A couple of weeks ago I was home on a Saturday night with no specific plans when I got a call from my old friend Errol, someone who I have been in bands with on & off for over thirty years. He had an extra ticket to see David Bromberg at the Beacon that night and was I interested? I had not seen Bromberg in concert since sometime in the early Eighties but I knew that he always put on a good show so of course I said yes. It wasn’t till I got to the Beacon that I found out that this would be his final show with his big band and that he was retiring from touring.
David Bromberg started out during the mid sixties folk boom. Being proficient on fiddle, numerous styles of acoustic and electric guitar, pedal steel guitar and dobro, Bromberg gained a reputation through his session work for artists such as Jerry Jeff Walker and Bob Dylan, contributing to Dylan’s Self Portrait and New Morning. It was at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival where he was backing folk singer Rosalie Sorrels that he was asked to perform an impromptu solo set. The success of this appearance led to his being offered a recording contract with Columbia Records.
His 1971 self-titled Columbia Records release, David Bromberg included his composition “Sammy’s Song”, featuring Dylan on harmonica, and “The Holdup”, co-written with George Harrison. His second album, Demon In Disguise (1972), had him backed up by the Grateful Dead on a couple of songs, most notably “Sharon”, along with his solo rendition of “Mr. Bojangles” which interspersed his virtuoso acoustic guitar with stories about traveling with the song’s author, Jerry Jeff Walker. He went on to record several more albums for Columbia and then Fantasy Records.
The incessant demands of touring took their toll and Bromberg finally brought the band’s recordings and shows to an end in the early 1980’s. Bromberg moved to Wilmington, Delaware with his wife where they owned an extensive violin sales and repair shop, David Bromberg Fine Violins.
The bug to get back performing must of got to him because in 2006 when he released Try Me One More Time. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Traditional Folk Album in 2008. Since that time Bromberg began touring and making records again but In 2023 Bromberg said that, while he still might play occasional live shows, he would no longer tour with his Big Band and on June 10, 2023, David Bromberg and His Big Band played their farewell concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
I’m really glad that I was there.
David Bromberg – Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair – 4/15/1977 – Capitol Theatre
David Bromberg Band – Will Not Be Your Fool (4/17/1976) – Capital Theater
David Bromberg Sept 23 2017 – Sharon
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