Violinist, fiddler, composer, producer and educator, Darol Anger is at home in a number of musical genres,
some of which he helped to invent. With the jazz-oriented Turtle Island String Quartet, Anger developed and
popularized new techniques for playing contemporary styles on string instruments. The rule-breaking
bluegrass-derived Psychograss and Anger-Marshall Band feature his style-bending compositions and arrangements.
His folk-jazz fusion group the Montreux Band became the musical model for the New Adult Contemporary radio format.
The David Grisman Quintet forged a new genre of acoustic string band music with Darol's "fertile inventiveness,
surprising touches and technical mastery" (Boston Herald) often in the forefront.
Working with some of the world's great improvising string musicians, among them Stephane Grappelli, Mark O'Connor,
Bela Fleck, David Grisman and Vassar Clements, has contributed to the development of Anger's signature voice, both
as a player and a composer. His published works include jazz originals and arrangements, a fiddle tune collection,
and of course, recordings.
Anger has produced dozens of critically lauded recordings since 1977 which have featured his compositions and
performances. His recent release as producer, arranger and performer, the
Heritage Folk Music project, brought
together some of the most important voices in the traditional, contemporary folk and bluegrass music scenes.
Anger holds the String Chair of the International Association of jazz Educators. He has led seminars at
the Stanford, Oberlin and Amherst jazz Workshops, regularly teaches at the Berklee School of Music and
the Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp, and at workshops from Campo Do Jordao, Brazil to the Music Conservatory
at Bremen, Germany. He is a Contributing Editor for Strings Magazine.
The recipient of a 1995 California Arts Council Composer Fellowship, Anger was nominated in 1997 for the
CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts. He has been a featured soloist on a number of motion picture soundtracks,
and he wrote and performed the score for the Sundance Award-winning film "Best Offer". He was the winner of
the Frets Magazine Readers' Poll for Best jazz Violinist for four years running, from 1982-85.
Anger's work has expanded not only the acoustic violin's boundaries, but has contributed to the development
of violin synthesizer repertoire and technology. His writings on these subjects and string education issues
appear regularly in prominent music periodicals. He is currently developing two jazz projects: One, the 4
Generations of Jazz Violin, bring together string geniuses from every era of jazz. The second, Darol Anger
and His Jazz Guys, is a working group featuring fellow S.F. Bay Area residents, playing originals
and jazz standards.
Darol Anger's home page
Darol Anger & His Jazz Guys
Selected Discography
Darol Anger
1999 Diary of a Fiddler Darol Anger & Friends (Compass Records)
1998 Heritage Darol Anger & Friends (Six Degrees 7569-2)
1985 Chiaroscuro Darol Anger & Mike Marshall (Windham Hill)
1982 Tideline Darol Anger, Barbara Higbie (Windham Hill WD-1021)
Anger/Marshall Band
1999 Jam (SRO)
Psychograss
1996 Like Minds (Sugar Hill 3851)
1993 Psychograss
Montreaux
1994 Montreaux Retrospective (Windham Hill)
1992 Live at Montreaux (Windham Hill)
Turtle Island String Quartet
1997 The Best of The Turtle Island String Quartet (Windham Hill)
1996 By the Fireside (Windham Hill Jazz)
A Night in Tunisia, A Week in Detroit (Chandos Records)
1994 Who Do We Think We Are (Windham Hill Jazz)
1992 Spider Dreams (Windham Hill Jazz)
1991 On the Town (Windham Hill Jazz)
1990 Skylife (Windham Hill Jazz)
1989 Metropolis (Windham Hill Jazz)
1988 Turtle Island String Quartet (Windham Hill Jazz)