Randy Sabien (; born September 26, 1956) is an American jazz violinist, composer, and music educator known for his live performances and numerous recordings, many of them on Flying Fish Records and Red House Records. At the age of 21 he founded and chaired the Jazz Strings department at Boston's

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 cours ...

and since 2009 has been the chair of the Strings department of McNally Smith College of Music.

Life and career

Sabien was born in North Carolina while his father was in the US Army as a dentist. After his tour of duty, the family settled in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

.Masino, Susan (2003). ''Famous Wisconsin Musicians'', p. 115. Badger Books. Sabien, originally a drummer, took up the violin to fill a gap in his local youth orchestra and developed his love for jazz after hearing the jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. McNally Smith College of Music (February 3, 2009)
"Jazz Violin Great Randy Sabien to Head New String Department at McNally Smith College of Music"
. Retrieved June 11, 2014.Cobb, Mark Hughes (October 11, 1987)
"Jazz violinist, career, life a piece of music"
'' Tuscaloosa News''. Retrieved June 11, 2014. Sabien studied classical music at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

combined with performing as a country/rock fiddler before enrolling at

in 1977. The following year, at age 21, he founded and chaired Berklee's Jazz Strings department. He left Berklee after three years to record and tour, eventually settling in

Hayward, Wisconsin Hayward is a city in Sawyer County, Wisconsin, United States, next to the Namekagon River. The population was 2,318 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Sawyer County. The city is surrounded by the Town of Hayward. History Early h ...

. In the early 1980s he performed with and produced three albums for folk singer-songwriter,

Jim Post Jimmie David Post (October 28, 1939 – September 14, 2022) was an American folk singer-songwriter, composer, playwright and actor. In 1968 his pop song " Reach out of the Darkness" charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for 14 weeks, peaking ...

and founded the Randy Sabien Jazz Quintet. He went on to provide violin, mandolin, guitar and piano accompaniment for many other American singer/songwriters as well as recording his own albums. His first solo album with the Randy Sabien Jazz Quintet, ''In a Fog'', was released in 1983 on Flying Fish Records, and later re-released on Fiddlehead Music, the label he founded in 1989. His most recent solo album ''Rhythm and Bows'' was released in late 2007. May 1980 marked the first of Sabien's several appearances over the next 25 years on

Garrison Keillor Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...

's radio series ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

'' where he played in the show's The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band. His concert with the Fiddlehead Band at the Grand Theater in Wausau, Wisconsin was broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television in 2012 as was a thirty-minute background feature, ''On the Road: Randy Sabien &

Mike Dowling Mike Dowling is an American roots music guitarist and songwriter who is best known for his solo arrangements on the Grammy Award-winning composition CD '' Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar''. In 2005, Dowling was ranked as one of the twelve best fingerst ...

'' with Sabien and Dowling performing "Long Tall Mama" in an "impromptu acoustic jam". Since the 1980s Sabien has combined performing and composing with conducting workshops for schools, music camps, and youth orchestras. His educational video and jazz clinic ''Jazz: What it is'' was released in 1990. He has also co-authored with Bob Philips, the text book and teachers' manual series ''Jazz Philharmonic: Making jazz easy in the string orchestra''. (Alfred Publishing Co., 2000). In 2009 he was appointed chair of the Strings department of McNally Smith College of Music. He continues to perform both as a guest soloist and with his Fiddlehead Band.

Discography

Solo artist

*1983 ''In a Fog'', Flying Fish Records *1989 ''Fiddlehead Blues'', Fiddlehead Music *1991 ''The Sound of Fish Dreaming'', Fiddlehead Music *1993 ''Paintin' the Canvas'', Fiddlehead Music *1997 ''Live at the Cafe Carpe'' with Mike Dowling, Fiddlehead Music''

Wisconsin State Journal The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of September ...

'' (January 9, 1997)
"Wisconsin's Bands Well Worth a Listen"
Retrieved via

HighBeam Research HighBeam Research was a paid search engine and full text online archive owned by Gale, a subsidiary of Cengage, for thousands of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, trade magazines, and encyclopedias in English. It was headquar ...

June 11, 2014 . *2002 ''Segue'' with Brian Orff, Fiddlehead Music *2000s ''Cap a Cup of Dreams'' with Kevin McMullin, Fiddlehead Music *2004 ''Rock This House'', Fiddlehead Music *2005 ''Randy Sabien Live'', Quantum Leap Records *2008 ''Rhythm and Bows'', Fiddlehead MusicSurowicz, Tom (January 29, 2009)
"Music and Clubs"
''

Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

''. Retrieved via

June 11, 2014 . *2014 ''Soul of a Man'', Fiddlehead Music *2017 ''Meet Me Under The Mistletoe'', Fiddlehead Music

Guest artist

*1979

Bela Fleck Bela may refer to: Places Asia *Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India *Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India *Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara * Bela, Dang, in Nepal * Bela, Janakpur, ...

