Guitar in hand, Rolf Sturm, who has performed in venues around the world with extraordinary artists like Jorma Kaukonen (of Jefferson Airplane fame), members of the Grateful Dead, Buddy Cage, Eddy Arnold and Pat Boone, will play three solo acoustic sets Saturday, beginning at 7 p.m., at La Brasserie, 524 Market St., Lewisburg.
For Sturm, who grew up in Lewisburg, and attended Lewisburg Area High School, this is a homecoming of sorts, in more ways than one.
His father taught at Bucknell University; his mother, at Lewisburg Area High School.
"Not only did I grow up about a block away, on South Water Street, but I also worked in a restaurant where La Brasserie now is," he recalled. "I was a dishwasher in high school, and I did some handyman work, helping to renovate rooms. That building and I have some history."
Sturm also has a deeply rooted musical connection with the town.
While in high school, he played flute in the high school orchestra and band, and sang in choir. Off campus, he played rock guitar and sang in a local bands such as Marquee and The Pitts.
"I was involved in a lot of musical endeavors even then," he joked.
By 1984, he was ready to turn professional.
"I moved to New Jersey, just outside Manhattan. I went to a few jam sessions and taught in Union City. I did what I had to do to survive, as most musicians do when they start out," Sturm said.
Over the past 24 years, his prolific musical output has defied classification.
Just when you think you have him pegged, he comes out with another CD, "Just Cause, Standards," comprised of Dixieland and Irish-country standards.
"In order to keep one's head above water as a working musician and session player, you have to keep busy," he said, explaining the diversity of his repertoire.
The music people will be hearing Saturday will come from his most recent CDs, the aforementioned "Standards," "Shawangunk" and possibly music from a new CD, "Tricyle," "all of which mix acoustic jazz with pop and traditional rhythms," Sturm explained
What's next on his musical agenda?
At the end of May, or early June, Sturm said, "I'll be releasing four new CDs on my own Water Street Music label, including something by the All Terrain Band, "Strangled By The Apple," a rock/rap/reggae band that I was in in the early 1990s. This is a CD release of a combination of the 93, 94, 95 demos from this band. It's ridiculously rocking."
As a counterpoint to that, Sturm plans to release a set of solo acoustic music called "Balance." And, he is dabbling in silent film scoring.
He is working on music to accompany old Buster Keaton and Felix the Cat shorts.
But one of the things he'd most like to do is compose classical music.
"It's where I started, so I guess I've come full circle," he said.
Sturm has finished his first string quartet. "I don't really dwell much on what I'm going to do next or the direction I'm going in," he said.
"I want to keep doing what I do best. I enjoy recording, and I enjoy performing live. I feel very fortunate that I can do that for a living."
Entertainment
Guitarist revisits past
Rolf Sturm to perform Saturday at La Brasserie
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