Upcoming Performances

A. Spencer Barefield Super String Quartet 

Premieres in NYC

Monday, July 22 • 8:30 pm

Cornelia Street Cafe in NYC's Greenwich Village

29 Cornelia Street between Bleecker St and W. 4th. St. 

Set I

Curtis Stewart Trio - Cycles in Song:
Music of Bach, Brahms, Webern, Coltrane, Stewart, "Outkast," etc...

The Curtis Stewart Trio navigates classical, jazz, and hip hop through compositions that explore the textural and expressive connections between classical music and the "otherness." Jazz vocalist Nancy Harms, Blake Whyte of Mama Mia, opera singer Korin Kormick, and nationally lauded spoken word artist Darian Dauchan join the trio (Curtis Stewart, violin; Alex Hills Keys; Ian Baggette, Bass) for a set of songs that cycle through style and attempt to cultivate an inner connection between these seemingly disparate aesthetics. www.curtisjstewart.com, www.blakewhyte.com,www.nancyharms.com, www.dariandauchan.com, www.korinkormick.com

Set II-A. Spencer Barefield Super String Quartet
w/special guest Soprano Jessica Tivens Schneiderman

World-renowned guitarist/composer Spencer Barefield presents string quartet arrangements of his own composition,s as well as jazz standards and classical compositions that question the boundary between "folk" and "art" musics. Features music of Villa Lobos, Joe Henderson, Barefield, among others, with Jannina Kara Norpoth on violin; Curtis Stewart, violin; John-Paul Norpoth on bass, and featureing guest vocalist on Jannina's arrangment of VIlla Lobos, Jessica Tivens. www.spencerbarefield.com/

$20 cover includes drink

More info on facebook: www.facebook.com/events/196931567132664/

2013 Performances

Past Concerts:

Wednesday-Saturday, May 8-11

Barefield Trio with Dave Young on bass and Sean Dobbins on drums

Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe

www.dirtydogjazz.com

Barefield Super String Quartet 

@ Palmer Woods Music in Homes

Friday, June 21, 2013 • 8 pm

Read Father/Daughter Musical Duo Perform in Palmer Woods, 
Hour Detroit

L-r: bassist John-Paul Norpoth, A. Spencer Barefield, violinist Jannina Barefield Norpoth, (artwork of Thelonious Monk by Jim Pallas), violist John Madison

Tickets for Palmer Woods Music in Homes concerts are $40 each or $35 for groups of 10 or more, can be purchased at palmerwoods.org or by calling (313) 891-2514. The address of the concert home in Palmer Woods is revealed when tickets are purchased.

A free educational concert for young people will precede the evening concert from 5-6 pm. Educators or parents can call 313-891-2514 to arrange for students to attend.

A. Spencer Barefield at the Concert of Colors 2012. Photo by © Doug Coombe 2012

A. Spencer Barefield, Sean Dobbins on drums and Marion Hayden on bass,
Concert of Colors 2012. Photo by © Barbara Barefield 2012

2012

A. Spencer Barefield was one of the featured performers on the Don Was Detroit Jazz All-Stars night for the Concert of Colors on Sat. July 14, 2012, at Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall. The entire Jazz All-Stars night was filmed for Was' channel on www.mydamnchannel.com and recorded for a "Detroit Jazz City" album that Blue Note Records, where Was is president, will release this fall as a benefit for Focus: Hope.

A. Spencer Barefield Trio — Barefield on guitar, Dave Young on bass and Djallo Djakate Keita on drums performed at the Detroit Jazz Festival's Chase Stage (at Campus Martius) at noon, Sat. Sept. 1. This is the first time in 10 years that Barefield has performed for the Festival.

Barefield was a special guest in the University Musical Society's concert "From Cass Corridor to the World: A Tribute to Detroit's Musical Golden Age" on Monday, January 21, 2013 at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Mich. Spearheaded by pianist Geri Allen, with Robert Hurst on bass and Karriem Riggins on drums (and a lineup of dozens), the three-hour concert featured many of Detroit's musical legends and paid tribute to others. Barefield performed a Kenny Burrell tribute with bassist Ralph Armstong. 