: ''Crossing The Tracks'', Rounder Select *1981 Emery Christiansen: ''Between Planes'', Mountain Railroad *1985 Greg Brown: ''

In the Dark with You ''In the Dark With You'' is an album by folk singer/guitarist Greg Brown, released in 1985. Reception Writing for Allmusic, music critic William Ruhlman called the album "Humorous and sardonic reflections on domestic life and aging, from a jour ...

'', Red House Records *1987

: ''Jim Post & Friends'', Flying Fish *1988 Bela Fleck: '' Daybreak'', Rounder Records *1990 Free Hot Lunch: ''Eat This'', Flying Fish *1991 Jim Post: ''Learn Not To Burn'', National Fire Protection Music *1992 Jan Marra: ''These Crazy Years'', Flying Fish *1996 Greg Brown: ''

Further In ''Further In'' is an album by folk singer/guitarist Greg Brown that was released in 1996. Guests include Kelly Joe Phelps, Dean McGraw and Kate McKenzie. Reception ''Further In'' is noted for its broad variety of music and lyrics. Greg Brown ...

'', Red House Records *1998

Peter Buffett Peter Andrew Buffett (born May 4, 1958) is an American musician, composer, author and philanthropist. With a career that spans more than 30 years, Buffett is an Regional Emmy Award winner, New York Times best-selling author and co-chair of the ...

: ''Wisconsin: An American Portrait'', Don't Records *2000 ''The Kate Wolf Anthology Weaver of Visions'', Rhino Records *2000 Mike Dowling: ''String Crazy'', Wind River Records/Orchard *2000 ''Arthur & Friends: Arthur's Perfect Christmas'', Rounder Records *2001

Catfish Keith Catfish Keith (born February 9, 1962) is an American acoustic blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as an exponent of the resonator guitar. He has released several solo albums, including 2001's ''A Fist Full of Riffs''. ''T ...

, ''Jitterbug Swing'', Fish Tail Records/ Orchard *2001 Catfish Keith: ''Pepper in My Show'', Fish Tall Records/ Orchard *2001

John Altenburgh John Altenburgh (born John Altenburg, April 20, 1960) is an American jazz and blues pianist, composer, arranger and producer who has made his home in Mosinee, Wisconsin. Altenburgh studied music at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. He is th ...

: ''A Wisconsin Christmas'', Orchard/Sony *2003 Greg Brown If I Had Known: Essential Recordings, 1980–96 Red House Records *2004 Jim Kansas: Jimmy and The Swingers JK Records *2005 ''

Corky Siegel Mark Paul "Corky" Siegel (born October 24, 1943) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and composer. He plays harmonica and piano. He plays and writes blues and blues-rock music, and has also worked extensively on combining blues and cl ...

's Traveling Chamber Blues Show!'', Alligator Records *2007 Mick Sterling: ''Between Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'', Calvin *2007 David Levin: ''Criminal'', Day Eleven Records *2007 Randy Peterson: ''Picture Day!'', Randy Peterson Music *2007

: ''Dusty and Lefty: The Lives of the Cowboys'', High Bridge Audio *2007 Ernie Hedrickson: ''Down The Road'', Ernie Hedrickson Music *2007 John Altenburgh: ''A Wisconsin Christmas "A Return To The Grand"'', Altenburgh Records *2008 ''2007–2008 String and Full Orchestra'', Alfred Music Publishing *2009 Peter Mulvey: ''Letters From a Flying Machine'', Signature *2010 ''2009–2010 String and Full Orchestra'', Alfred Music Publishing *2010 ''Music and The Creative Mind'', FEMA Honors Orchestra, Mark Records *2012 Connie Evingson: ''Sweet Happy Life'', Minnehaha Music *2012 Peter Mulvey: ''Good Stuff'', CRS *2012

Kevin Bowe Kevin Bowe is a songwriter, record producer and musician from Minneapolis. He is most well known for his work with prominent rock and blues artists including Paul Westerberg and the The Replacements (band), Replacements, writing songs for hit al ...

& The Okemah Prophets: ''Natchez Trace'', Okemah Records *2013 Ian Callanan: ''In Beauty We Walk'', GIA Publications *2013 Jack McNally: ''Take Time'', Jack McNally Records

DVD

*1986/2005 ''Randy Sabien Live in Minneapolis''

References

External links

*
Randy Sabien: "Not Quite Like the Beatles"
audio interview on

WXPR WXPR (91.7 FM) is a community-licensed public radio station serving north central Wisconsin and adjacent areas of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Licensed to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, United States, the station is owned by White Pine Community Broadc ...

''On the Road: Randy Sabien & Mike Dowling''
video on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

.org *
Randy Sabien
artist's page on SRO Artists {{DEFAULTSORT:Sabien, Randy American jazz violinists American male violinists Berklee College of Music faculty Berklee College of Music alumni 1956 births Living people Musicians from Wisconsin People from Hayward, Wisconsin People from Fort Bragg, North Carolina Jazz musicians from North Carolina 21st-century American violinists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Flying Fish Records artists