Darol Anger is an American violinist and founding member of The David Grisman Quintet.

Career

Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to

David Grisman David Grisman (born March 23, 1945) is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acoustic mu ...

's mandolin in The David Grisman Quintet's (DGQ) 1977 debut. He co-founded and named the

Turtle Island String Quartet The Turtle Island Quartet is a string quartet that plays hybrids of jazz, classical, and rock music. The group was formed in 1985 by David Balakrishnan, Darol Anger, and Mark Summer in San Francisco. They released their first album on Windham ...

with

David Balakrishnan David Balakrishnan (born 1954, Los Angeles, California) is the founder of the Turtle Island Quartet. Life After graduating from UCLA in 1976 with a B.A. in music composition and violin, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he quickly estab ...

in 1985 and performed, composed, and arranged for the chamber jazz group. He frequently collaborates with fellow DGQ alumnus Mike Marshall. Anger met pianist

Barbara Higbie Barbara Higbie (born 1958) is an American Grammy nominated, Bammy award winning pianist, composer, violinist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has played on over 100 CDs including songs with Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt. The f ...

in Paris and formed a musical partnership with her. Together they released an early record on

Windham Hill Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

, ''Tideline'' (1982). Two years later, they formed a group called The Darol Anger/Barbara Higbie Quintet with Mike Marshall,

Todd Phillips Todd Phillips (né Bunzl, born December 20, 1970) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as ''Road Trip'', '' Old School'', '' Starsky & Hutch'', and '' School ...

, and

Andy Narell Andy Narell (born March 18, 1954) is an American jazz steel pannist, composer and producer. Biography Narell took up the steelpan at a young age in Queens, New York. His father, who was a social worker, had started a program of steelpan playing ...

. This group performed at the 1984

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

. The quintet later took the name

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxi ...

. After two studio releases, the band broke up in 1990, and Anger continued with the

, founded in 1985. He still collaborates with ''Montreux'' and fellow ''Psychograss'' colleague, Mike Marshall, and occasionally also collaborates with Barbara Higbie and Michael Manring. Using classical, folk, and jazz music as springboards, he currently leads Republic of Strings, founded with Scott Nygaard. He also co-founded The Duo (with Mike Marshall), Psychograss (the bluegrass group including Mike Marshall, mandolin; Todd Phillips, bass;

David Grier David Grier is an American acoustic guitarist. He is considered to be one of the premier flatpicking guitarists in the world. His crosspicking, unique phrasing, and his ability to create multiple variations on a theme are hallmarks of his playi ...

, guitar; and

Tony Trischka Anthony Cattell Trischka (born January 16, 1949) is an American five-string banjo player. Sandra Brennan wrote of him in 2021: "One of the most influential modern banjoists, both in several forms of bluegrass music and occasionally in jazz and ...

, banjo), Fiddlers 4 (with

Michael Doucet Michael Louis Doucet (born February 14, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil. Early life Doucet was born in Scott, Louisiana, to a Cajun family. Family parties in the 1950s ...

Bruce Molsky Bruce C. Molsky (born 1955, New York City) is an American fiddler, banjo player, guitarist, and singer. He primarily performs old-time music of the Appalachian region. Early years As a young man, Molsky first became interested in blues music, b ...

, violins; and

Rushad Eggleston Rushad Robert Eggleston (born September 30, 1979) is an American cellist, composer, jazz vocalist, & performer. Eggleston's music can be eccentric, with many references to fantasy and goblins. Eggleston is known for inventing words, and for hi ...

, cello), and Mr. Sun (with Joe Walsh, Grant Gordy, and Ethan Jodziewicz). Anger also plays frequently with pianist Phil Aaberg. He has performed or recorded with musicians ranging from

Tony Rice David Anthony Rice (June 8, 1951 – December 25, 2020), known professionally as Tony Rice, was an American guitarist and bluegrass musician. He was an influential acoustic guitar player in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and a ...

Stephane Grappelli Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece), a vestment in ancient Greece * Stephane (Paphlagonia) Stephane ( grc, Στεφάνη) was a small port town on the coast of ancient Paphlagonia, according to Arria ...

and

Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American fiddle player and composer whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Musician Of The Year award ...

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop ( �mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate o ...

