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Tim Sparks

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The Mississippi Blues
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The Mississippi Blues
Released: May 6, 2007
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General Info

  • Genre: Acoustic / Americana / Jazz

    Location Frazee, Minnesota, US

    Profile Views: 60210

    Last Login: 4/25/2012

    Member Since 4/17/2007

    Website http://www.timsparks.com

    Record Label Tzadik, Acoustic Music Records, Truefire

    Type of Label Indie

  • Bio

    .... .. .. .. .. .. .................... .... Little Princess [8143] Another fabulous CD of traditional Jewish music arranged for fingerstyle guitar and performed by the wonderful trio of Tim Sparks, Greg Cohen and Cyro Baptista, whose CD Tanz was released in 2000 to great acclaim. Focusing this time on the traditional repertoire of the great Klezmer clarinetist Naftule Brandwein, the arrangements are delightful, highlighting Tim's elegant guitar style and fine ear for detail and harmonic sophistication. Naftule features colorful and lyrical music that takes the Jewish tradition into the 21st century with style, originality and a charming sense of wit. .... .. .. .... .. .... Tim Sparks Interview on Israel National Radio Click Here.. .... Review by Thom Jurek .... Acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Tim Sparks has always set himself apart from the pack of his peers. Rather than rely strictly on playing blues or age-old folk and bluegrass tunes, or even following in the well-worn paths of John Fahey, Peter Lang, and Robbie Basho, Sparks has followed his muse down into the corridors of musical and cultural history. While no one can dent the influence of great jazzmen on his playing, one can hear the sounds of saxophonists, pianists, and of course the sounds of Yiddish folk and popular music, klezmer among them. In 2000, Sparks recorded Tanz, his third album for John Zorn's Tzadik imprint. It was a departure from his previous two in that it wasn't a solo but a trio record. His partners on that musical journey were veteran bassist Greg Cohen and master percussionist Cyro Baptista. The set was brilliant and innovative, creating an entirely new perspective on Jewish music from the beginning of the 20th century to the commencement of the 21st. It contained a slew of traditional songs and also featured four tunes by the original klezmer legend, clarinetist and composer Naftule Brandwein. The same trio reconvened in 2002 for At the Rebbe's Table, for a similar program that also contained tunes by Brandwein. Seven long years later, this trio once more reunites to perform an entire program of his work, and the results are quite astonishing. .... For starters, here are the group members playing together after all this time and being more emotionally and musically attuned to one another than ever before. Next there is Sparks' own playing, which was always jaw-dropping, but has risen to a such a level that now he's virtually in a league of his own. The way he combines so many different musical techniques and genres into his own idiosyncratic fingerstyle picking is not only technically remarkable, it's savvy and wildly creative at the same time. Check the way he weaves flamenco styles into Brandwein's take on a traditional Yiddish folk melody in "Der Yid in Jerusalem." Here, Baptista accents the Latin rhythms on claves and hand drums, and Sparks weaves Charlie Christian, Tal Farlow, and elements of Carlos Montoya into his playing of Brandwein's melody. The sprightly "Oh Daddy, That's Good" weaves some gorgeous modal and overtone playing into the melody, stretching the harmony to -- but never over -- the breaking point. The interplay between Cohen and Baptista is so delightfully sophisticated that all the listener can do is smile. The use of harmonics in "A Few Bowls Terkish" (sic) draws from the influence of guitarist Bert Jansch to further a series of modal interludes that flow into some gorgeous jazz playing on the changes by the composer. Highlighting these tracks doesn't mean that they are the album's finest moments at all. Virtually every one of these ten cuts is an example of how intuitive, sophisticated, and creative Sparks is, not only as a player and interpreter, but as an arranger so canny that the listener would think all of these songs were written in the current era. That said, Sparks never, ever compromises the sophistication or humor Brandwein put into his compositions. He reveres them deeply, and strives to make them live on as part of a lineage that has no use for musty audio museums, but would rather portray the music as a living, breathing, sassy, sexy thing that swaggers rather than stands still in the passage of time. Brilliant work and the best Sparks record to date. .... TIM SPARKS FEATURED ON NEW CD WITH THE HOTTEST KLEZMER/GYPSY BAND IN PARIS!!!! .... .. .. .... TIM SPARKS FEATURED WITH GREG COHEN AND CYRO BAPTISTA ON NEW CD BY ITALIAN SINGER-SONGWRITER LUCA GHIELMETTI!!!! .... .... .... