Jamie Saft

• Active: '90s, 2000s
• Genres: Jazz
• Instrument: Organ (Hammond), Organ, Keyboards
• Representative Albums: "Breadcrumb Sins," "Ragged Jack," "Trouble: The Jamie Saft Trio Plays Bob Dylan"

Biography

Inspired keyboardist Jamie Saft started appearing on an increasing number of N.Y.-oriented jazz recordings during the '90s and well into the new millennium. Born in Queens, NY, Saft studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and Tufts University. At these schools, he studied with Paul Bley, Geri Allen, Cecil McBee, and Joe Maneri, in addition to having composer and "piano technical guru" (as Saft described him) Burton Hatheway as a mentor. In 1993, Saft returned to New York and has since been performing a wide variety of music styles, from opera to jazz in a self-described bar band. In 1995, he was the piano soloist in the New York and Paris premieres (at Lincoln Center and MC93 Bobigny, respectively) of John Adams' opera I Was Looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky. Through the mid- to late '90s he played Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes, miniMoog, and bass in Bobby Previte's Latin for Travelers, whose recordings were released on Enja. Saft also plays accordion -- in the Peter Epstein Quartet and on Jerry Granelli's Enter, a Dragon -- and the steel guitar. He has recorded and performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, and worked with John Zorn (including membership in Electric Masada), Groove Collective, Marc Ribot, Drazy Hoops, and many more. Saft also co-led a release with trumpeter Cuong Vu entitled Ragged Jack on the Avant label. By the close of the '90s, he was busy not only touring, but also recording a new album for Tzadik, with musicians including saxophonist Chris Speed and drummer Jim Black. Sovlanut arrived in mid-2000 and an anti-Semitism-themed heavy metal CD, Black Shabbis, appeared in 2009. ~ Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide

Astaroth: Book of Angels, Vol. 1 Buy this CD	Breadcrumb Sins Buy this CD	Ragged Jack Buy this CD	Sovlanut Buy this CD	Black Shabbis Buy this CD
Trouble: The Jamie Saft Trio Plays Bob Dylan Buy this CD	Only Juan Buy this CD	Merzdub Buy this CD