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

Nickel Creek Nickel Creek (formerly known as the Nickel Creek Band) is an American bluegrass band consisting of Chris Thile (mandolin), and siblings Sara Watkins ( fiddle) and Sean Watkins (guitar). Formed in 1989 in Southern California, they released six ...

Chris Thile Christopher Scott Thile (; born February 20, 1981) is an American mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and radio personality, best known for his work in the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek and the acoustic folk and progressive blue ...

Punch Brothers Punch Brothers is an American band consisting of Chris Thile (mandolin), Gabe Witcher (fiddle/violin), Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris Eldridge (guitar), and Paul Kowert (bass). Their style has been described as "bluegrass instrumentation and spon ...

Yonder Mountain String Band The Yonder Mountain String Band is an American progressive bluegrass group from Nederland, Colorado. Composed of Dave Johnston, Ben Kaufmann, Adam Aijala, and Nick Piccininni, the band has released five studio albums and several live recordings t ...

Béla Fleck Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, bringing the instrument from its bluegrass roots to jazz, classi ...

Taarka ''Taarka'' is a Lyons, Colorado-based musical group originally formed in Portland, Oregon in 2001 by the husband/wife team of David Tiller (mandolin) and Enion Pelta-Tiller (violin). The group originally included Jarrod Kaplan on percussion and ...

and Anonymous 4. He can also be heard on the NPR's Car Talk theme song. He is a MacDowell and

UCross The Ucross Foundation, located in Ucross, Wyoming, is a nonprofit organization that operates an internationally known retreat for visual artists, writers, composers, and choreographers working in all creative disciplines. History Founded in 1981 ...

Fellow. Anger currently lives in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metro ...

, after moving from his long-time home in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. He has completed the construction of 2 violins under the guidance of luthier Jonathan Cooper and was in 2010 named Associate Professor at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cou ...

. In June 2011 he began teaching online at the Online Fiddle School with Darol Anger, as part of the

ArtistWorks ArtistWorks, LLC is an online music learning education platform based out of Napa, CA. ArtistWorks was founded by David and Patricia Butler in 2008. The company developed a proprietary patented system for interacting with teachers based upon online ...

Academy of Bluegrass. He was the Artist at Large at the 2018 John Hartford Memorial Festival.

Discography

* 1979 ''Fiddlistics'' * 1982 ''Tideline'' – with

* 1983 ''The Duo'' – with Mike Marshall * 1984 ''Live at Montreux '84'' * 1985 ''Jazz Violin Celebration'' * 1985 ''Chiaroscuro'' * 1987 ''Sign Language'' * 1989 ''Let Them Say'' * 1993 ''Psychograss'' * 1996 ''Heritage'' * 1997 ''At Home and on the Range'' * 1998 ''Christmas Heritage'' * 1997 ''Like Minds'' * 1999 ''Jam'' * 1999 ''Diary of a Fiddler'' * 2000 ''Brand New Can'' * 2001 ''Now Hear This'' * 2005 ''Republic of Strings'' * 2007 ''Generation Nation'' * 2007 ''Woodshop'' * 2007 ''Mike Marshall and Darol Anger with

Väsen Väsen is a Swedish folk music band from Uppsala, founded in 1989, consisting of Olov Johansson (nyckelharpa) and Mikael Marin (viola). Previous members include André Ferrari (percussion) and founding member Roger Tallroth (guitar), the latte ...

'' * 2008 ''Cross Time'' – with

Philip Aaberg Philip Aaberg (born April 8, 1949) is an American pianist and composer. He gained international recognition through a series of successful piano recordings released on Windham Hill Records. Although classically trained, Aaberg incorporates cla ...

* 2014 ''Eand'a''

Republic of Strings

* 2004 ''Republic of Strings'' * 2006 ''Generation Nation''

References

External links

Darol Anger (Official website)Online Fiddle School with Darol AngerArtistWorks Academy of BluegrassCompass Records: Darol Anger (Artist page)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anger, Darol 1953 births Living people Violinists from San Francisco American bluegrass fiddlers Progressive bluegrass musicians New-age fiddlers New-age violinists Folk violinists Folk fiddlers Chamber jazz musicians American jazz violinists American male violinists Windham Hill Records artists Jazz musicians from San Francisco Country musicians from California 21st-century American violinists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians David Grisman Quintet members Montreux (band) members Psychograss members Turtle Island Quartet members Compass Records artists Rounder Records artists Six Degrees Records artists