Bill Crofut
William E. "Bill" Crofut III (born December 14, 1935 in Cleveland , Ohio , † January 25, 1999 in Sandisfield , Massachusetts ) was an American banjo player and folk singer .
Life
Crofut attended Allegheny College in the mid-1950s and took horn lessons there . Pete Seeger , with whom he also took banjo lessons, had a decisive influence on his musical career as a folk singer . He also described the jazz clarinetist Tony Scott and the classical pianist Peter Lang as important for his musical development .
During his time in the army, Crofut was stationed in Korea. From 1960 he toured as part of a cultural exchange program with the guitarist Stephen Addiss , with whom he gave concerts and recorded several albums after his return to the USA from 1962. In the 1970s he released an album ( Simple Gifts ) of American and English songs with baritone Benjamin Luxon and another ( Lullabies and Dances ) with baroque singer Julianne Baird . He worked with the harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper and played classical works by Antonio Vivaldi and Béla Bartók himself on the banjo .
From the late 1980s he played a crossover mix of jazz, folk and classical music in a trio with Chris Brubeck and Joel Brown , and the trio released several albums. He also worked with the soprano Dawn Upshaw . Shortly before his death, the album Dance on a Moonbeam with children's songs was created, on which, in addition to Luxon, Baird, Brubeck and Brown, Frederica von Stade and Meryl Streep also participated as reciters of Shakespeare texts.
Fonts
- Troubadour: A Different Battlefield. EP Dutton, 1968.
- The Moon on the One Hand: Poetry in Song. Atheneum, 1975.
- A Look at a Lifetime: Bill Crofut Remembers. Avonelle Associates, 1980.
Web links
- Dance on a Moonbeam - About Bill Crofut
- New York Times, February 1, 1999: "Bill Crofut, 64, a Folk Singer, Banjo Player and Crossover Artist"
- Famousfix - Bill Crofut
- Bill Crofut at Allmusic (English)
- Bill Crofut at Discogs (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Crofut, Bill |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Crofut III, William E. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American banjo player and singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 14, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cleveland , Ohio , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 25, 1999 |
| Place of death | Sandisfield , Massachusetts , USA |