Demon In Disguise-?The extraordinary folk-blues guitarist David Bromberg has strolled back into the spotlight as abruptly as he resigned from it nearly three decades ago when he dissolved his fantastic and popular touring band in 1980 to study violin making... The fluid orchestral invention of Bromberg?s fingerpicking ? his original calling card on pivotal late-1960S and 1970S sessions for Jerry Jeff Walker (?Mr. Bojangles?) and Bob Dylan (New Morning) ? is in undiminished bloom invigorating sturdy old blues and ballads.? - ROLLING STONEIn this intimate portrait the legendary David Bromberg talks about his influences and performs the music he loves - a wide panorama of Americanblues folk country bluegrass ragtime jazz and contemporary sounds.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. During this period he discovered the old recordings of Blind Blake Lonnie Johnson Big Bill Broonzy Marshall Owens Luke Jordan and other great country bluesmen as well as contemporary recordings of B.B.King Freddie King and Albert King. He studied with Rev. Gary Davis for several years and as Rev. Davis said ?I have no children but I have several sons?. David was a son to the great Reverend.Drawn to Greenwich Village's flourishing coffeehouse folk music scene of the mid-1960?s David left Columbia University and opted 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 George Harrison Tom Paxton and Chubby Checker are only a few of the notables who sought David out as a back-up artist for recording. In all he has played as a sideman on over 100 albums.

For a man who quit an established recording career in order to study the fine art of making violins David Bromberg sure knows how to work a room. A veteran sideman to Dylan Ringo Starr and Jerry Jeff Walker as well as a solo performer and bandleader of more than 40 years standing the bearded and bespectacled Bromberg may have kept a low profile through the so-called MTV era. But he didn't sleep through the more recent recording industry implosion and its attendant rise of the Pod People. Rather he took his boundary busting energy back to the live stage with the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank New Jersey playing a big role in this master entertainer's gameplan.The multi-instrumentalist and musicologist has made the Count Basie Theatre a crucial pit stop in his annual tour schedule for each of the last four years ... While Bromberg may take the spotlight for an unaccompanied number or two it's his role as bandleader and raconteur that prompted the New York Times to brand him 'electrifying.' A performance by the 12-piece David Bromberg Big Band fireballs forward like a bull in a used record shop tracing its own musical logic - Bob Wills to Bob Dylan to Bo Diddley to Dave Dudley - with station stops anywhere from Sam Cooke to 'a bluegrass tribute to Ethel Merman.' Not to mention some fondly remembered originals from his vintage albums and a lot of things that you thought had been written by the Grateful Dead Patsy Cline Cab Calloway or even the Clash.Titles include: Sloppy Drunk I'll Take You Back Dark Hollow Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor Who's Lovin' You Tonight This Love Affair Tongue It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry If You Don't Want Me Nobody's Sharon and Driving Wheel