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Tim
Sparks' long journey to the 1993 National
Fingerstyle Guitar Championship, and beyond, began
modestly in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, when he
started picking out tunes by ear on an old Stella
flat top. He was given his first guitar when a bout
of encephalitis kept him out of school for a year,
and the music he heard around him was traditional
country blues, and the gospel his grandmother
played on piano in a small church in the Blue Ridge
mountains, so that's what he taught himself to
play.
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A
musically-astute uncle heard him one day, and
amazed
that he had come so far on his own, nominated him
for a scholarship at the prestigious North Carolina
School of the Arts. There he studied the classics
with Segovia protegee Jesus Silva, while continuing
to play all kinds of music, increasingly turning to
classic jazz for inspiration. He adapted
compositions by Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin,
and Fats Waller to the guitar, frequently reducing
piano arrangements to their spare essence. Early
influences were Doc Watson, Arthur Smith and, most
importantly, Duck Baker, who opened up an horizon
of possibilities for fingerstyle guitar.
After a stint on the road
with a Chicago-based rhythm and blues band, Sparks
arrived in Minnesota, where he soon established
himself
as a journeyman guitarist and session player. While
recording three albums with the seminal vocal jazz
ensemble Rio Nido, Sparks also became proficient in
jazz styles from Brazilian to Be Bop, which brought
him several regional music awards including Best
Acoustic Guitarist, Best Latin Jazz guitarist, and
Best Jazz Guitarist. Important models in this
period were Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, and
fingerstylists Lenny Breau and Ed Bickert. Two
Minnesota guitarists with whom he shared a lot of
ideas and inspiration were National Fingerstyle
Champ Pat Donohue and plectrum ace Dean Magraw. It
was at this time that he arranged Carla Bley's
composition "Jesus Maria" for Leo
Kottke.
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He
also found the time to revive his interest in the
classics, adapting Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite
to the guitar, a work that has been cited as a
significant
contribution to solo guitar literature. For Sparks
it was a labor of love, which earned him the
fingerstyle guitar championship in Winfield,
Kansas.
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A
sojourn abroad inspired an interest in European and
Mediterranean styles, particularly the music of the
Balkans, culminating
in the recording of Sparks' Balkan Dreams
Suite, a remarkable collection of odd-meter
guitar arrangements. Many of the Balkan Dreams
compositions were recorded on Tim's debut solo
guitar CD, The Nutcracker Suite. The
recording was cited by Guitar
Player Magazine
as, "An exhilarating, odd-meter minefield inspired
by Near Eastern music. An important recording from
a gifted composer, arranger and performer." Two
more releases followed on the Acoustic Guitar
label.
In recent years, Sparks had
been immersed in the ethnic music scene, performing
on Oud in middle eastern ensembles,
and accompanying on guitar in Greek and Klezmer
orchestras. He was a featured performer with
Crossing Borders at the Bethlehem International
Music Festival in July of 1995 and has received two
Arts Fellowships to pursue ethno-musicological
studies. He spent one fall studying Fado and
Portuguese Guitar in Lisbon.
Three CDs have appeared on
the Tzadik label featuring Tim's rendition of
Jewish music. Neshamah was a completely solo
effort while Tanz and At the Rebbe's
Table included ensemble work. All three
releases have been critically acclaimed from a
broad spectrum of critics
and listeners alike. This spring saw the release of
Masada Guitars featuring interpretations of
John Zorn's music by Tim, Bill Frisell and Marc
Ribot.
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Guitar Player
Magazine - "an important recording from a gifted
composer, arranger and
performer".
Berlin Morning Post - "Sparks shows his tremendous
versatility moving between
jazz and the classics."
Dirty Linen Magazine - "A major contribution to the
world of guitar transcriptions...Sparks
is an extraordinary
guitarist"
Guitar Player Magazine - "Fresh, exotic, and totally
cool."
Acoustic Guitar Magazine - "Sparks' musical goulash
is spiced with Celtic, blues,
and jazz flavors for a
truly unique work. The
effect is exotic, rich, and
sensuous."
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"You
can hear Tim Sparks think. He plays by choice not
habit: ideas not licks.
I've heard him do this on guitars so badly
intonated, they wouldn't
make a good ashtray;
the same guitars - I remember a piece called
Blues on
Bartok
Street - are guitars in Tim's hands.
Beautiful. I'm Tim Sparks'
biggest fan. His stuff
is very difficult to play but it doesn't
sound difficult.
I think that's real musicianship. He's really one
of the best musicians
I know." - Leo Kottke
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