RANDY SABIEN

“Jazz violinists usually draw from one of two traditions. The best of both can be found in the superb Randy Sabien… he combines classical technique and folk energy in a program that’s still strictly jazz.”
USA TODAY

“…The resulting sound is swinging, rocking, rhythmic and bluesy with a fiddle that often plays more like a saxophone than a violin. There are shades of Duke and Miles and you can certainly hear the echoes of the great jazz violinists from the swing era but above all, Randy is a product of his time – someone who grew up playing the violin while immersed in the music of the 60s and 70s. ”

CHRIS WAGONER & MARY GAINES will join Randy on the first set.

Originally a jazz-guitar major at the University of WI-Stevens Point, MARY GAINES truly found her musical voice studying jazz cello under the tutelage of the great Richard Davis (bass player with artists ranging from Sarah Vaughn to Van Morrison) at the UW-Madison. Mary is also known for her amazing voice–often compared to Bonnie Raitt but definitely her own. She (along with her husband, Chris) has done extensive work as a session musician, appearing on albums such as Smashing Pumpkin’s Gish, several Freedy Johnston, Willy Porter, and Carrie Newcomer albums, and scores of others.

A founding member of Madison’s Harmonious Wail, The Common Faces, The Bob Westfall Quartet, and The Moon Gypsies (the latter three co-founded with Mary Gaines), CHRIS WAGONER has had his foot in just about every musical circle in Madison. Classically trained as a violinist, (he also plays ukulele, hawaiian guitar, accordion), he met Mary while attending the UW-Madison. Switching to an alternating diet of jazz and classical violin studies, while playing in bands ranging from rock, blues, bluegrass, and country, to folk and jazz, Chris has been an in-demand performer and session musician in the region for almost two decades.

BILL CAMPLIN will deign to play with Randy for the second set.