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ES Trio (Steyer / Kwan  / Zerang): The Foreign In Us (Relative Pitch)

Recorded at Experimental Sound Studios following a powerful and inspired concert at Elastic Arts, this trio captures the distinct musical voices of Edith Steyer (alto saxophone & clarinet), Mabel Kwan (piano), and Michael Zerang (drums & percussion), weaving sound-oriented improvisations and diverse transatlantic influences from Berlin and Chicago.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Edith Steyer-alto saxophone, clarinet

Mabel Kwan-piano

Michael Zerang-drums, percussion


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UPC: 5904224873271

Label: Relative Pitch
Catalog ID: RPR1194
Squidco Product Code: 35581

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Experimental Sound Studios, in Chicago, illenois, in Mach, 2023, by Raplh Loza.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"After a wonderful concert at the Elastic Arts Foundation, Chicago, the ES Trio (Kwan/Zerang/Steyer), decided to record their music to document this inspiring collaboration. In their trio work they focused on sound oriented pieces, that were nurtured by the individual approaches to their instruments. The duo works of Zerang and Steyer also reflect the work of Steyer concerning instrumental ornamentation, that is inspired by the multi-ethnic, mostly near eastern sounds of the streets in Berlin."-Relative Pitch


Artist Biographies

"Edith Steyer was born in 1968 in Munich. After studying anthropology, she decided to become a saxophone and clarinet player and finished her degree at the Bruckner-Konservatorium in Linz, Austria. Since then she has been working professionally as a jazz musician and in the field of improvised music. She recieved support and grants for CD productions with various ensembles from the GEDOK, the Berliner Senat (SenBildJugWiss) and as a member of "The Composers Orchestra Berlin" from the Initiative für Neue Musik. She worked at the Staatstheater Cottbus, leading a saxophone quartet. She has been on tour in many places throughout europe and in the US and played with outstanding musicians such as Michael Griener, Jan Roder, Andreas Willers, James Falzone, John Niekrasz, Adam Pultz-Melbye, Kathrin Lemke, Johannes Schleiermacher, Yorgos Dimitriadis, Joel Grip, Tobias Delius, Clayton Thomas, Susanna Hood, Marialuisa Capurso, Jean-Marc Foussat, Luiz Rocha etc."

-Edith Steyer Website (http://www.edith-steyer.de/projekte/affare-bela-b/)
2/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Chicago-based, Austin-born pianist Mabel Kwan performs with the new music collective Ensemble Dal Niente, the improvising group Restroy, and as one half of the synth duo Mega Laverne and Shirley. She has commissioned and premiered new works for piano and clavichord which can be heard on her solo albums one poetic switch and Inventions. She has performed nationally and internationally, including concerts at Ravinia, Millennium Park, the Library of Congress, and the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. Mabel is a 2017 3Arts awardee."

-Ensemble Dalniente (http://www.dalniente.com/mabel-kwan/)
2/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Michael Zerang was born in Chicago, Illinois, and is a first-generation American of Assyrian decent. He has been a professional musician, composer, and producer since 1976, focusing extensively on improvised music, free jazz, contemporary composition, puppet theater, experimental theater, and international musical forms.

Michael has collaborated with contemporary theater, dance, and other multidisciplinary forms and has received three Joseph Jefferson Awards for Original Music Composition in Theater, in collaboration with Redmoon Theater, in 1996, 1998, and 2000.

As a percussionist and composer, Michael has over eighty titles in his discography and has toured nationally and internationally to 34 countries since 1981, and works with and ever-widening pool of collaborators.

Michael founded and was the artistic director of the Link's Hall Performance Series in Chicago from 1985-1989 where he produced over 300 concerts of jazz, traditional ethnic folk music, electronic music, and other forms of forward thinking music. Michael has been a Board Member of Links Hall Since 1989. He continued to produce concerts at Cafe Urbus Orbis from 1994-1996, and at his own space, The Candlestick Maker in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood, from 2001 - 2005.

Michael has taught as a guest artist at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in performance technique, sound design, and sound/music as it relates to puppetry; rhythmic analysis for dancers at The Dance Center of Columbia College, Northwestern University, and MoMing Dance and Arts Center; courses in Composer/Choreographer Collaborations at Northwestern University; music to children at The Jane Adams Hull House.

Michael currently tours and holds workshops in improvisational music, and teaches private lessons in rhythmic analysis, music composition, and percussion technique.

-Michael Zerang Website (http://www.michaelzerang.com/)
2/5/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Ornaments (Streets Of Neukölln) 2:52

2. The Foreign In Me 4:44

3. Labyrinth 4:38

4. Distant Nearness 3:40

5. Secret Serenade 3:30

6. Broken Piece 5:35

7. Rest In Spheres 1:17

8. Natural Traditional 4:20

9. Mechanical Gardeners 7:06

10. For Hanna Diyab 3:06

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Trio Recordings
New in Improvised Music
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Relative Pitch.


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