Bman's Blues Report

SANTA CRUZ -- Guitarist and ethnomusicologist Bob Brozman, one of the most internationally prominent musicians to come out of Santa Cruz County, died Wednesday at his home in Ben Lomond. He was 59. The cause of death is pending. Brozman had built a career as a guitarist and ethnomusicologist, moving from an early fascination with the delta blues of the American south to a consuming passion for the traditional music of Hawaii. He was also one of the world's leading authorities on the National steel guitar. The early years Brozman emerged in Santa Cruz in the 1970s as a street musician, playing a decidedly un-contemporary American roots style of music. Known for playing anything from obscure jazz tunes to Hawaiian chanties, Bob Brozman at home in July, 1992. (Dan Coyro/Sentinel file) (Dan Coyro) often dressed in a white suit, Brozman was one of Santa Cruz's most familiar faces in clubs before launching a recording career that took him around the world. In...

Bob Brozman (born March 8, 1954, New York) is an American guitarist and ethnomusicologist. He has performed in a number of styles such as Gypsy jazz, calypso, Blues, ragtime, Hawaiian and Caribbean music. Brozman has also collaborated with musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds such as India, Africa, Japan, Papua New Guinea and Reunion Island. He has been called "an instrumental wizard" and "a walking archive of 20th Century American music." Brozman maintains a steady schedule throughout the year, touring constantly throughout North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa. He has recorded numerous albums and has won the Guitar Player Readers' Poll three times in the best blues, best world and best slide guitarist categories. In 1999, Brozman and Woody Mann founded International Guitar Seminars, which hosts over 120 students annually at sites in California, New York, and Canada. From 2000 to 2005 his collaborations have landed in the European Top 10 ...