"About Trevor Dunn

1968: born traversing a fine line between hippies and rednecks behind the redwood curtain. first musical affinities: the beach boys, blondie, cheap trick, kiss. first television: ultraman, speedracer, bugs bunny. first films: over the edge, the mouse and his child, snoopy come home, bedknobs & broomsticks. first books: zylpha keatly snyder's witches of worm, the velvet room and the headless cupid.

1977: began studies on clarinet

1981: began studies on electric bass and subsequently quit the clarinet as i realized that girls would now talk to me.

1986: the same year that Lynch's blue velvet and Slayer's reign in blood were released, graduated from EHS. the school's motto: "pigs live in litter, loggers live in pride". started a band called Mr. Bungle. then i got a job at shakey's pizza. began classical technique studies on the contrabass.

1990: graduated from humboldt state university after studying the likes of harry partch, iannis xenakis, alban berg, igor stravinksy, gustav mahler, js bach, you know, all the cats. Also performed Koussevitsky's Concerto for Double Bass with the HSO.

1992: first Mr. Bungle record released on Warner Bros. Moved to SF and two months later embarked on the first MB tour of the US. At the age of 24 I was one of the oldest people in the van. For the next eight years played lots of weddings and restaurants between tours with MB. Learned a lot about music playing with Connah, Goldberg, Schott, Kavee, Amendola, Greenlief, et al.

2000: relocated to Brooklyn, NYC.

Currently playing in various projects under the direction of John Zorn (Nova Quartet, Dreamers, Electric Masada, Aleph Trio). The Nels Cline Singers, Curtis Hasselbring's New Mellow Edwards, Melvins Lite, Endangered Blood, Tomahawk, The Darius Jones Quartet & Erik Friedlander's Bonebridge. I still have plans for my own bands: trio-convulsant, PROOF Readers and MadLove; and I continue to write music for independent films, practice long tones, pine over Daisy Lowe and drink shitty beer in heavy metal saloons."

-Trevor Dunn Website (http://www.trevordunn.net/biography.html)
3/3/2021

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"Marika Hughes is a cellist, singer, composer, song-writer and teacher. A native of NYC, Marika was exposed to a varied creative life from an early age. Her parents owned a jazz club on the Upper West Side and she was fortunate to enjoy an exciting classical music life as the granddaughter of the great cellist, Emanuel Feuermann. She was a regular on Sesame Street, was a member of New York Youth Symphony, spent summers at the chamber music camp, Greenwood, was a student at festivals in Europe and busked in NYC with her high-school string quartet. Marika received her B.A. from Barnard College in political science and cello performance at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Ardyth Alton.

Shortly after completing her studies, Marika left NYC and moved to San Francisco, CA. It is there that she began to explore a musical life outside of the western classical tradition of her childhood training. In addition to playing in the Berkeley and Santa Rosa Symphonies, she joined Quartet San Francisco and enjoyed performing and recording for a host of artists and films including, Tom Waits, Mr. Bungle, Xiu Xiu, Santana and Finding Nemo.

Marika joined Carla Kihlstedt and Shahzad Ismaily in 2 Foot Yard. The band released two CDs; 2 Foot Yard (Tzadik, 2005) and Borrowed Arms (Yard Work, 2008). She founded the band Red Pocket with Jewlia Eisenberg and they released their CD, Thick, on Tzadik's Oracle Series. She also joined Jewlia's a cappella trio, Charming Hostess. She is a featured singer on that band's release, Sarajevo Blues (Tzadik 2005). Marika began her compositional work here, writing string arrangements and songs for all of these groups.

In 2006, Marika moved back to NYC. She has enjoyed playing with many local musicians she has long admired as well as some superstars. She has performed and/or recorded with D'Angelo, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, Sean Lennon, Valerie June, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Ani DiFranco, Imani Uzuri, Charlie Burnham, Anthony Braxton, Toshi Reagon, Adele, Aruan Ortiz, Nasheet Waits and Henry Threadgill. She has appeared on The David Letterman Show, The Jimmy Fallon Late Night Show as well as Saturday Night Live.

Upon returning to NYC, Marika began to write for her own groups. She has written songs steeped in instrumental composition and lyrical content. In the last few years she has enjoyed writing entirely instrumental tunes for her new string quartet of cello, upright bass, violin and acoustic guitar (with Rashaan Carter, Charlie Burnham and Marvin Sewell respectively). She has released three records of original music under her own name; Afterlife Music Radio (2011) with pieces written specifically for her solo cello by artists including Nasheet Waits, Carla Kihlstedt and Eyvind Kang, The Simplest Thing (2011) an album of original songs and most recently, New York Nostalgia (2016) with her band, Bottom Heavy.

Marika has worked with Triad Trust, a Boston based NGO for 10 years. The ImprovED program which Marika helped to create (in rural South Africa and Haiti) utilizes a unique improvisation technique that provides students a stage to rehearse critical moments in their young lives. Thru original song and dramatic sketches, the local ImprovED troupe teaches ideas and practices related to self care and HIV?/AIDS testing/prevention/ treatment in the communities where they live.

In addition to her cello duties, Marika enjoyed being a guest host for Terrance McKnight's radio show, All Ears on WQXR, she has been a featured storyteller on The Moth and was a cast member of Stew's play, Family Album produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Marika lives in Brooklyn, NY."