Palmer Woods Music in Homes

Monk, Dizzy, Coltrane & More with
Barefield-Adams-Young-Dobbins Quartet
Saturday, Feb. 16, 8 pm

L-r: Dwight Adams, Dave Young, Sean Dobbins. Adams & Young photos by
© Barbara Barefield 2012; Dobbins photo by © Doug Coombe 2012

The music of some of the greatest composers of the 20th Century — African ­American legends, including Thelonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, ­Joe Henderson, ­Jackie McLean and others — was performed by world-renowned musicians: guitarist ­­A. Spencer Barefield, trumpeter Dwight Adams, bassist Dave Young, and percussionist Sean Dobbins.

The concert was be held  in a magnificent private home in the historic Palmer Woods neighborhood of Detroit. This evening of authentic jazz culture included dinner and refreshments during intermission, and a free concert for children preceding the evening event.

A. Spencer Barefield Quartet Soirée in Palmer Woods

Saturday, Sept. 1 • 8 pm
CAC Concert Home in Detroit's Palmer Woods

Barefield, “an extraordinary guitarist/composer” according to JazzTimes, leads a stellar ensemble: Trumpeter Dwight Adams (Stevie Wonder's regular touring sideman); Djallo Djakate Keita on drums; and Canada's national treasure, Juno awardee Dave Young on bass (Oscar Peterson's bassist for decades).

Barefield @ MOCAD

Detroit-based guitarist and composer A. Spencer Barefield was honored to collaborate with Joshua White and Gary Panter’s Light Show at MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit) on Fri. April 6 at 8 pm.

Barefield @ Imagination Station

Barefield Super String Quartet:

Creative Transformation in Detroit's

Corktown Neighborhood

Sunday, August 28, 3–5 pm

2230 14th Street, AKA The Imagination Station

The Imagination Station at Roosevelt Park—two blighted but exploding with creative energy Corktown homes facing the iconic Michigan Central Train Station—was the setting for “Summer Soiree,” an adventurous jazzy classical concert and party on Sunday, August 28 at 3 pm. Guitarist-composer A. Spencer Barefield, a 2010 Kresge Arts Fellow, electrified 2230 and 2236 14th Street  with his cutting-edge music featuring violinist Jannina Norpoth, violist John Madison and bassist John-Paul Norpoth.

A. Spencer Barefield & Creative Arts Collective

Barefield awarded the prestigious 2010
Kresge Foundation Arts Fellowship

"A. Spencer Barefield is the best guitarist ignored by the U.S. jazz industry. He melds the techniques of Segovia and Jimi Hendrix into a startling jazz lexicon. The Detroit-based Barefield’s ensembles have included the likes of James Carter, Andrew Cyrille and Richard Davis, and his compositions have made bold use of string quartets."     Bill Shoemaker, JazzTimes

Clockwise from top left: A. Spencer Barefield, Richard Davis,
Dave McMurray, Marian Hayden, Dave Young and Marcus Belgrave.
Photo: ©2011 Barbara Barefield

Read more at artxdetroit.com/artist/a-spencer-barefield/
Photo: ©2011 Barbara Barefield 

Described by JazzTimes as “an extraordinary guitarist/composer,” Barefield has received numerous awards for composition and performance from National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, Kresge Foundation and others. He has toured and recorded in the US, Canada, and Europe, extensively as a leader, soloist, and with Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell, Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille, Richard Davis and many more. Barefield’s Creative Arts Collective has received international recognition for its innovative presentations, including its Creative Music at the Detroit Institute of Arts series and current Palmer Woods Music in Homes series. 

Creative Arts Collective

A mainstay on the Detroit music scene, Barefield is the director of the Creative Arts Collective (CAC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the presentation, preservation and creation of jazz and creative music. Inspired by Chicago's legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), two members of AACM, Roscoe Mitchell and Dushun Mosley, were founding members of CAC with Spencer in the early 1970s in East Lansing, Michigan.

