I was introduced to Bob Brozman by a friend, and I have since been amazed by what I have heard. Brozman mixes styles and instruments from all over the world with his blues/slide guitar to make an intricate layering of foreign and familiar sounds. Some would call it "world music". Most of the instruments to accompany Brozman are plucked string instruments, not unlike a guitar. Brozman has incredible command over the instruments he plays, and the musicians he collaborates with are just as talented as, if not more than, he is. Three of my favorite albums are:

Ocean Blues with Djeli Moussa Diawara
Mahima with Debashish Bhattacharya
Blues Reflex (Brozman overdubbing himself.)

All in all they are very well recorded, though Ocean Blues is a little lacking. The recording style and acoustic instruments make for a raw sound that, with a little imagination, can transport me to right in front of the live performers. He released an album this year called Lumiere where he overdubs himself with some 30 different instruments. I haven't heard it yet, so If anyone has any comments about that album I would love to hear them.

Anyway, I recommend checking him out if you haven't already.

I know Bob quite well. Bob is a wise and worldly individual with a passion for social justice and history. He also just happens to be one the most skilled exponents of resophonic guitar "slide" technique in most (if not all) of its forms -- Hawaiian, Delta and World -- in the world today, and probably ikn the world ever. He is that good, one of those "there's only one guy playing!?" type players, sort of a Richard Thompson Of Slide. Bob's work with Debashish is equally astounding, but I prefer the "just Bob" recordings.

I know Bob quite well. Bob is a wise and worldly individual with a passion for social justice and history. He also just happens to be one the most skilled exponents of resophonic guitar "slide" technique in most (if not all) of its forms -- Hawaiian, Delta and World -- in the world today, and probably ikn the world ever. He is that good, one of those "there's only one guy playing!?" type players, sort of a Richard Thompson Of Slide. Bob's work with Debashish is equally astounding, but I prefer the "just Bob" recordings.

He sounds like he would be quite the interesting individual to meet. Most of all I would love to hear him play live. :music:

Check out the Tone Poems series of albums. Very good stuff. :music:

I love his albums.

He's on the first of the two "R. Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders" CD's that I'm aware of ("Singin' in the Bathtub"). There are some fine 20's-era Hawaiian-themed tunes on that one. While Brozman does not appear on the second CD ("Chasing Rainbows"), it is worth having as well, Robert Armstrong does just as great a job on slide guitar. I went nuts when I got those two CD's, and listened to them both every day for a couple of months! And yes, it's that R. Crumb, the cartoonist famous for Mr. Natural and Keep On Trucking...he plays banjo and sings.

--Bob

Bob is fantastic; try "The Devil's Slide" for a good cross-selection of his styles. The Robert Crumb collabs are great too.

C.