-Marika Hughes Website (http://www.marikahughes.com/bio/)
3/3/2021

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"Drummer and percussionist Tim Keiper transcends categorization. Based in NYC, he has spent the last 15 years touring the world, playing and recording with such diverse artists as Cyro Baptista, Vieux Farka Touré, John Zorn, Matisyahu, Dirty Projectors, Hazmat Modine, and Skeleton Key. Equally at home rocking explosive rhythms in the West African desert, laying down grooves in a jazz club, or constructing an avant-garde sound experience bordering on performance art, Keiper has a deep knowledge of an eclectic set of music traditions and genres. His ability to speak each musical language so authentically, yet imprint the music with his rich experience and canny sensibility, defines his inimitable playing.

Born in Red Bank, NJ, Keiper moved to New York City in 1999 to play music. It was here that he was able to open his musical universe by immersing himself in the thriving Downtown music scene while at the same time studying the music of Brazil, West Africa, and India. This was the beginning of his ongoing pursuit to embrace a multitude of cultural and musical traditions and assimilate them into his own pioneering approach to drumming.

By the time he finished college, Keiper was playing with Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista's 10-piece percussion ensemble Beat the Donkey. Baptista taught him about the world of Brazilian music and rhythms as well as the infinite possibilities of building instruments and creating the sounds of one's environment.

In 2002, he took a gig as junk percussionist with art rock band Skeleton Key. It was his role to create the sounds of New York City with an original set up of things foraged from the garbage: propane tanks, fire extinguishers, chains, saw blades, crank sirens, and a pogo stick, some of which still grace his kit today. This spurred his fascination with creating captivating sounds in unorthodox ways.

In 2005, Keiper played on the debut record of Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré. After spending a year on the road together, Touré invited him to his home village of Niafunké and the ancient city of Timbuktu to play the Festival in the Desert. He was introduced to the doson ngoni, or sorcerer's harp, as well as the calabash, one of the primary traditional drums of Mali. Both instruments, with their distinctive sounds, have since become essential parts of his music. Keiper has played on all of Touré's studio records in addition to performing at the opening ceremony to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Johannesburg.

Earlier this year, he reconnected with long-time friend Matisyahu and recorded Live at Stubb's, Vol. III. With Aaron Dugan on guitar and Rob Marscher on keys, this more stripped down setting creates the perfect space to capture the group's spontaneous experimentation and improvisation. They will tour the new record this fall.

Keiper is also spending 2015 on the road with Vieux Farka Touré's new project Touristes, Cyro Baptista's Banquet of the Spirits, John Zorn, and Hazmat Modine. His own band, Eclipticalia, influenced by the sounds of NYC, Timbuktu, and Outer Space, has a record due out later this year.

Keiper teaches at New York University."

-Tim Keiper Website (http://www.timkeiper.com/)
3/3/2021

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"Chris Speed is a composer, clarinetist and saxophonist - and is "one of the principal figures in a dynamic left-of-center jazz/improv scene in the city" (NYTimes). His own bands include Endangered Blood, Human Feel, yeah NO, Trio Iffy, Pachora and The Clarinets. He is a founding member of Jim Black's Alas No Axis and John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet (two of the most influential working bands today), works with Uri Caine (deconstructing works by Mahler, Mozart, Bach, Schoenberg, Gershwin) and maintains a busy career of touring, recording, performing, composing, practicing and teaching. Current projects include work with Craig Taborn's Heroic Frenzies, Michael Formanek's Ensemble Kolossus, Dave King's Trucking Co., Matt Mitchell Quartet, Mary Halvorson's Reverse Blue, Banda de los Muertos (NYC's only Banda band), as well as touring his latest project, Endangered Blood (with Black, Trevor Dunn and Oscar Noriega) which was featured on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts in 2012. (Endangered Blood 2010, Work Your Magic 2013 Skirl). "Speed's Endangered Blood originals stand out as his most melodically generous, accessible and warm batch of compositions he's yet to produce." -DownBeat ****Born in 1967, Speed grew up in the Seattle area where he met future colleagues Jim Black and Andrew D'Angelo, all of whom ended up in Boston in the late 80's where they formed Human Feel with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. (Scatter 1992, Welcome to Malpesta 1994, Speak To It 1996, Galore 2007). While in Boston he studied at New England Conservatory and graduated in 1990. By 1992, after a short tour with the Artie Shaw Band (led by Dick Johnson), Speed moved to New York City where he started working with Tim Berne's (now legendary touring band) Bloodcount. (Unwound 1996, Discretion 1997, Saturation Point 1997, The Seconds 2006).In April 2006, he launched Skirl Records, a label dedicated to Brooklyn based creative music" -Chris Speed Website (http://chrisspeed.com/bio/)
3/3/2021

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"Kenny Wollesen (born 1966) is an American drummer and percussionist.

Wollesen lives in New York City. He has recorded and toured with Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, John Lurie, Myra Melford, Steven Bernstein, and John Zorn. He is a founding member of the New Klezmer Trio and a member of the Sex Mob and Himalayas groups. He also performs on the soundtrack to the popular children's show The Backyardigans.

Kenny grew up in Capitola, CA, studying at Aptos HS and spent many teenage years jamming with Donny McCaslin. He spent quality classroom time with flugelhornist and arranger Ray Brown at Cabrillo College. Kenny also arranges and studied vibraphone at Cabrillo."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Wollesen)
3/3/2021

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