David Bromberg: still a demon in disguise

Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine,  Spring, 2007  by Roger Deitz

David Bromberg is hardly a real demon--he just plays one on stage. The disguise is that of a musical magician his craft in plain sight: now you hear it, now you don't. Bromberg is an intense, savvy, seemingly enigmatic artist. The guitar wizard labored long and hard to assimilate and explore the music he performs at a level that dazzles the ear. For the nearly forty years I have known David, I pondered what makes for such enthusiastic sorcery. I am still mesmerized by his wryly humorous, technically accomplished presentation. And his eclectic taste. At concerts or in front of the stereo, I lean forward to warm myself by the fire that must burn within a musician who processes what he has heard, lived and loved into such powerful and satisfying self-expression. I find it amusing and ironic that listeners caught up in a frenzy of notes often project super human attributes onto the serious artist that in the final analysis is more restrained than one can imagine. The real disguise? David is a skillful professional going about his business, the business of making music. The demon is in the ear of the beholder.