Saxophonist and composer Mike Fuerstein writes music which integrates many of his wide-ranging musical influences, layering intricate melodic fugues and minimalist phases over dense electronic textures and eclectic grooves.

7 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Fusion, ELECTRONIC: Ambient



Details:
Saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Fuerstein has performed as both a leader and sideman throughout the Northeastern United States, appearing at such major venues as The Boston Globe Jazz Festival (Boston), Blues Alley (Washington D.C.), The New Jersey Jazz Festival (Hoboken, NJ), The House of Blues (Cambridge, MA), and The Knitting Factory (New York). A native of the New York area, Fuerstein first developed an abiding love for music at summer camp, where he was prodded to pick up the tenor saxophone in order to fill out the camp's big band (his original instrument was the clarinet). Smitten with the visceral and cerebral thrills of jazz music, Fuerstein quickly began studying seriously, going on to earn an undergraduate degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, and learning under such luminaries as Paul Bley, Danilo Perez, Jerry Bergonzi, and George Russell.

After finishing college in 2000 Fuerstein settled in Brooklyn, performing regularly around New York City as a reed player, and increasingly dedicating himself to composition and songwriting. For this, he works from a diverse palette of musical interests and influences, among which are classical composers such as Debussy, Reich, and Ligeti, modern electronic producers such as Boards of Canada and Bjork, a wide range of contemporary rock songwriters and, of course, jazz visionaries such as Wayne Shorter and Miles Davis.

His most recent project, Mainframe, is a band comprising electric bass, Rhodes piano and synthesizers, drums, alto saxophone, and himself on tenor saxophone. For Mainframe, Fuerstein writes music which draws from the pulse of New York's unrelenting urban cycles and cadences. The compositions integrate many of his wide-ranging musical influences, layering intricate melodic fugues and minimalist phases over dense electronic textures and eclectic grooves. All of the music features both extended through-composed and improvised sections. After several years of painstaking writing, recording, and production work, Fuerstein has recently announced the release of Mainframe's self-titled debut on his own record label, Rad Translation Records.

In addition to pursuing his various musical endeavors, Fuerstein is currently a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Columbia Department of Philosophy, and is in the early stages of writing a dissertation in contemporary democratic theory.