JACK WRIGHT, saxophonist, has been touring throughout the US and Europe since 1983. He created Spring Garden Music as a vehicle for organizing an improvisational music community, with a home base at his house in Philadelphia, now a residence for improvisers. He has been called the Johnny Appleseed of free improvisation for his encouragement to young players. As a musical explorer as well, his music passes through radical shifts of style and approach from one year to the next, yet always somehow identifiable as his own. These days he is playing mostly alto and soprano saxophones, in every possible direction, sometimes even recognizable.He livesin Easton PA, which enables him to join with improvisers up and down the east coast.The Washington Post once allowed this to be printed: "In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king".
Jack has over sixty partners around the US and in Europe with whom he plays on his travels and records. His most recent tours have been with Fabrizio Spera and Alberto Braida in Italy; with Agnes Palier and Olivier Toutlemond in France, Switzerland and Germany; with Michael Johnsen, electronics, of Pittsburgh and French tpt player Sebastien Cirotteau in Europe; with Carol Genetti, sound vocalist of Chicago, and Jon Mueller, percussionist of Milwaukee; French soprano sax player Michel Doneda and NYC percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani in Japan, France and the US; and Nate Wooley, trumpet, in Europe.
For a full bio, writings, sound files and list of recordings (36) visit his website: www.springgardenmusic.com
2001 interview with John Berndt: www.redroom.org/documentation/wright.html
Jeff Arnal and Gordon Beeferman synthesize avant-garde jazz/improv and contemporary classical traditions of the 20th century into a unique energized ritual of free expressionmusic with muscle and appeal (Cadence Magazine). Since forming their duo in 2000, Arnal and Beeferman have become an integral part of the creative music scene in New York and beyond. Their duo has performed at the Knitting Factory, Music at the Anthology, Improvised and Otherwise (Brooklyn), Hallwalls (Buffalo NY), Music Gallery (Toronto), San Francisco Alternative Music Festival, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and other venues for experimental and improvised music. Their first recording Bodies of Water (2001) was praised for its "near-perfect synchronicity... these two have talent to burn" (All Music Guide). In addition to working as a duet, they have collaborated with many other musicians and dancers, including choreographer Estelle Woodward (in the dance/music ensemble Loophole) and saxophonist Seth Misterka (as Rara Avis). Their newest recording, Rogue States, was released on Generate Records in September 2006.ARTIST BIOS
BRAD KEMP was born in Texas in 1979 and grew up outside of Philadelphia. In 1998 he came to Boston to study with Don Palma at the New England Conservatory of Music. During that time he was greatly influenced by the sounds and expressions of the past half-century. Parallel with this line of study came a love for improvisation, and a friendship with microtonal guru Joe Maneri. Brad has performed with Maneri and other members of the Boston Microtonal Collective, of which he is a co-founder. Currently he is part of The Bunkbeds, Kilter, and Capital M, and sometimes play with Anit-Social Music, World Inferno Friendship Society, and many improvisatory groups.
"Percussionist JEFF ARNALs balletic sense of time and imaginative deployment of colour have combined into a highly original concept" (Philip Clark, TheWire). Arnal frequently performs and collaborates with a wide range of musicians and choreographers in the U.S. and Europe. Recent performances include Barbs (NYC), deSingel (Antwerp), German Nordwestradio (Bremen), the Stone (NYC) and Tonic (NYC). He can be heard on a number of independent record labels including Cadence Jazz, Leo, Oaksmus and Public Eyesore. Recent releases include Transit (Clean Feed) and MEJA percussion duo with Michael Evans (C3R). He has been awarded grants and fellowships from Meet the Composer and Art Omi International. Since 2000 he has lived in Brooklyn, NY where he is an active performer and co-director of the Improvised and Otherwise Festival, an annual experimental multi-media festival.
GORDON BEEFERMAN, pianist-composer, moves easily across the boundaries between composition, interpretation and improvisation. His works -- orchestral, solo, chamber, and opera -- have been been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Albany Symphony, pianist Winston Choi, soprano Lisa Bielawa, NYC-based Anti-Social Music and many others. The Chicago Tribune praised Beeferman for his masterly orchestral craftmanship odd, refreshing sonorities and expressive speech. "A fully liberated pianist" (Cadence Magazine), Beeferman has performed in a wide range of settings, from concerto soloist to free-improviser, and has collaborated regularly with choreographers, writers, and other artists. In New York he has performed at Roulette, the Merce Cunningham Studio, Music at the Anthology, Columbia Universitys Italian Academy and the Improvised and Otherwise Festival, as well as at other venues in Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
RELATED WEBSITES:
http://catapultparlor.com
www.generaterecords.net/JeffArnal.html
http://gordon.inkbox.org