Bob Brozman
Encyclopedia
Bob Brozman is an American
guitarist
and ethnomusicologist.
He has performed in a number of styles such as Gypsy jazz
, calypso
, Blues
, ragtime
, Hawaiian and Caribbean music
. Brozman has also collaborated with musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds such as India
, Africa
, Japan
, Papua New Guinea
and Reunion Island. He has been called "an instrumental wizard" and "a walking archive of 20th Century American music." Brozman maintains a steady schedule throughout the year, touring constantly throughout North America
, Europe
, Australia
, Asia
, and Africa. He has recorded numerous albums and has won the Guitar Player
Readers' Poll three times in the best blues, best world and best slide guitar
ist categories. In 1999, Brozman and Woody Mann founded International Guitar Seminars, which hosts over 120 students annually at sites in California
, New York
, and Canada
. From 2000 to 2005 his collaborations have landed in the European Top 10 for World Music five times.
Brozman is also a linguist and anthropologist. He was formerly an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Contemporary Music Studies at Macquarie University
, Sydney, Australia. He is starting a foundation for the purpose of getting some of the western surplus of instruments and other musical supplies directly into the hands of musicians in third world countries in Africa and Oceania
.
Brozman is well known for his use of National resonator instruments from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as National Resophonic resonator instruments. He also uses Weissenborn
style hollow neck acoustic steel guitar
s. Among his National instruments is a baritone
version of the tricone guitar, which was designed in conjunction with him in the mid to late 1990s. This instrument is now part of National's actual range of products.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
and ethnomusicologist.
He has performed in a number of styles such as Gypsy 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...
, calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
, 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...
, ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
, Hawaiian and Caribbean music
Caribbean music
The music of the Caribbean is a diverse grouping of musical genres. They are each syntheses of African, European, Indian and native influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves...
. Brozman has also collaborated with musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds such as India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
and Reunion Island. He has been called "an instrumental wizard" and "a walking archive of 20th Century American music." Brozman maintains a steady schedule throughout the year, touring constantly throughout North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and Africa. He has recorded numerous albums and has won the Guitar Player
Guitar Player
Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...
Readers' Poll three times in the best blues, best world and best slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
ist categories. In 1999, Brozman and Woody Mann founded International Guitar Seminars, which hosts over 120 students annually at sites in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, 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...
, and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. From 2000 to 2005 his collaborations have landed in the European Top 10 for World Music five times.
Brozman is also a linguist and anthropologist. He was formerly an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Contemporary Music Studies at Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
, Sydney, Australia. He is starting a foundation for the purpose of getting some of the western surplus of instruments and other musical supplies directly into the hands of musicians in third world countries in Africa and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
.
Brozman is well known for his use of National resonator instruments from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as National Resophonic resonator instruments. He also uses Weissenborn
Weissenborn
Weissenborn or H. Weissenborn is a brand of lap slide guitar manufactured by Hermann Weissenborn in Los Angeles in the 1920s and 1930s....
style hollow neck acoustic steel guitar
Steel guitar
Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
s. Among his National instruments is a baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
version of the tricone guitar, which was designed in conjunction with him in the mid to late 1990s. This instrument is now part of National's actual range of products.
Discography
- Blue Hula Stomp (1981)
- Snapping the Strings (1983)
- Hello Central...Give Me Dr. Jazz (1985)
- Devil's Slide (1988)
- A Truckload of Blues (1992)
- Slide A Go-Go (1994)
- Blues 'Round the Bend (1995)
- Golden Slide (1997)
- Kika Kila Meets Ki Ho'Alu (1997)
- Kosmik Blues & Groove' (1998)
- The Running Man (1999)
- Four Hands Sweet & Hot (with Cyril Pahinui) (1999)
- Get Together (2000)
- Live Now (2001)
- Digdig (with René LacailleRené LacailleRené Lacaille is a Réunionnais accordionist, currently based in France. He was born into a musical family and taught himself to play the accordion at age 7 while on tour with his father...
) (2002) - Rolling Through This World (collaboration with Jeff LangJeff LangJeff Lang is an Australian songwriter, singer and slide guitarist. A leading performer in the Australian roots music scene and purveyer of his self-described "disturbed folk" style, which incorporates primarily folk, blues and rock...
, 2002) - Mahima (collaboration with Debashish BhattacharyaDebashish BhattacharyaDebashish Bhattacharya is an Indian classical musician who plays the lap slide guitar.Bhattacharya was born into a musical family in Kolkata, it became apparent that Bhattacharya was skilled at a young age...
, 2003) - Metric Time (2003)
- Songs of the Volcano (2005)
- Blues Reflex (2006)
- Lumiere (2007)
- Post-Industrial Blues (2007)
- Six Days in Down (2010)