Jamie Saft

Jamie Saft
Saft at the Newport Jazz Festival, 2014
Saft at the Newport Jazz Festival, 2014
Background information
Born1971 (age 53–54)
GenresAvant-garde
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
Instrument(s)Keyboards, organ
LabelsAvant, Tzadik, Veal
WebsiteOfficial website

Jamie Saft is an American keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist and composer.[1] He was born in New York City and raised a Conservative Jew,[2] and studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music.[1]

Saft moved from Brooklyn to the Hudson Valley around 2007, and lived near Roswell Rudd.[3] The two often played together, and Rudd passed on knowledge of some of his own music and that of Herbie Nichols.[3]

He has performed and recorded with an eclectic variety of artists including John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, Iggy Pop, Steve Swallow, Bobby Previte, and Marc Ribot.[1] He has also written several original film scores including Murderball and God Grew Tired of Us; selections from these were released by Tzadik Records as A Bag of Shells.[1] The same label has released several of Saft's recordings.[1]

Discography

  • Ragged Jack with Cuong Vu (Avant, 1996)
  • Sovlanut (Tzadik, 2000)
  • Breadcrumb Sins (Tzadik, 2002)
  • Merzdub (Caminante, 2006)
  • Trouble: The Jamie Saft Trio Plays Bob Dylan (Tzadik, 2006)
  • Black Shabbis (Tzadik, 2009)
  • A Bag of Shells (Tzadik, 2010)
  • Borscht Belt Studies (Tzadik, 2011)
  • Fight Against Babylon with New Zion Trio (Veal, 2011)
  • Chaliwa with New Zion Trio (Veal, 2013)
  • The New Standard (RareNoise, 2014)
  • Sunshine Seas with New Zion Trio (RareNoise, 2016)
  • Loneliness Road (RareNoise, 2017)
  • Blue Dream (RareNoise, 2018)
  • Solo a Genova (RareNoise, 2018)
  • You Don't Know the Life (RareNoise, 2019)
  • Hidden Corners (RareNoise, 2019)

As sideman

With Jerry Granelli
  • Enter, A Dragon (Songlines, 1998)
  • Crowd Theory (Songlines, 1999)
  • Music Has Its Way with Me (Perimeter, 1999)
  • El oh el ay (Love Slave, 2001)
  • The Only Juan (Love Slave, 2001)
  • Gigantic (Love Slave, 2003)
  • The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison (RareNoise, 2020)
With Bobby Previte
  • Too Close to the Pole (Enja, 1996)
  • My Man in Sydney (Enja, 1997)
  • Dangerous Rip (Enja, 1998)
  • The 23 Constellations of Joan Miro (Tzadik, 2001)
  • The Coalition of the Willing (P-Vine, 2006)
  • Mass (RareNoise, 2016)
  • Music from the Early 21st Century (RareNoise, 2020)
With John Zorn
  • Taboo & Exile (Tzadik, 1999)
  • Filmworks IX: Trembling Before G-d (Tzadik, 2000)
  • The Gift (Tzadik, 2001)
  • Filmworks X: In the Mirror of Maya Deren (Tzadik, 2001)
  • Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 2 (Tzadik, 2002)
  • Filmworks XI: Secret Lives (Tzadik, 2002)
  • Filmworks XII: Three Documentaries (Tzadik 2002)
  • IAO (Tzadik, 2002)
  • Voices in the Wilderness (Tzadik, 2003)
  • The Unknown Masada (Tzadik, 2003)
  • 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 4 (Tzadik, 2004)
  • Astaroth: Book of Angels Volume 1 (Tzadik, 2005)
  • Filmworks XVI: Workingman's Death (Tzadik, 2005)
  • Electric Masada: At the Mountains of Madness (Tzadik, 2005)
  • The Dreamers (Tzadik, 2008)
  • O'o (Tzadik, 2009)
  • Ipos: Book of Angels Volume 14 (Tzadik, 2010)
  • Baal: Book of Angels Volume 15 (Tzadik, 2010)
  • A Dreamers Christmas (Tzadik, 2011)
  • Pellucidar: A Dreamers Fantabula (Tzadik, 2015)
  • Six Litanies for Heliogabalus (Tzadik, 2007)
  • The Big Gundown (Tzadik, 2000)
With others
  • Marshall Allen, Ceremonial Healing (RareNoise, 2019)
  • Bad Brains, Build a Nation (Oscilloscope/Megaforce, 2007)
  • Cyro Baptista, Beat the Donkey (Tzadik, 2002)
  • Cyro Baptista, Love the Donkey (Tzadik, 2005)
  • Jane Ira Bloom, Like Silver, Like Song (ArtistShare, 2005)
  • Oren Bloedow & Jennifer Charles, La Mar Enfortuna (Tzadik, 2001)
  • Sasha Dobson, Aquarius (Creek Valley, 2013)
  • Dave Douglas, Freak In (Bluebird, 2002)
  • Dave Douglas, Keystone (Greenleaf Music, 2005)
  • Peter Epstein, Staring at the Sun (MA, 1997)
  • Gaudi, Magnetic (RareNoise, 2017)
  • Chuck Hammer, Blind On Blind (AVA, 2016)
  • Hasidic New Wave, From the Belly of Abraham (Knitting Factory, 2001)
  • Frank London, Scientist at Work (Tzadik, 2002)
  • Mat Maneri, Pentagon (Thirsty Ear, 2005)
  • Joe McPhee, Ticonderoga (Clean Feed, 2015)
  • Youn Sun Nah, She Moves On (ACT, 2017)
  • Orange Then Blue, Hold the Elevator (GM, 1999)
  • Ruper Ordorika, Memoriaren Mapan (Elkar, 2006)
  • Ruper Ordorika, Guria Ostatuan (Elkar, 2016)
  • Roswell Rudd, Strength & Power (RareNoise, 2016)
  • Wadada Leo Smith, Lake Biwa (Tzadik, 2004)
  • Wadada Leo Smith, Red Hill (RareNoise, 2014)
  • Chris Speed, Iffy (Knitting Factory, 2000)
  • Cuong Vu, Bound (OmniTone, 2000)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Layne, Joslyn. "Jamie Saft". AllMusic. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  2. ^ Cohan, Brad (2013-04-16). "H.R. of Bad Brains is Not Crazy, Insists Jamie Saft". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  3. ^ a b Murph, John (February 25, 2019). "Jamie Saft Delves into Rich Conversations on new RareNoise Disc". Down Beat. Retrieved March 17, 2020.