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .... .... TIM SPARKS BIO:Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Tim Sparks started picking out tunes by ear on an old Stella flat top during a bout of encephalitis that kept him out of school for a year. He taught himself to play the music he heard around him: traditional country blues and the gospel his grandmother played on piano in a small church in the Blue Ridge Mountains. .... At age 14, Tim was nominated by a musically astute uncle for a scholarship at the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts. There he studied the classics with Segovia protege Jesus Silva while continuing to play all kinds of music, increasingly turning to classic jazz for inspiration. He adapted compositions by Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, and Fats Waller to the guitar, frequently reducing piano arrangements to their essence. Early influences were Doc Watson, Arthur Smith, and most importantly Duck Baker, who opened up a horizon of possibilities for fingerstyle guitar. .... After a stint on the road with a Chicago-based rhythm and blues band, Sparks arrived in Minnesota where he soon established himself as a journeyman guitarist and session player. While recording three albums with the seminal vocal jazz ensemble Rio Nido, Sparks also became proficient in jazz styles from Brazilian to Be Bop. It was at this time he arranged Carla Bley's composition "Jesus Maria" for Leo Kottke. ( Rio Nido's first two vinyl recordings have recently been re-issued on CD on the Japanese Vivid Sound Label. Check out ..Rio Nido.. .... Sparks also found time to revive his interest in classical music, adapting Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite to the guitar, a work that has been cited as a significant contribution to solo guitar literature. For Sparks it was a labor of love that earned him the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship in Winfield, Kansas in 1993. .... A sojourn abroad inspired his interest in European and Mediterranean styles, particularly the music of the Balkans. Upon his return to Minnesota, Sparks immersed himself in the ethnic music scene, performing on Oud and Saz in Middle Eastern ensembles and playing guitar in Greek, Klezmer, and Sephardic groups. This work culminated in the recording of Sparks' Balkan Dreams Suite, a remarkable collection of odd-meter guitar arrangements. Many of the Balkan Dreams compositions were recorded on Tim's debut solo CD, The Nutcracker Suite, in 1993. This recording was hailed by Guitar Player Magazine as "an exhilarating, odd-meter minefield inspired by Near Eastern music" and "an important recording from a gifted composer, arranger, and performer." Two more releases followed on the Acoustic Music label, Guitar Bazaar (1997) and One String Leads To Another (1999). .... Sparks' work came to the attention of John Zorn, the saxophonist, composer, and curator of Tzadik Records in New York and thereby led to a new cycle of compositions inspired by traditional Jewish melodies. Neshamah (1999) is a solo effort. Tanz, which garnered Downbeat Magazine's highest praise, five stars, in 2000 and At the Rebbe's Table (2002) include ensemble work. All three releases have been acclaimed by a broad spectrum of critics and listeners alike. Spring of 2003 saw the release of Masada Guitars, featuring interpretations of John Zorn's music by Tim, Bill Frisell, and Marc Ribot. In recent years, Sparks' musical focus has come full circle, returning to the country blues and classic jazz that served as a springboard for his worldwide guitar explorations. He toured with Dolly Parton in 2005 and recorded Roots, Rags and Blues for Truefire/AGW. .... In February 2009 he released Sidewalk Blues, an homage to early 20th century Americana Roots Music featuring Blues, Ragtime, Early Jazz, and Country Gospel. On February 18, 2009 he recorded Little Princess in New York with Greg Cohen and Cyro Baptista for Tzadik Records. ...... ............Myspace Layouts.. - ..Myspace Editor.. - ..Image Hosting.... .... .. .... .... .... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .... .. .... .. .... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ......

