BREEN/BERNDTtour of Italy in the spring of 2004
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PRESS INFO
Multi-instrumentalist Dan
Breen (bass) was born in 1975 and lives in
Baltimore. His activities include a wide range of creative pursuits,
but he is perhaps best known for two parallel musical careers. He
plays inspired electric bass in funk and jazz contexts on one hand,
and a variety of instruments in the freewheeling, highly risk-taking
avant-garde free improvisation circles in the other. All of his music
is characterized by intense passion and "carefully designed trap
doors." His exploration of the electric bass on this tour is marked by
a deep investigation of extended techniques and unusual playing
styles. His current groups include Snacks, Il Culo, The Financial
Group, and his duo with Andy Hayleck, playing bowed metal. He is a
member of the Red Room collective and High Zero Foundation, two of the
most active new music presenting organizations on the East Coast of
the U.S.A.
John Berndt (b. 1967) is a multi-instrumentalist best known as a
saxophonist, an instrument on which he has developed a broad and
idiosyncratic technical ability. He has dedicated himself almost
entirely to freely improvised music since 1990. A student of American
master improviser Jack Wright, and also a composer of electronic
music, Berndt's saxophones survey's terrain reminiscent of John
Butcher and John Oswald, with a strong intensity of self-expression
that finds inspiration in free jazz. He is a tireless collaborator,
with his
projects include THUS with instrument builder Neil Feather, his larger
groups Multiphonic Choir and Second Nature, and the intensive quartet
The Short Life of Harry Crosby. He is also an active playing partner
of Eugene Chadbourne, Bhob Rainey, and kaffe Matthews. He is also the
founder of the above mentioned Red Room collective and High Zero
Foundation.
The Breen/Berndt Duo seeks to find and explore new territory in
improvised music, by simply and honestly paying attention to the
direct phenomena and possibilities of sound. Emotions are involved, as
varied attention states, moods, and attitudes towards reality are
evoked in an ever-shifting set of approaches to sound production and
structure. Limiting themselves to bass and saxophone, the duo
demonstrate a virtuosity of imagination and intention that marks them
as two of the most interesting radical improvisers in North America.