170:"I began playing music when I was 8 or 9. First piano, then violin. I preferred to play classical literature, but I started improvising by playing piano in a high school stage band. I studied jazz in college after hearing Cecil Taylor I started developing a style of improvisation on the piano, playing with many different musicians and performing occasionally. When I met Eugene Chadbourne and John Zorn on moving to New York, I quit playing the piano and concentrated on the violin. My playing really changed and so did my attitudes about music and improvising..." (from Bradfield's own liner notes on the back of her
304:"Polly Bradfield’s solo playing was quite different -- harder, less lyrical and treading a tightrope between controlled and contrived. I thought she had a lot of bottle actually, because she’s chosen a difficult path; her playing is austere and uncompromising, a little stiff; she takes chances; her use of silence is similar to John Zorn’s, though her humour’s dryer (it’s there though). After she’d played I felt mentally excited but earthbound."
247:. The cover shows a photo of a young girl, presumably Bradfield as a child, sawing a branch off a tree, a pun on violin playing described as "sawing". The album contains more silence than sawing, though; her scrapes, scratches, plunks, and occasional notes on the violin are often separated by long stretches of it. Her radically still, non-discursive, Cageian style on this little known LP foreshadows later trends in free improvisation.
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have to send you a copy. I've got lots of copies, because when she left New York, in a big hurry, she piled her records out in the street, so I kept them; every now and then I meet somebody who wants one or who I think ought to have one. We did a couple of concerts together in
England and Belgium that came out on a record,
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She's still playing. She had a lot of children and went out to
California. She was never that driven to have a musical career. She was a really interesting musician though, I really liked her. Very extreme. I think her solo violin album is one of the best things I've ever heard. Do you know that? I
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In her liner notes, Bradfield writes "The music on this record is all acoustic violin. Usually I use an amplifier when performing, but I wanted my first solo recording to be acoustic. I felt it was a small way to pay homage to the instrument's long and diverse history which began long before
314:"About seven and a half minutes into the fourth take of "Lacrosse", Polly Bradfield plucks the C natural... this note was one of the great musical experiences of my life... notes like this C natural... are what music is all about for me, but they are too rare." (from his liner notes to
326:"Boxes of this brilliant fiddle outing, one of the best records of its kind, were reputedly discarded by Bradfield, having gone unsold for years. Knotty, intense, nuanced little sounds by an important early associate of John Zorn and Eugene Chadbourne." (from
270:"Whatever happened to Polly? Amazing and unique solo LP released on Eugene Chadbourne’s Parachute label. Best solo improv record ever." (from Dusted Magazine
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A song named after Polly
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scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her closest musical associates were
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sometime in the 1980s. Her last appearance on record was on Zorn's
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In 1979 she released an LP on
Chadbourne's Parachute label called
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In the same liner notes, she lists her musical inspirations:
283:...violinist Polly Bradfield... whatever happened to her?
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The Sacred Guitar and Violin music of the Modern Aztecs
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with details on many of the recordings listed above
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45:. Consider transferring direct quotations to
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378:Trumpet Songs and Dances (Solos & Duets)
328:Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium
152:. Her music career ended when she moved to
330:, Duke University Press (2017), page 178)
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409:Eugene Chadbourne & Polly Bradfield,
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468:(House of Chadula, 2000; recorded 1978)
356:Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace
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293:(from an interview by Dan Warburton
525:Polly Bradfield page at Answers.com
439:Eugene Chadbourne & John Zorn,
346:Eugene Chadbourne & John Zorn,
497:Two Of Substance - Polly Bradfield
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343:(Musicworks, 1978; recorded 1977)
567:21st-century American violinists
371:2000 Statues/The English Channel
290:--that was another nice album."
144:. She also played on records by
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504:from the original on 2021-12-21
427:(Moers, 1986; recorded 1984–85)
527:with text by Eugene Chadbourne
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562:Free improvisation violinists
461:(Tzadik, 2000; recorded 1978)
257:electricity was discovered."
261:Remarks from other musicians
178:Influences & Influenced
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364:Solo Violin Improvisations
339:The Frank Lowe Orchestra,
245:Solo Violin Improvisations
172:Solo Violin Improvisations
557:American women violinists
443:(Materiali Sonori, 1998)
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388:Environment for Sextet
531:John Zorn discography
380:LP (Parachute, 1979)
226:Swedish fiddle music
552:American violinists
464:Eugene Chadbourne,
449:The Parachute Years
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441:Sonora (1977–1981)
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134:free improvisation
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16:American violinist
420:(Parachute, 1982)
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406:(Parachute, 1980)
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101:Years active
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41:Please help
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471:John Zorn,
466:Vision-Ease
455:John Zorn,
446:John Zorn,
430:John Zorn,
416:John Zorn,
400:John Zorn,
334:Discography
266:Kevin Drumm
208:Eddie South
204:Stuff Smith
541:Categories
508:2019-08-09
482:References
300:Fred Frith
239:Solo music
212:Joe Venuti
154:California
150:Frank Lowe
90:Instrument
51:Wikisource
310:John Zorn
166:Biography
162:in 1986.
142:John Zorn
129:from the
127:violinist
113:Parachute
105:1977–1986
59:July 2020
47:Wikiquote
34:contains
502:archived
458:Lacrosse
423:Curlew,
184:Paganini
418:Archery
474:Hockey
348:School
316:School
228:, and
196:Ligeti
188:BartĂłk
110:Labels
94:Violin
80:Genres
403:Pool
192:Ives
174:LP)
148:and
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