David Bromberg

[domradave]

I have just seen a photo of David Bromberg playing mandolin. Has anybody heard David Bromberg play mandolin? On any CDs?
I know he plays and deals fiddles so his mandolin playing must be great, too!

[sunburst]

I've heard him play mandolin on vinyl, will that do? Among other albums, he plays mandolin some on "How Late'll Ya Play 'Til?".

[Bob Bass]

A number of David Bromberg's vinyl records from the 1970s actually got re-issued on cds, and most of them included at least one or two fiddle tunes and/or fiddle tune medleys, with David playing some portions and/or whole tracks on mandolin.

One of the musicians who was a regular member of his "live" and "studio" groups was Dick Fegy, who played some fiddle and a lot of mandolin. Other fiddle players who played mandolin on some tracks included Jay Ungar and Brantley Kearns. Andy Statman played some mandolin on the "Wanted Dead or Alive" album, for which he also played some saxophone. Fiddler Evan Stover, who played w/Jay Ungar in Fiddle Fever, played fiddle on some tracks and also did string arrangements for some tunes.

You might need to check specific track & musician credits to be sure on which ones David plays mandolin- but likely a couple of tracks/album.

[AlanN]

One of the early LPS had Sugar In The Gourd, maybe twin mandolins on it.

[Tom C]

Bromberg has the largest and most prestigious collection of American made violins. He used to play a 70s Gibson but I think he upgraded to an Eastman last I saw him...but it's been a while. Dick Fegy played a nice F-4.

[domradave]

I have just seen a photo of David Bromberg playing mandolin. Has anybody heard David Bromberg play mandolin? On any CDs?
I know he plays and deals fiddles so his mandolin playing must be great, too!

He does play mandolin, and well! I found only one video on YouTube that he plays mandolin, with 2 other guys playing mandolin.

[lukmanohnz]

I saw Bromberg in concert many moons ago. He was the opener for either Jesse Colin Young or Jonathan Edwards (can't recall - this was in '80 or '81) who got snowbound on the way to the show and cancelled. To compensate the attendees, Bromberg and his band played two long sets of just phenomenal music plus encores. Bromberg played guitar, fiddle, and mandolin throughout both sets. One of my all-time favorite Bromberg tunes is Main Street Moan:



It features some great bluesy mandolin licks, but Andy Statman is the only musician credited with playing mandolin on the album, so it must be Andy on that track.

[mandolinstew]

I saw the David Bromberg band on 7 November at Tarrytown NY and at one point the other guitar player, the fiddle player and himself all played mandolins together.Excellent show.That was the only time he played mandolin,but the guitar player(didn't catch his name)played a few nice mandolin solos on other songs.

[montana]

Bromberg has always been one of my favorites.

[High Lonesome Valley]

http://www.davidbrombergfineviolins.com/

I stopped over his store over to his store in Wilmington Delaware a couple of times.

When he offered me $125 for a $3500 classical era violin, we parted as acquaintances.

[J.Albert]

David was a mandolin player long before he was a fiddler...

[LKN2MYIS]

I was - and still am - a huge fan of Bromberg. (By the way, I am also in Plainview, N.Y.).

I have seen him play literally dozens of times over the years - My Father's Place, various college rathskellers, etc.

He often played the mandolin, and did a fine job with it. "New Lee Highway Blues" comes to mind, as well
as many of his jigs and reels. The "Wanted" CD has some great stuff on it, so does "Midnight On The Water".

He also has other mandolin players join him - Jay Ungar, Neil Rossi - on these CDs. All good stuff.

[djeffcoat]

Saw Bromberg at Rockefeller's in Houston about 30 years ago. He played triple mandolins with Dick Fegy and Gene Johnson.

[june39]

The Fretboard Journal article about Bromberg mentioned that he has owned several Loar F5's over the years.