the co-author of an acclaimed method book for jazz violin that remains in print today.

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1 July 16 to 30, 2013 page 10 A virtuoso with versatility Roots Music Fest violinist Randy Sabien will fiddle to just about any style of music St. Paul's Mears Park will once again be sizzling with live music when it hosts the third annual Lowertown Roots Music Festival on Saturday, July 27. The five bands who will take the outdoor stage will play a wide array of musical styles, from blues, jazz and country to bluegrass, zydeco and folk. The music will begin at 2:30 p.m. with the fiddlers of the Paul Dahlin Spelmanslag performing traditional Swedish folk and dance music. The band Nordic Angst will follow at 4 p.m., mixing centuries-old Norse ballads with a modern sensibility. The High 48s, a bluegrass quintet, will perform at 5:30 p.m. And Grammy Award-winning zydeco accordionist and singer C.J. Chernier and his Red Hot Louisiana Band will take the stage at 8:30 p.m. Appearing just prior to Chernier, at 7 p.m., will be Randy Sabien and his Violin Roots Ensemble. Sabien, a resident of St. Paul's Ramsey Hill neighborhood, is a virtuoso violinist who doesn't mind in the least being called a fiddler. And his expertise on the instrument runs the gamut, from classical and folk to blues, country and rock 'n' roll. I came to the instrument because my grade school's orchestra needed another violinist, said Sabien. "Up until then, I had my heart set on becoming a rock 'n' roll drummer. In a short time, however, I became passionate about the violin. I practiced all the time. Sabien initially became an accomplished violinist in the classical style and hadn't considered any other styles for playing the instrument until he heard the great jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli play. Sabien also began to play along with recordings of bands that revolutionized rock 'n' roll in the 1960s. "I liked the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and the Allman Brothers Band, he said. "One of the offshoots of Jefferson Airplane was Hot Tuna with violinist Papa John Creach. I fell in love with playing blues violin. Sabien's passion and talent prompted him to enroll at the renowned Berklee School of Music in Boston where, like other musical wunderkinds of his ilk, he quickly graduated from student to instructor. He founded and chaired Berklee's String Department at the tender age of 21 and went on to teach internationally. He is also Local violinist Randy Sabien and his Violin Roots Ensemble will perform on July 27 in Mears Park. the co-author of an acclaimed method book for jazz violin that remains in print today. "I love to teach almost as much as I do to perform;' said Sabien, who is now a member of the faculty at St. Paul's McNally Smith College of Music, where he teaches alternative string education. And every summer since 1979, he has led a jazz camp for young string musicians at the Indianhead Arts Center in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. "I divide my residency between St. Paul and Hayward, Wisconsin, Sabien said. "Much of the time I'm on the road, either teaching or performing. Sabien has also been recording steadily. He has performed on eight albums over the past 30 years. In 1989 he launched his own recording company, Fiddlehead Records. One of his recent releases, "Rhythm & Bows, demonstrates his versatility from the hard-rocking original "Money From a Stranger" and Jerry Garcia's "New Speedway Boogie" to the hard-swinging bop tune "Infra-Rae which was previously recorded by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Consider that it also includes the Tin Pan Alley standard "Nature Boy" and the haunting "Whispering Pines first recorded by the Band, and you'll understand why fans describe Sabien's style as decidedly eclectic. "Randy can pretty much play anything, said guitarist Jim Ouska, who has performed and recorded with Sabien for years, "He's one of the Midwest's greatest musicians. And he's a rarity among bandleaders in that he loves to showcase the musicians who play with him. Playing with Randy and I'm sure most everyone who has played with him agrees is always a collaboration. Performing in Sabien's Violin Roots Ensemble on July 28 will be Ouska, bassist Jim Chenoweth, drummer Steve Jennings and fellow violinists Cierra Hill and Alison Keller. Admission to the Lowertown Roots Music Festival is free. For more information, visit lowertownrootsmusicfestival,com.

2 A fiddling good time with Randy Sabien Posted on July 6, 2012 by Erik Watch the premiere of Randy Sabien and the Fiddlehead Band live from the Grand Theater in Wausau 9 p.m. Monday, July 9 on Wisconsin Public Television. Randy Sabien might have been born in Illinois, but the acclaimed jazz violinist and music educator has become a true Wisconsinite through the years. Making his home in the Hayward area, Sabien has blended the sounds of jazz, classical melodies, rock n roll and Western swing across his career. WPT captured Sabien in concert in Wausau with his Fiddlehead band a talented group centered on its three-fiddle lineup. Before the broadcast premiere, watch a couple of Web extra songs from the performance below. And, hear directly from Sabien in our behind-the-scenes interview about his earliest influences, including Bob Wills, Asleep at the Wheel and Stéphane Grappelli, the creation of his Fiddlehead Band project and the power of music education in everybody s lives.

