Sam Glaser
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Sam Glaser (born 1962 in Los Angeles) is a popular composer, performer and interpreter of Jewish music. Considered one of the top ten Jewish artists in the U.S. by Moment Magazine, his annual fifty-city tours culminate each year with summertime concerts throughout Israel, making him a unique ambassador for the Israeli cause throughout the diaspora. He is equally comfortable behind a grand piano in intimate solo concerts, leading his eight-piece band or headlining with full orchestra. His collection of sixteen self-produced Jewish CDs of his inspired compositions are among the bestselling in the Jewish world and can be heard in Orthodox, Conservative and Reform households, synagogues, schools, camps and carpools.
Hineni, Glaser's first Jewish CD, was released in 1992 to become one of the best-selling Jewish albums of the year. Songs such as "Shabbas," "Pitchu Li" and the title track have since become standards at synagogues, camps and households worldwide. He began a rigorous touring schedule throughout the US and Israel promoting the album at enthusiastically received concerts, workshops and Shabbatons. In 1994, Glaser followed up with A Day in the Life, a deeply inspired collection of songs illuminating the beauty of the daily Jewish prayers. No expense was spared to bring the music to life, including the finest L.A. studio musicians, a full horn section and an accomplished string quartet. Sam's third album, the 1997 release Across The River, celebrates the course of the Jewish year with sixteen songs about the major holidays and lifecycle events. He promoted this album in the 50+ city One Hand/One Heart tour across the globe in '98 and '99.
Glaser's next undertaking was a unique album/theatrical concert package entitled Kol Bamidbar/A Musical Journey Through the Five Books of Moses. Released in 1999, the studio soundtrack album features thirteen songs tracing Jewish history through the stories of the Torah. Sam recorded this memorable "edu-tainment"-oriented music accompanied by his top-notch band and the newly formed Kol Bamidbar Children's Choir culled from several school choirs in the L.A. area. Each year Glaser supplements his concert schedule with performances of this interactive musical with afternoon and day school students. The music and libretto are supplemented with classroom activity guides and performance options that deepen the learning experience. To date over thirty Kol Bamidbar events have transformed communities, some with up to 800 children participating, across all denominational lines.
In 2001, Glaser Musicworks released The Songs We Sing, featuring over seventy minutes of Sam and his band performing classic songs in the Jewish repertoire. The jazzy arrangements and state-of-the-art production give new life to these standards that have been enjoyed for decades. Glaser's 2002 album, The Bridge, is a jubilant collection of fifteen upbeat Glaser originals celebrating the unifying themes that bind the Jewish people. Sponsored by Israel's Common Denominator organization, The Bridge CD was featured in unity concerts over the course of 2002/2003 where many cities accepted the challenge to involve at least three synagogues across denominational lines.
Glaser's 2003 releases feature a pair of albums on the softer, more spiritual side. Presence is the "sister" CD to The Bridge, with fifteen introspective songs pertaining to enriching ones relationship with G-d. It features the most lush and precise orchestrations of Glaser's career and is a testimony to his growth as a composer and interpreter of Jewish text. Sheet music to both Presence and The Bridge are available in the Sam Glaser Complete Vol.2 Songbook. The second release is a double CD entitled Edge of Light. Together with concert pianist Sha-Rone Kushnir, Glaser revisits twelve of his most evocative ballads from his first four albums in an intimate, improvisational piano/vocal setting. A bonus piano only CD is included in the package and is intended for meditation, massage and healing.
Soap Soup is Glaser's 2004 release; an upbeat secular kids album featuring twenty new Glaser songs for young children and their families. This acclaimed recording has won the Parent's Choice Recommended award, the National Parenting Publications award and the Children's Music Web trophy. Soap Soup touches upon themes that make kids laugh and sing in their daily lives, embracing such activities as eating ice cream, birthday parties, the zoo, taking baths and family vacations.
The latest CD, The Nigun Project is a collection of 16 of Glaser's nigunim (songs without words,) and features a co-production effort with RebbeSoul/Bruce Burger and an all new ensemble of world-class musicians. Glaser takes this age-old artform to new heights with a novel combination of klezmer, reggae and world-beat styles. The vocals include members of such notable Jewish bands as Moshav Band, Soulfarm, Blue Fringe, Gershon Veroba and Beatachon.
Glaser has been composing, singing and tickling the ivories since the ripe old age of seven. He graduated the University of Colorado, Boulder with a BA in Business and Music, and supplemented his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston and at the UCLA Film Scoring Program. In addition to the sixteen albums of his own compositions he has published four collections of lyrics and poetry, four musicals, three sheet music songbooks of his Jewish music and an SATB choral book, Kol Haneshama. In his cutting-edge recording studio, Glaser Musicworks, he scores for film and television and produces albums for a wide variety of recording artists.
Glaser has emerged as one of the leaders of the Los Angeles music scene. He served as Executive Director of the Jewish Music Commission for five years, an organization that commissions and produces major Jewish works from composers across the country. He produces the annual American Jewish Song Festival, the most prestigious song writing competition of its kind. In 1995, Glaser was appointed Music Coordinator for the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Judaism where he supervised the music curriculum and directed the Cultural Arts Program.
For four years Glaser acted as Musical Director for the renown Yad b'Yad youth theater troupe and recently as Music Director for the Brandeis Collegiate Institute in Simi Valley, CA. He has also served as a cantorial soloist and is a teacher of a variety of classes on Jewish topics in communities nationwide, including the popular weekly workshop Seasons of Joy which he teaches every Monday Night in Los Angeles. He is active in the Coalition for Advancement of Jewish Education, the Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity and was a Jewish Big Brother for seven years. Sam lives in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles with his wife Shira and children Max, Jesse and Sarah.
