“. . . An extraordinary guitarist/composer, whose striking use of classical sympathetic and 12 string instruments owes as great a debt to Segovia as it does to any jazz antecedent . . . He melds the techniques of Segovia and Jimi Hendrix into a startling jazz lexicon.” Bill Shoemaker, JazzTimes
A widely acclaimed guitarist, soloist, composer, and ensemble leader. A. Spencer Barefield has performed, toured, and recorded extensively for nearly four decades as an ensemble leader, soloist, and with many jazz legends, such as Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Oliver Lake, Richard Davis, PubliQuartet, Andrew Cyrille, and Reggie Workman. He has played at hundreds of festivals and concerts in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Alaska and the Yukon.
His numerous recordings have received worldwide critical acclaim. His most recent, A. Spencer is a featured artist on Bluenote’s “Detroit jazz City.” Barefield has received numerous grants and honors, including the prestigious 2010 Kresge Artist Fellowship. His compositions have been commissioned by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet-the Composer/Readers Digest/Lila Wallace Fund, Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, Arts Foundation of Michigan, Meet-the-Composer/Commission USA, Arts International, and others.
Mr. Barefield’s works have been debuted and performed at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, Detroit Jazz Festival, Art X Festival with members of the Detroit Symphony, New Music America Festival in New York and San Francisco, Nickelsdorf and Leverkusener Jazz Festivals, and at other venues worldwide. He has served as Artistic Director of Palmer Woods Music in Homes, Creative Music at the DIA, and Detroit Jazz Festival Day of Discovery.
-Words by A. Spencer Barefield