Sam Reider & The Human Hands → Jayme Stone

Sam Reider & The Human Hands

Led by Latin Grammy-nominated accordionist, pianist and composer Sam Reider, The Human Hands is a collective of innovative acoustic musicians working at the confluence of American folk, jazz and chamber music. Irresistible melodies, joyful improvisation and otherworldly sounds collide in what Songlines Magazine dubbed a “mash-up of the Klezmatics, Quintette du Hot Club de France and the Punch Brothers.” The Human Hands have toured throughout the US, UK, and Europe at venues like Lincoln Center, Celtic Connections Festival, Savannah Music Festival, Strawberry Music Festival and SFJAZZ and they’ve been featured on NPR, PBS and the BBC.

Their latest record, The Golem and Other Tales, is anchored by a suite inspired by a medieval Jewish folktale about a man-made creature, the limits of human power and the relationship between divine and human creativity. The Human Hands features some of the brightest lights in acoustic music today: violinist Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings), mandolinist Dominick Leslie (Molly Tuttle), cellist Duncan Wickel (Rising Appalachia), saxophonist Eddie Barbash (Jon Batiste), guitarist Roy Williams (Stephane Wrembel), and bassist Andrew Ryan (Kaïa Kater). The album features “The Golem” suite alongside five other compositions with echoes of Django Reinhardt, Planxty, Duke Ellington and Astor Piazzolla.

Originally trained as a jazz pianist, Reider has spent his career composing original music and collaborating with a dizzying range of roots, jazz and classical artists like Jon Batiste, Jorge Glem, Sierra Hull, Laurie Lewis, Gaby Moreno and Paquito d’Rivera. Reider’s solo piano record Petricho, garnered a four-star review in Downbeat Magazine and made their Best of 2022 list. Reider and Glem’s collaborative album Brooklyn-Cumaná was featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk and was nominated for Best Instrumental Album at the 2023 Latin GRAMMY Awards. Beyond performing, Reider is a prolific composer and has worked with a variety of chamber ensembles and artists ranging from the Bay Area’s Del Sol Quartet to the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and Grammy-nominated violinist Tessa Lark. Book Now

Videos

Coyocan

Del Boca Vista

The Fire Road

The Golem

Skeleton Rag

Press

“Modern folk music.”

New York Times

“Reider is the 21st Century’s Folk Duke Ellington.”

Northern Sky Magazine

“A mash-up of the Klezmatics, Quintette du Hot Club de France and the Punch Brothers.”

Songlines

“Reider’s accordion is the unyielding anchor, giving a dose of soulful, raw timelessness, but with a modern crispness and confidence.”

The Bluegrass Situation

Photos

Press Photo

by Gabriel Harber

Press Photo

by Gabriel Harber

Press Photo

by Gabriel Harber

Press Photo

by Gabriel Harber

Press Photo

by Gabriel Harber

Press Photo

by Gabriel Harber

Press Photo

by Evan Felts

Press Photo

by Evan Felts

Resources

Bio

Links

Performance Highlights

Festivals

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, San Francisco, CA Savannah Music Festival, Savannah, GA Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, OR Sisters Folk Festival, Sisters, OR Caramoor American Roots Music Festival, Katonah, NY Four Corners Folk Festival, Pagosa, CO Pagosa Folk Festival, Pagosa, CO Middlebury Festival on the Green, Middlebury, VT Redwing Roots Music Festival, Mount Solon, VA International Music Festival, San Antonio, TX Cotati Accordion Festival, Cotati, CA Mendocino Music Festival, Mendocino, CA Rapidgrass Festival, Elkin, NC Joye in Aiken Festival, Aiken, SC Waterford Fair, Waterford, VA Millpond Festival, Bishop, CA Ouibache Music Festival, West Lafayette, IN Global Roots Sonoma, Sonoma, CA

Performing Arts Centers

Lincoln Center Rubenstein Atrium, New York, NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, New York, NY SFJAZZ, San Francisco, CA Vilar Performing Arts Center, Beaver Creek, CO Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville, AR Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT University of Vermont Lane Series, Burlington, VT Blue Ridge Music Center, Galax, NC Swallow Hill Music Hall, Denver, CO Rice Auditorium, Monmouth, OR State Theatre, Red Bluff, CA Reeves Theatre, Hickory, NC Hopewell Theater, Hopewell, NJ

Other Notable Venues

Freight and Salvage, Berkeley, CA SFJCC, San Francisco, CA Noe Music, San Francisco, CA Arcata Playhouse, Arcata, CA Rockwood Music Hall, New York, NY The Triple Door, Seattle, WA Royal Room, Seattle, WA Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY Club Passim, Boston, MA Next Stage, Putney, VT The Falcon, Marlboro, NY Museum of Making Music, Carlsbad, CA Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, NY Hill Center, Washington, DC Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn, NY The Spiegeltent, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY The West Kortright Centre, East Meredith, NY Towne Crier Cafe, Beacon, NY Caroga Arts Collective, Caroga, NY Ripon Arts League, Ripon, CA The Shafer Baillie Mansion, Seattle, WA Sylvester Manor, Shelter Island, NY Shelter Island Friends of Music, Shelter Island, NY Congregation Beth Elohim, Brooklyn, NY Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, NY Chappaquiddick Community Center, Chappaquiddick, MA Sails Music Series, Charlottesville, VA Ensemble Iberica, Kansas City, MO