  • Members

    .... .... Editorial Reviews .... A surprise blues and rag album comes from Tim Sparks. Sidewalk Blues is a collection of country-blues, early jazz, and ragtime classics, all played with Sparks typical virtuoso approach to solo fingerstyle guitar. Having recently explored everything from classical to Balkan to traditional Jewish music, Sidewalk Blues finds Sparks returning to his roots, yet bits of his explorations of other styles shine through in a way that gives each of the arrangements a refreshing touch. --Teja Gerken Acoustic Guitar Magazine .... Recorded over the last several years in various locations, Tim Sparks Sidewalk Blues is a fingerpicking homage to early 20th Century American Roots music. Sparks is a guitarist s guitarist, an innovator and student of many styles of music. Among those styles are American roots music, European and Mediterranean folk music, and classical. Sidewalk Blues is a return to Sparks s own roots and the music that initially inspired him. A meticulous arranger and consummate performer, Sparks plows, punctuates, and pulses his way through a well-chosen batch of ragtime, jazz, country blues, and gospel with an individual flair and spirit to burn. One of the nice things about the album is the lack of aural homogeneity. The guitars often sound very different on different tracks, almost as if you re listening to a compilation of incredible guitarists. No doubt this is due to the nature of the way the album was recorded, as mentioned above, but Sparks also utilizes a variety of guitars on the album. About half the tracks were cut on a Podium Custom Collings OM style Country Cutaway. Several tracks were recorded on a 1917 Gibson L-3. Also played were a Hoffman Custom OM Style Cutaway and a Lakewood Custom Concert Cutaway. Simply stated, Sparks is a master of the instrument. His arrangements and performances of Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, and Bix Beiderbecke compositions are flawless, at times playful, and always soulful. As stated in the liner notes, these seventeen tracks evoke the sounds, sights, and smells of New Orleans sportin houses, Harlem speakeasies... and a world of tobacco fields, fire-breathing itinerant preachers, moonshine on Saturday night, and rapturous Gospel singing on Sunday morning. A must have for fans of Tim Sparks and for anyone who loves fingerstyle guitar playing. © Chip O'Brien --The Minor 7th .... Truefire.com is proud to present Fingerstyle Guitar Wizard Tim Sparks performing and explaining his amazing renditions of American Roots Music in "Roots, Rags, and Blues." .... Check it out online at ..TrueFire.com.. .... ...... .... Roots, Rags and Blues is an interactive instructional and performance CD-ROM that includes 7 different Roots guitar tunes taught in video and tab lessons plus 6 bonus video performances of Blues, Ragtime, Gospel, Early Jazz and Klezmer, played on a Collings Custom Cutaway and a vintage 1917 Gibson L-4. .... Featured selections include, the Mississippi Blues, Amazing Grace (in two different versions), Jelly Roll Blues, Oriental Blues, Maple Leaf Rag, Victory Rag, Carolina Shout and a fingerstyle lesson on the 1918 Klezmer classic, Tanst, Tanst Yiddlekh. .... This package captures American Roots Music from the early part of the 20th Century, as reflected through fingerstyle guitar. The lessons and performances come with matching tablature, notation and extensive liner notes with internet hyperlinks. .... Roots, Rags, and Blues is a terrific value with 7 hours of instruction plus 6 bonus performance videos and a bonus audio CD, all for the price of one lesson. .... Order Roots, Rags and Blues online at ..TrueFire.com.. .... Truefire.com ships worldwide. .... Order Tim Sparks CDs and music transcriptions online at:..MaraHaley Music.. .... Find Tim Sparks tracks on iTunes .. .... .. .... Check out Tim Sparks playing the Mississippi Blues Live on ..YouTube.. .... Check out Tim Sparks playing the Original Jelly Roll Blues Live on ..YouTube.. .... Check out Tim Sparks playing Fats Waller's Alligator Crawl Live on ..YouTube.. .... Tim Sparks CDs .... ...... .... Jazz Times Magazine review November 2002- The Jewish music agenda of John Zorn's Tzadik label takes a gentle left turn with the albums of acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Tim Sparks. As heard on his pleasing new collection, At The Rebbe's Table (Tzadik), the familiar twang of the steel-string instrument gives an unexpected musical spin to material from the klezmer songbook (including the title song), tunes by guitarist Flory Jagoda and other corners of the Jewish musical universe. On a tune like "Todos Si Hueron," Cyro Baptista's undulant percussion and Greg Cohen's coolly seductive bass put us in mind mainly of Brazil. .... As noted in Sparks notes about the project, one historical link is to the Judeo-Arabic culture in Spain, the guitar's ancestral homeland. When Sparks and Marc Ribot (on both steel-string and classical guitar) delicately interweave and swap licks, the Spanish interpretation rings true. On Zorn's own tender tune "Mahshav," from the Radical's soft