Recordings from the historic Creative Music at the DIA concerts are now part of the Beneath Detroit CD series. A 2-disc set with Douglas Ewart, Barefield and Tani Tabbal; a 2-disc set with Leroy Jenkins with Barefield, Tabbal, Faruq Z. Bey, Jaribu Shahid and Anthony Holland; and Transdimensional Space Window with Barefield-Holland-Tabbal Trio can be purchased from itunes, Amazon.com, jazzloft.com. Read more at www.jazzloft.com/p-53160-beneath-detroit.aspx

Since that time, CAC has made its mark both locally and internationally. Its 13-year concert series at the Detroit Institute of Arts boldly presented collaborations between Barefield and other Detroit-based artists — such as Tani Tabbal, Jaribu Shahid, Dave McMurray, Tony Holland, Roy Brooks, Faruq Z. Bey, James Carter, Regina Carter, Geri Allen, Marcus Belgrave and many others — with jazz greats such as Roscoe Mitchell, Leroy Jenkins, George Lewis, Douglas Ewart, Muhal Richard Abrams, Richard Davis, Andrew Cyrille, Anthony Davis, Lester Bowie, Reggie Workman and a long list of others. CAC's contributions to the cultural scene in Michigan earned it the Governor's Arts Award for most valuable arts organization.

CAC continues to present concerts throughout the US and internationally. Many of its concerts have been broadcast on National Public Radio and have been released on CDs. CAC is currently partnering with Detroit's Palmer Woods neighborhood to produced Palmer Woods Music in Homes, palmerwoods.org

"Like Kenny Burrell, Spencer Barefield hails from Detroit. And like that of the esteemed bop veteran, his approach to the guitar is smooth, lyrical and elegantly understated. So much for cornerstones. In drawing deftly from classical and West African forms on acoustic guitar, this self-effacing young innovator is in all other respects an intriguing original."

Chicago Sun Times

Spencer Barefield at Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit
Photo: ©2011 Barbara Barefield 

Check back for news, event postings, and updates on Detroit Jazz Guitarist and Composer A. Spencer Barefield and the Creative Arts Collective.

Spencer Barefield Quartet

Left to right: A. Spencer Barefield, Dave McMurray, Djallo Djakate Keita, Dave Young
Photo: ©2011 Barbara Barefield

It's a special opportunity when Dave Young crosses the border from Toronto to perform in Metro-Detroit. Canada's Juno award-winning bassist (Canada's Grammys)—a regular with the famed Oscar Peterson for some 30-year—performs and records with the Spencer Barefield Quartet. The quartet's stellar lineup includes: David McMurray (sax), Dave Young (bass), Djallo Djakate Keita (drums), and A. Spencer Barefield (guitar).

Performances are presented by the Creative Arts Collective with support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts and Metro Times. Since 1978, the Creative Arts Collective has been committed to presenting the best of cutting-edge jazz and creative music in Detroit and throughout the world. "Soul Steppin' Through the Fabulous Ruins" the Spencer Barefield Quartet's latest CD release, has receiving rave reviews and has delighted jazz aficionados. For more information: 313-891-2514.

B I O G R A P H I E S

"Barefield's lovely solo has the presence of a Segovia piece
with its majestic chords and runs.
His composition constantly shifts from European
to African influences and back with ease.
It is truly a fine musical moment that reveals more of its
complexity with each new listening."

— Cadence Magazine

Guitarist/composer A. Spencer Barefield has received numerous awards for composition and performance from ArtServe Michigan-MCACA, Meet-the-Composer/NEA Commission USA, Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest, National Endowment for the Arts, Michigan Council for Arts, Arts Midwest and others. He has toured and recorded in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, extensively as a leader, soloist, and with Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell, Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille, Richard Davis and others. Barefield's recordings "Live Detroit" and "Xenogenesis 2000" (CAC label), and his Sound Aspects (Germany) releases "After the End" and "Live at Leverkusen" have received rave international reviews and honors. He is the Artistic and Executive Director of the Creative Arts Collective (CAC) — its concerts at the Detroit Institute of Arts and elsewhere earned CAC the Michigan's Governor's Arts Award for excellence and international recognition for its innovative presentations. More than a hundred of CAC's concerts have been broadcast on National Public Radio. Barefield has taught guitar and improvisation at the University of Michigan School of Music and elsewhere.