Trapezoid is an American folk music group led by

Paul Reisler Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

. Founded in 1975 by

Sam Rizzetta Sam Rizzetta (born May 23, 1942 died October 26, 2021) was a hammered dulcimer player, builder, and designer originally from Chicago, had lived in Inwood, West Virginia. Rizzetta discovered the hammered dulcimer while working in the repair of g ...

and Reisler, they began as a quartet of

hammer dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...

players. Two of the four played the traditional hammer dulcimer, while the other two played baritone and treble hammer dulcimers specially designed by Rizzetta. The name of the band reflects the shape of the hammer dulcimer. Since 1975, the group's membership and instrumentation has changed repeatedly, always with Paul Reisler as a member. Their sound has been described as a "plinking and plunking, buzzing, sweeping, ringing, droning, and wailing acoustic construction" and as "a delightful musical melange" by ''

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. In 2004 and 2005, the 1984 lineup that recorded ''Winter Solstice'' with

John McCutcheon John McCutcheon (born August 14, 1952) is an American folk music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has produced 41 albums since the 1970s. He is regarded as a master of the hammered dulcimer, and is also proficient on many other i ...

- minus fiddler

Freyda Epstein Freyda Epstein (Nov 30, 1956 – May 17, 2003) was an American folk musician. She was influential in the music communities of Elkins, West Virginia, central Virginia, Asheville, North Carolina, and Berkeley, California. She performed as part of T ...

, who was killed in 2003 in a car accident - reunited with McCutcheon to perform acoustic concerts, called the ''Winter Solstice'' tour. Reisler has gone on to form a new band, Paul Reisler and A Thousand Questions, and to form the Kid Pan Alley children's songwriting project.

Discography

*''Trapezoid'' (Traditional, 1975) *''Three Forks of Cheat'' (Rounder, 1978) *''Now and Then'' (Flying Fish, 1980) OCLC Number: 26137155; Lorraine Duisit, vocals, mandolin, mandola; Freyda Epstein, vocals, violin, viola; Ralph Gordon, vocals, bass, cello; Paul Reisier, guitar, hammer dulcimer. Includes The Lakes of Ponchartrain. *''Another Country'' (Flying Fish, 1982) *''Cool of the Day'' (Sugar Hill, 1985) (Lorraine Duisit, Freyda Epstein, Ralph Gordon and Paul Reisler) *''Moon Run'' (Narada/MCA, 1990) *''Remembered Ways'' (Azure, 1994) Featuring Trapezoid; Paul Reisler, guitars and hammered dulcimer; Bobby Read, keyboards, winds, and percussion; Cecil Hooker, violin; Martha Sandefer, vocals, rhythm guitar and a bunch of Trapezoid's favorite musician friends including; Ysaye Barnwell, Howard Levy, Mike Auldridge, Lorraine Duisit, Peter Mark Prince and others. *''Dissin’ the Diz'' with John McCutcheon (Azure, 1994) *''Long Time Down This Road'' (Azure, 1995) A 20th anniversary retrospective featuring 65 minutes of music. Includes much music for hammered dulcimer including a dulcimer quartet and three previously unreleased songs. Featuring the haunting duet vocals of

Lorraine Duisit Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

and

References

American folk musical groups Hammered dulcimer players Chamber jazz ensembles Narada Productions artists {{US-folk-band-stub