side, Sparks' sensitive solo reading begs a more universal appreciation. Whatever the heritage or cultural pedigree, it's simply touching music. - Josef Woodard .... ...... .... Downbeat Magazine December 2000- For his second Tzadik album, Sparks intelligently and lovingly arranges some of his favorite songs from the Oriental, Sephardic and Yiddish canons of Jewish music for his guitar and, often, Greg Cohen's string bass and Cyro Baptista's percussion. With impeccable control, he imparts quiet depth to his close study of the melodies, harmonies and unusual rhythms belonging to, say, the Caucasus Mountains region wedding song "Aji Tu Yorma?" and four Depression-era compositions credited to the storied klezmer clarinetist Naftule Brandwein. No small achievement, Sparks conveys the pathos of the Diaspora in his music. 5 stars Frank-John Hadley .... ...... .... ...... .... Amazon.com's Editor's Pick Best of 1999- You'd never guess that in presenting a slice of "radical Jewish culture," John Zorn would produce an album as exquisitely beautiful as guitarist Tim Sparks's Neshamah. Collecting traditional Jewish melodies from throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East, this collection mixes the architecture of the melodies with Sparks's fast fingerwork, corralling the latter into discreet enough bits to create a constant sense of movement and drama. Given the prevalence of full bands in much Balkan and Klezmer music, Sparks's solo renditions have an awe-inducing power. He cherishes not only each note, even when they're coming with flashing speed, but he equally indulges each bent-string twist and turn. --Andrew Bartlett ...."This is totally beautiful and inspiring music, warm and soulful, rich with melody, harmony and rhythm. Every guitarist on the planet has got to hear this. Tim Sparks is incredible, a complete original." —Bill Frisell .... ...... .... Guitar Player Magazine December 1999- A fingerstyle wizard, Tim Sparks draws from many musical traditions on One String Leads to Another. Strains of Celtic, country blues, ragtime, Appalachian, Turkish, Indian, and Italian melodies all find their way into Sparks' solo originals. It takes a skilled muscian - as opposed to guitarist- to weave such diverse rhythmic and harmonic threads into whole cloth, yet Sparks makes it happen. .... Whether thumbing a bass-note drone against bluesy double-stops and sitar like bends, plucking sheets of rippling arpeggios, or playing counterpoint lines at breakneck speed, Sparks is remarkably adventurous-and that's what separates him from the pack. There are many skilled solo-acoustic guitarists making CDs today, but few can match Sparks' verve and intensity. On this live and natural-sounding record, we hear a restless, probing mind, rather than a series of refined techniques. Andy Ellis, Senior Editor GP .... ...... .... "I'm Tim Sparks' biggest fan. His stuff is very difficult to play but it doesn't sound difficult. I think that's real musicianship. He's really one of the best musicians I know. When he started playing the oud, I envisioned Tim wearing one of those little leather hats that makes you look like a barstool, and drinking some kind of Turkish coffee. I thought we were losing him; I thought he was getting Balkanized, and we'd never hear from him again. But we have, and he came back and brought it all with him." .... "Balkan Dreams sounded as if he had grown up in Sofia in his dad's string band because he understood it so well, but he managed to bring some Tim Sparks to it after a while, so it no longer sounded like Bulgaria or Minnesota. It sounded like something else. It's very hard to do that. He can do that." .... -- Leo Kottke .... ...... ...... .... "Sparks won the 1993 National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship playing his solo guitar arrangement of Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker Suite' - a fine voicing with wondrous lines..." .... -- Chris Lunn, Victory Review .... "An exhilarating, odd-meter minefield inspired by Near Eastern music. An important recording from a gifted composer, arranger and performer." .... -- Guitar Player Magazine .... ...... .... "Masada Guitars" Acoustic Guitar Magazine July 2003 By Teja Gerken .... Featuring Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, and Tim Sparks (playing individually, not together), Masada Guitars presents solo guitar arrangements of Jewish music written by an avant-garde jazz saxophonist - not something you come across every day. It consists of music from John Zorn's Masada repertoire and is a testament to the stunning capabilities of three of the finest players on the jazz guitar scene. .... Except for a few tracks by Frisell (such as "Katzatz" which recalls the best of his "out" electric days), Masada Guitars is all about stretching the limits of the acoustic guitar. Between Ribot's wobbling-yet-brilliant arrangement of "Kedem" and Sparks' multitiered rendition of "Ravayah", the album explores a huge range of the instrument's possibilities. Quirky virtuosity is a large part of its appeal, but Masada Guitars is also full of some incredibly beautiful music. ....

