 full-time and 900 part-time...
, Music History & Norse Mythology Faculty at Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...
's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and Norse Mythology Faculty at Newberry Library
Newberry Library
The Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...
. He previously held faculty positions at Knox College, Rock Valley College
Rock Valley College
Rock Valley College , located in Rockford, Illinois, is one of 48 two-year, open-admission colleges of the Illinois Community College System , organized under the Illinois Public Community College Act. RVC’s district comprises Winnebago County and Boone County and parts of Stephenson County, Ogle...
, and Western Illinois University
Western Illinois University
Western Illinois University is a public university founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. Like many similar institutions of the time, Western Illinois State Normal School focused on teacher training for its relatively small body of students. As the normal school grew, it became...
.
Discography
As leader:- Boykin, Seigfried, & Reed (2004, Imaginary Chicago)
- Criminal Mastermind (2006, Imaginary Chicago)
- The New Quartet: Blue Rhizome (2008, Imaginary Chicago)
- Portrait of Jack Johnson (2010, Imaginary Chicago)
As a sideman:
- E.C.F.A. (with Peter KowaldPeter KowaldPeter Kowald was a German free jazz musician.A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with a large number of European free jazz and American free-jazz players during his career, including Peter Brötzmann, Irène Schweizer, Karl Berger, Fred...
) (2000, Pull the String) - Detritus (with Horses and Corpses) (2003, Betasound)
- A Madison Christmas (with Madison Symphony OrchestraMadison Symphony OrchestraThe Madison Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Its conductor is John DeMain, who began his 14th season with the orchestra in the fall of 2007...
) (2004, ION) - Live at the Spareroom (with Microcosmic Sound Orchestra) (2005, SHM)
- Sheep in Wolves' Clothing (with Motörhead / Spirits Burning) (2008, MHB)
- Walk On (with The Lost Cartographers) (2009, Imaginary Chicago)
- Bloodlines (with Spirits BurningSpirits BurningSpirits Burning is a musical collective that has released a combination of ambient, jazz and full-on space-rock with input from many of the genre's luminaries, most notably Gong's Daevid Allen and members of Hawkwind. Spirits Burning is overseen by American composer/producer Don Falcone.-History:In...
) (2009, Voiceprint) - Recorded Music of the African Diaspora (with New Black Music Repertory Ensemble) (2010, Albany)
- This Burning Ship of Fools (with Matthew SantosMatthew SantosMatthew Santos is an American rock and folk singer-songwriter, musician and painter. He is best known for his collaboration with Chicago native Lupe Fiasco on the single "Superstar." He was signed to Lupe Fiasco's 1st & 15th Entertainment record label, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records.-Early...
) (2009, Love Sick Fool) - Crazy Fluid (with Spirits BurningSpirits BurningSpirits Burning is a musical collective that has released a combination of ambient, jazz and full-on space-rock with input from many of the genre's luminaries, most notably Gong's Daevid Allen and members of Hawkwind. Spirits Burning is overseen by American composer/producer Don Falcone.-History:In...
) (2010, Voiceprint) - Behold the Action Man (with Spirits BurningSpirits BurningSpirits Burning is a musical collective that has released a combination of ambient, jazz and full-on space-rock with input from many of the genre's luminaries, most notably Gong's Daevid Allen and members of Hawkwind. Spirits Burning is overseen by American composer/producer Don Falcone.-History:In...
) (2011, Gonzo)