creative free improvised music with a 20th-century classical-experimental twist -- OR, 21st century composition with an avant-free-jazz twist.

13 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Free Jazz, CLASSICAL: Contemporary



Details:
Jeff Arnal (percussion) and Gordon Beeferman (piano) synthesize avant-garde jazz/improv and contemporary classical traditions of the 20th century into a unique âenergized ritual of free expressionâ¦music with muscle and appealâ (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), San Francisco Alternative Music Festival, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the Tremont Theater and Zeitgeist Gallery (Boston/Cambridge), 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, is being released in 2006.

Press about âBodies of Waterâ(duet recording) and âRara Avisâ (with Seth Misterka):

⢠"Near-perfect synchronicity... these two have talent to burn." -Steven Loewy, All Music Guide

⢠âInventive improvisation.â Alan Kozinn, New York Times

⢠"One of the best improv trio dates I've heard in recent memory." Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery, NYC

⢠"This New York City-based jazz/improvising trio emerges as a cohesive unit, meshing superior technical ability with extreme imaginative powers." Glenn Astarita, Jazz Review

⢠"First rate improv from a couple of youngsters charting their own course with a depth of dynamics and feeling..." Jay Collins, Cadence Magazine

ARTIST BIOS

"Percussionist JEFF ARNALâs 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 deSingel, German Nordwestradio, Music at the Anthology, Roulette and Vision Collaboration Festival. He can be heard on a number of independent record labels including Cadence Jazz, Leo, Oaksmus and Public Eyesore. Recent releases include Transit on Clean Feed and MEJA percussion duet on 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 âmasterly orchestral craftmanship⦠odd, refreshing sonorities and expressive speech.â A âfully liberated pianistâ (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 Universityâs Italian Academy and the Improvised and Otherwise Festival, as well as at other venues in Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.