.Tim Sparks

Little Princess

Tim Sparks is a Minnesota-based acoustic guitarist upholding the
tradition(s) of virtuosos Robbie Basho and the late John Fahey. Like
Fahey, Spark’s style is incredibly inclusive — he’s opened shows
for Dolly Parton, performed at folk festivals in America and Europe,
appeared on Prairie Home Companion, and has discs released on
avant-garde saxophonist/composer John Zorn’s label Tzadik.

Little Princess is Sparks’ homage to Naftule Brandwein, the
innovative and cantankerous genius of the klezmer clarinet, whose
heyday was in the 1920s and 1930s. (Klezmer is a secular
Hebraic/Yiddish music of Easern European origin, the American version
of which is very jazz-influenced.) With astonishingly brilliant
technique, Sparks infuses the Eastern European-based melodies of
Brandwein with elements of flamenco and jazz (in terms of both swing
and improvisation), his fingerstyle picking rippling and assertive.
More importantly, his approach is free of stuffy “reverence” for the
object of his homage — Princess is modern, wiry, and
inspired as anything by Joshua Redman or Tortoise. His trio, acoustic
bassist Greg Cohen (who’s played with Zorn, Tom Waits, and Woody
Allen!) and Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista, juggle and
interweave more rhythms than you’ve had hot breakfasts, maybe
ever.

Little Princess sounds vaguely familiar and yet like nothing
else, exuding joy and euphoric creativity. No home should be without a
copy (seriously). (Tzadik)

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