Violinist, fiddler, composer, producer and educator, Darol Anger is at home in a number of musical genres, some of which he helped to invent. With the jazz-oriented Turtle Island String Quartet, Anger developed and popularized new techniques for playing contemporary styles on string instruments. The rule-breaking bluegrass-derived Psychograss and Anger-Marshall Band feature his style-bending compositions and arrangements. His folk-jazz fusion group the Montreux Band became the musical model for the New Adult Contemporary radio format. The David Grisman Quintet forged a new genre of acoustic string band music with Darol's "fertile inventiveness, surprising touches and technical mastery" (Boston Herald) often in the forefront.

Working with some of the world's great improvising string musicians, among them Stephane Grappelli, Mark O'Connor, Bela Fleck, David Grisman and Vassar Clements, has contributed to the development of Anger's signature voice, both as a player and a composer. His published works include jazz originals and arrangements, a fiddle tune collection, and of course, recordings.

Anger has produced dozens of critically lauded recordings since 1977 which have featured his compositions and performances. His recent release as producer, arranger and performer, the Heritage Folk Music project, brought together some of the most important voices in the traditional, contemporary folk and bluegrass music scenes.

Anger holds the String Chair of the International Association of jazz Educators. He has led seminars at the Stanford, Oberlin and Amherst jazz Workshops, regularly teaches at the Berklee School of Music and the Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp, and at workshops from Campo Do Jordao, Brazil to the Music Conservatory at Bremen, Germany. He is a Contributing Editor for Strings Magazine.

The recipient of a 1995 California Arts Council Composer Fellowship, Anger was nominated in 1997 for the CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts. He has been a featured soloist on a number of motion picture soundtracks, and he wrote and performed the score for the Sundance Award-winning film "Best Offer". He was the winner of the Frets Magazine Readers' Poll for Best jazz Violinist for four years running, from 1982-85.

Anger's work has expanded not only the acoustic violin's boundaries, but has contributed to the development of violin synthesizer repertoire and technology. His writings on these subjects and string education issues appear regularly in prominent music periodicals. He is currently developing two jazz projects: One, the 4 Generations of Jazz Violin, bring together string geniuses from every era of jazz. The second, Darol Anger and His Jazz Guys, is a working group featuring fellow S.F. Bay Area residents, playing originals and jazz standards.

Darol Anger's home page

Darol Anger & His Jazz Guys