Musical Saw - Saw Players

Saw Players

This is a list of people notable for playing the musical saw.

• Natalia Paruz, also known as the 'Saw Lady', plays the musical saw in movie soundtracks, in TV commercials, with orchestras internationally, and is the organizer of international saw festivals in New York City and Israel.
• David Coulter, Multi-Instrumentalist and Producer/ Music Supervisor; ex-member of Test Dept and The Pogues, has played Musical Saw on numerous albums and live with a who's who of Contemporary Popular Music: Damon Albarn, Gorillaz, Tom Waits, Hal Willner, Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker, Marianne Faithfull, Tim Robbins, The Tiger Lillies. He has played on many film scores including Is Anybody There? (2008) directed by John Crowley and starring Michael Caine, score composed by Joby Talbot; It's a Boy Girl Thing (2006) directed by Nick Hurran, score composed by Christian Henson and has featured on TV soundtrack and themes tunes, most recently for Psychoville, composed by Joby Talbot and episodes of Wallander, composed by Ruth Barrett. He continues to play internationally and collaborates with musicians across many musical styles. (more info: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2004/may/21/2)
• Kev Hopper, formerly the bass guitarist in the 1980s band Stump, made an album entitled Saurus in 2003 featuring six original saw tunes.
• Charles Hindmarsh, known as The Yorkshire Musical Saw Player, has played the musical saw throughout the UK.
• Elly Deliou was regarded as one of the best soloists of the musical saw. Born in Alexandria in 1935, she learned to play the saw at the age of seven, with Poland-Austrian Anton Stein. She moved to Greece in 1956, and worked as a professional saw musician. She died in April of 2012.
• Janeen Rae Heller played the saw in four television guest appearances: The Tracey Ullman Show (1989), Quantum Leap (1990), and Home Improvement (1992 and 1999). She has also performed on albums such as Michael Hedges' The Road to Return in 1994 and Rickie Lee Jones's Ghostyhead in 1997.
• Julian Koster of the band Neutral Milk Hotel played the singing saw, along with other instruments, in the band and currently plays the saw in his solo project, The Music Tapes. In 2008, he released The Singing Saw at Christmastime.
• Armand Quoidbach, is a Belgian saw player who has played the saw since 1997. In 1999 he played on the national Belgian TV (RTBF2) . In August 2000 he won the first prize at the contest for bands of the 25th "Plinn festival" in Bourbriac (Brittany) with the band "Le Bûcheron Mélomane et les Nains de la Forêt" (The Music-loving Lumberjack and the Dwarfs of the Forest). In 2002 he played on a CD Music Drama of the band "My Little Cheap Dictaphone" La Médiatheque de Belgique. He performed with numerous musicians in Belgium and in France.
• Thomas Jefferson Scribner was a familiar figure on the streets of Santa Cruz, California during the 1970s playing the musical saw. He performed on a variety of recordings and appeared in folk music festivals in the USA and Canada during the 1970s. His work as labour organizer and member of the IWW is documented in the 1979 film The Wobblies. Canadian composer/saw player Robert Minden pays tribute to him on his website. Musician/songwriter, Utah Phillips has recorded a song referencing Scribner, "The Saw Playing Musician" on the album Fellow Workers with Ani DiFranco. Artist Marghe McMahon was inspired in 1978 to create a bronze statue of Tom playing the musical saw which sits in downtown Santa Cruz.
• Marlene Dietrich played the saw on the Berlin stage and later used it to entertain troops during World War II.