With his new band, Up Jumped the Devil, violinist Sam Bardfeld pays tribute to the madcap swing of legendary jazz violinist Stuff Smith. Smith was both a popular entertainer and a musical iconoclast whose advanced harmonic explorations, insatiable swing and phenomenal risk taking influenced upcoming musicians like Dizzy Gillespie. He also cut a colorful character on New York’s 52nd Street - he composed several of the day’s popular „reefer songs“. Like Smith, Bardfeld is a maverick whose tribute combines equal parts irreverance and reverance. The band’s music exists both in the stylistic arcana of late-1930’s/early-1940’s small group swing and the contemporary world of downtown New York jazz. Bardfeld knows both worlds well. He is a featured soloist on Bruce Springsteen’s last two recordings of Americana, „We Shall Overcome” and „Live in Dublin” (where his fiddling is distinctly „Stuff”-like) and is also a member of the Jazz Passengers, masters of New York surrealist comic-strip jazz. Bardfeld’s bandmates are equally versatile and accomplished. Anthony Coleman is a world renowned composer/pianist/deconstructionist and a scholar of the piano music of Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington. Trombonist and vocalist Curtis Fowlkes, also a member of the Jazz Passengers, works with Charlie Haden, Bill Frisell and Mark Ribot. Bassist Sean Conly hails from Kansas City and has worked with Freddie Hubbard, Stefon Harris, Ray Barretto and Anthony Coleman. (Pressetext)
Stuff Smith war jener Geiger, von dem mir der späte Hans Koller immer wieder erzählte, den er in den frühen 60er Jahren nach Hamburg zuu einem Workshop einlud und der ihn musikalisch ausserordentlich interessierte. Ich erinnere mich an einen Besuch eines Redakteurs des Norddeutschen Rundfunks, der ein Portrait des großen österreichischen Musikers vorbereitete und der Hans Koller einen Filmausschnitt eben dieses Workshops vorspielte, worauf der damals schon recht betagte Koller aufsprang und sagte: Das ist Stuff. Der war aber ein Wahnsinn!!. Diesen Abend widmen wir Hans Koller! CH