Sandy Bull was a composer and accomplished player of many stringed instrume… Read Full Bio ↴Sandy Bull was a composer and accomplished player of many stringed instruments, including guitar, pedal-steel, banjo and the middle-eastern oud. Sandy Bull's music and recordings are characterized by his blending of non-western instrumentation and improvisational traditions with the 1960's folk revival. His albums for Vanguard records often combined extended modal improvisations on oud with an eclectic repertoire of instrumental cover material. Bull is well known for his arrangement of Carl Orff's composition Carmina Burana for 5 string banjo on his first album, which was included on an album of R.E.M.'s favourite songs. Other such musical fusions include his adaptation of Luiz Bonfá's "Manha de Carnaval," and compositions derived from J.S. Bach themes.
Sandy Bull's approach to performance, composition and recording is notable for his extensive use of overdubbing and multi-track tape recording before such techniques became commonplace in music production. However, unlike the sophisticated, glossy aesthetic commonly associated with these techniques, Bull simply used overdubbing as a way to accompany himself and plays all the instruments on many of his recordings. As documented in the "Still Valentine's Day 1969" concert recording, Sandy Bull's use of tape accompinament was part of his live, solo performances as well.
Bull also played the oud on Sam Phillips 1991 album, Cruel Inventions. Bull primary played a fingerpicking style of guitar and banjo, and his style has been compared to that of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, of the early Takoma label in the 1960's.
He was the only child of Harry A. Bull, an editor in chief of Town and Country magazine, and Daphne van Beuren Bayne (1916-2002), a New Jersey banking heiress who became known as a jazz harpist under the name Daphne Hellman. His parents were divorced in 1941, shortly after his birth.
By his mother's second marriage to the New Yorker writer Geoffrey Hellman, Bull had one half-sister, the sitar player Daisy Paradis, and a half-brother, Digger St. John.
In the 1970s, Sandy Bull became involved with drugs. He died of lung cancer on April 11, 2001.
Sandy Bull's approach to performance, composition and recording is notable for his extensive use of overdubbing and multi-track tape recording before such techniques became commonplace in music production. However, unlike the sophisticated, glossy aesthetic commonly associated with these techniques, Bull simply used overdubbing as a way to accompany himself and plays all the instruments on many of his recordings. As documented in the "Still Valentine's Day 1969" concert recording, Sandy Bull's use of tape accompinament was part of his live, solo performances as well.
Bull also played the oud on Sam Phillips 1991 album, Cruel Inventions. Bull primary played a fingerpicking style of guitar and banjo, and his style has been compared to that of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, of the early Takoma label in the 1960's.
He was the only child of Harry A. Bull, an editor in chief of Town and Country magazine, and Daphne van Beuren Bayne (1916-2002), a New Jersey banking heiress who became known as a jazz harpist under the name Daphne Hellman. His parents were divorced in 1941, shortly after his birth.
By his mother's second marriage to the New Yorker writer Geoffrey Hellman, Bull had one half-sister, the sitar player Daisy Paradis, and a half-brother, Digger St. John.
In the 1970s, Sandy Bull became involved with drugs. He died of lung cancer on April 11, 2001.
Carmina Burana Fantasy
Sandy Bull Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Sandy Bull:
Memphis Tennessee Long distance information Give me Memphis Tennessee Help m…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@HEK1962
Brought here by Jonathan Lethem's novel "Chronic City." The writer bestows his characters with Pynchonesque (or maybe Dickensian?) oddball and character branding names. As in the protagonist, Chase Insteadman (a former child actor) and other grotesqueries Perkus Tooth ("wall-eyed, free-range pop critic"); Oona Laszlo (" a seductive and self-loathing ghost writer,") and Richard Abneg, a former transgressive anti-social rebel turned mayoral fixer.
Thus when Sandy Bull is needle-dropped into this mix, thanks to Perkus Tooth's wide-ranging musical tastes -- and playing this very piece -- I doubted his reality.
Insteadman, "moved into the kitchen and swapped the Van Morrison for Sandy Bull, skipping ahead a few tracks, to where I figured we'd left off. Bull was playing his banjo again, this time a bluegrass version of *Carmina Burana*, calling up a vision of Disney dinosaurs transversing a primordial wasteland."
And then I looked up Sandy Bull. (I've also wanted to hear a bluegrass interpretation of the Carmina Burana section, "Uf den Anger" and "Primo Vera").
Different people will hear differently. The tonality reminds me of The Eagles "Journey of the Sorcerer," best known as the theme from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and, quoted especially in the "Doctor Who" episode, "Voyage of the Damned."
I enjoy this great musician's turning of Fortuna's wheel, and wonder why I've not encountered him until this time. Goes to show how reading can take you places. Maybe I'll find someone doing the other sections in a bluegrass way.
@wallaceralston2057
Played with him at an open mike night in Boston in the 60's. Sorry to hear he's gone.
@royblack720
A classic. Brilliant adaptation of an orchestral piece. He expands an instrument with inherent limitations into an entirely different dimension. Amazing.
@pipoblacx4372
Magnificent, we need more artist like him.
@Japeter2000
I lived with this song for years, beginning on the Lower East Side of NYC, played on a cheap portable record player. Stellar. Stunning. He was a musical genius.
@torvilasulvstle362
Agree1 Love his playing!
@55Mizzou
Just picked up the vinyl from Discogs for $5.00. A steal. "Similarly, folk guitarist Sandy Bull's early work "incorporated elements of folk, jazz, and Indian and Arabic-influenced dronish modes. His 1963 album Fantasias for Guitar and Banjo explores various styles and could also be accurately described as one of the very first psychedelic records"
@nytimesguy
When I heard there was a banjo version of Carmina Burana I thought it would be an interesting novelty, but what's surprising is how persuasive this is. It's as though the piece were composed for banjo!
@Japeter2000
Miraculous playing. So many late night sessions listening to this...thanks for posting!
@bicameralresearch
this is just very good music... this man is all THERE
@brianbuchak7729
Amazing !