  • Influences

    Years ago I was playing with Brother Jack McDuff, the great Jazz Organist. We were rehearsing Tobacco Road and I was taking a solo in double-time bop style. Captain Jack stopped everything, gave me the look, and said, "Son, do you know the difference between chicken salad and chicken sh-t? Don't be puttin' ketchup on my ice cream!" .. .. He wanted me to play the blues on Tobacco Road. I learned a valuable lesson that day which would influence many artistic decisions in the years to come. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .... Other Influences .. .. Doc Watson, Sun Ra, William Burroughs, Maybelle Carter, Cartoons, Ry Cooder, Monk, Greg Cohen, Fletcher Henderson, John Zorn, Earl Hines, James Joyce, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonny Terry, The Flying Burrito Brothers, John dos Passos, Grady Martin, Dan Hicks, David Lyndley, Carol Reed, Rembetika, Grenada, Cordoba, Sevilla, Lisboa, Dominguinos, Nilton Rangel, Mary Ann O'Dougherty, Gershom Scholem, The Boswell Sisters, Charlie Christian, Maury Bernstein, Jesus Silva, Yanaris Asemakis, Blind Blake, Blind Willie Mctell, Blind Boys of Alabama, Absinthe, Nicky Stavrou, Charlie Parker, Philip K. Dick, Marc Stillman, Robert Anton Wilson, Billie Holiday, Pat Donohue, Raphael Requeni, Robert Johnson, Dan McCorrison, Faulkner, Harpo, Jellyroll Morton, Raphael Rabello, Miguel Angel Asturias, Picasso, Giotto, Tiziano, Duck Baker, Peter Finger, Moby Dick, Chet Baker, Franco Morone, Dean Magraw, Borges, Pasolini, Rumi, Yeats, The Black Madonna, the Baal Shem Tov, Lenny Breau, Ed Bickert, Roger Hernandez, Cervantes, Gary Berg, Bach, Bartok, Kodaly, Tony Hauser, Tchaikovsky, Junior Brown, Luther Allison, Babe Stovall, Eddie Berger, Abdullah Ibrahim, Dollar Brand, Randy Weston, Fats Waller, Duke, Dexter, Oscar De Leon, MC5, Spade Cooley, Laurindo Almeida, Fado, Pedro Cabral, Eddie Goltz, Doc Cook's Dreamland Orchestra, Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti, Blind Willie Dunn and Lonnie Johnson, Paris, Venice, Padova, Bud Powell, Louis Armstrong, Cyro Baptista, Hermeto Pasqual, Chico Buarque, Fellini, Werner Herzog, Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Nate Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Gospel Music, Mexican Baroque, Fuentes, Piazolla, Sandor Szabo, Agustin Barrios, Johnny Winter, Jimi, Segovia, Slide Hampton, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Willie Murphy.

  • Sounds Like

    Tim Sparks!

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