A. Spencer Barefield

A widely acclaimed guitarist, soloist, composer and ensemble leader, A. Spencer Barefield has performed, toured and recorded extensively for nearly four decades as a ensemble leader, soloist, and with many jazz legends, such as Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Oliver Lake, Richard Davis, Andrew Cyrille and Reggie Workman. He has played at hundreds of festivals and concerts in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and throughout the US and Canada, including Alaska and the Yukon.  

Barefield has received numerous grants and honors, including the prestigious 2010  Kresge Artist Fellowship. His compositions have been commissioned by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet-the-Composer/ Readers Digest/Lila Wallace Fund, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Arts Foundation of Michigan, Meet-the-Composer/ Commission USA, Arts International and others. His works have been debuted and performed at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival and the Art X Festival with members of the Detroit Symphony, New Music America Festival in New York and San Francisco, Nickelsdorf and Leverkusener Jazz Festivals, and at other venues worldwide.