3 New String Department - McNally Smith College Page 1 of 1 02/26/2009 search Home» News & Events» Send to a Friend SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS SUMMER CAMPS itunes U MSCM Twitter Blog & Podcasts MySpace Facebook YouTube Partnerships Blog President's Blog Student Login Faculty Login Jazz Violin Great Randy Sabien to Head New String Department at McNally Smith College of Music 2/3/2009 McNally Smith College of Music President Harry Chalmiers announced today that prominent violinist Randy Sabien will head up a new String Department that will begin offering courses during the school s September 2009 fall semester. Sabien has been garnering attention in the worlds of music and music education since the late 1970s. In 1978, at the age of 21, Sabien founded and chaired a new jazz string department at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. Since that time he has performed in jazz, folk, rock, country swing, classical and blues settings, excelling at each. Sabien is also a highly-regarded educator and author of instructional texts. McNally Smith will welcome Randy Sabien to his new position at its first Open House of 2009 on Saturday, February 21, at 10:00 a.m. The Open House is free and open to the public and is not only an opportunity to meet Randy Sabien, but also to learn more about the college. McNally Smith is located at 19 E. Exchange St. in downtown St. Paul, MN. For more information, call (651) MSCM News. Under Randy Sabien s leadership, McNally Smith will add the String Department to a Music Division that includes seven other departments, including brass and woodwind, guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, voice and songwriting/composition. The college also has three other Divisions: Liberal Arts, Technology (recording and production) and Music Business. Harry Chalmiers said, Forming a String Department is another step in McNally Smith s path to becoming one of the premier music schools in the country. One of the keys to achieving that goal is hiring the very best talent possible for leadership positions. A contemporary music school couldn t ask for a more qualified and more exciting string department head than Randy Sabien. His credentials as a performer and an educator are at the very top of his field, and he is a person of outstanding integrity as well. I consider this to be an important development for McNally Smith. follow mcnallysmith at Growing up in Rockford, IL, Randy Sabien was a young drummer who took on the violin to fill a need in his youth orchestra. He took to the instrument quickly, and began integrating his influences that included the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, James Taylor and others. When he heard the great Gypsy jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, he became passionate for jazz from the 1930s to 1950s. From his early Berklee days performing with, and producing albums for, folk musician Jim Post (of the 1960s group Friend & Lover) to recent critically-acclaimed jazz releases, Randy Sabien has been one of those rare string musicians to be hailed as both a violinist and a fiddler. USA Today said, Jazz violinists usually draw from one of two traditions. The best of both can be found in the superb Randy Sabien he combines classical technique and folk energy in a program that s still strictly jazz. Sabien has been a frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion and Austin City Limits and has toured the world playing in different styles and with many of music s greats. More News Contact Us Privacy Policy Sitemap Blog 2009 McNally Smith College of Music. All Rights Reserved Minneapolis, St. Paul, MN Music College News

4 ARTS ARENA BLOG Violinist Randy Sabien joins McNally-Smith faculty By Pamela Espeland Published Tue, Feb :18 pm I noted in the Jan. 30 jazz picks that violinist Randy Sabien hadn t played the Twin Cities since February He was about to play two nights at the Dakota on Feb. 3 and 4. I went both nights, not knowing when we d see him around here again. The good news is that we ll be seeing much more of Sabien in the future. Last Wednesday, he told his Dakota audience that he would be joining the faculty of McNally Smith College of Music to head up its new string department. Today it became official when college President Harry Chalmiers made the announcement. "A contemporary music school couldn t ask for a more qualified and more exciting string department head than Randy Sabien, Chalmiers said in a press release. "His credentials as a performer and an educator are at the very top of his field, and he is a person of outstanding integrity as well." This isn t the first time Sabien has joined a music school; in 1978, at the tender age of 21, he founded and chaired a new jazz string department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since then, as he quipped during Wednesday s show, "I haven t had a job in 30 years." He has, however, taught, performed, toured, recorded and written highly respected instructional texts. Sabien is usually described as a jazz violinist, but in fact he roams wherever his considerable musical curiosity takes him. He often calls himself a fiddler. At the Dakota, we heard gypsy jazz (from Sabien s first great jazz influence, violinist Stephane Grappelli), blues, country hoedown, folk, rock, Celtic, and Western swing, along with a gorgeous interpretation of the jazz standard "Nature Boy." It was high-energy, foot-stomping music. Pianist Laura Caviani, who played with Sabien on both nights, said that after the first night she had to go home and soak her arms. The McNally Smith string department will begin offering courses in September You can meet Sabien and other faculty members at the school s first open house of 2009 on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 10 a.m. McNally Smith is at 19 E. Exchange St. in downtown St. Paul. Copyright 2009 MinnPost.com MINNPOST 900 6TH AVE SE MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

5 May 1, 2008 Dear SRO, The performance of Randy Sabien and his eight piece band was phenomenal! We ve presented them twice, once in April at a packed 300 seat concert hall and again for a huge crowd at On The Waterfront festival. The band was really tight, polished and high energy and also very much a crowd-pleaser: bringing both audiences to their feet. With that group of brilliant musicians, Randy was really able to shine and in turn, inspire each to new heights. The combined energy and sound was received extremely enthusiastically. I ve had tons of positive feedback on the show. Furthermore, every member of the band was easy to work with and highly professional. You ve got a winner there! Thanks again Karen Howard Executive Director Charlotte s Web for the Performing Arts Left Bank Stage Chairman On The Waterfront Festival 08 Rockford, IL

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