Latin Violin

Book excerpt: "A wonderful book. Sam Bardfeld's approach to teaching soloing along with being able to listen to examples of the masters of Afro-Cuban style on the violin sparked new and creative ideas in me. He presents a huge amount of material in a way that seems fun and lets you dive right in." - Regina Carter, jazz violinist and MacArthur "Genius" Award recipient"It's very satisfying that Sam Bardfeld's contribution to the texts on Latin music comes out of the gate so strongly. The historical context is wonderful, the information about the overall structure of the music is invaluable and a great place for the violinist to start, and the transcriptions are beautiful. Congratulations on a wonderful project that is going to fill a vacuum that is vast and fill it completely. I see no reason for there ever to be another book besides this one on Latin violin playing." - Matt Glaser, violinist, Chairman Emeritus, Strings Department, Berklee College of Music"This book is a welcome addition to the growing number of texts on Afro-Cuban based music. Sam opens the door for all violinists (and all instrumentalists) to this incredibly rich tradition in a clear, concise manner with a great deal of respect for its history. I recommend it highly." - Bobby Sanabria, 8x Grammy Nominee, percussionist, bandleader and educator"A very useful book for the violinist who wants to begin to understand the complexities and intricacies of Latin jazz music." - Mark Feldman, jazz violinist, composer, recording artist.Originally published in 2001, Sam Bardfeld's book Latin Violin is considered one of the classics of the creative/alternative strings literature. It's been out of print since 2014 and is finally getting re-released as an eBook. The music on the original accompanying CD can be accessed via a download link provided in the book. Latin Violin is useful for both professional and student violinists who want to learn something about playing violin in the Afro-Cuban tradition (aka "salsa" or "Latin music"). The book is in four sections and covers an historical overview of the role of the violin in Afro-Cuban music; how the music works; transcriptions and analyses of solos by the seminal violinists in the Afro-Cuban tradition; and an outline of the music featured on the accompanying CD. The CD includes famous Afro-Cuban violin solos and an extended play-along session. "Salsa, and Latin music in general, have been exploding in popularity since the late seventies and show no sign of slowing down. The violin has filled an intriguing role in this kind of music, and there are many great opportunities for string players playing this style, but there has been very little documentation on the style up until this book. One of the great things about the book is its powerful approach to context: Bardfeld managed to get the rights to important recordings of some of the originators of the style, and included them in a CD recording with the book. Historical information and painstakingly accurate transcriptions of those solos complete the picture. Discussions of Clave and other important features of Latin music make this book a must for any serious violinist, professional or amateur." - Darol Anger, violinist, educator, recording artist