< home Performer Bios / T-Z A-F / G-L / M-S / T-Z CHAD TAYLOR Chicago-raised drummer Chad Taylor grew up in Atrium Village near Wells and Division, and briefly studied classical guitar (which he'd briefly begun studying at the age of 8) at Millikan University in Decatur, fleeing to the NYC's New School to study jazz drumming. After a stint in the big apple, (where he played with the Life Ensemble, Junior Mance, Lou Donaldson and Mark Turner, among others), he returned in the summer of '97 for good. He is Rob Mazurek's partner in the Chicago Underground Duo, Chicago Underground Trio, and Chicago Underground Orchestra. Taylor also plays regularly with some of the city's free-jazz giants, Ernest Dawkins and Fred Anderson, and earlier played for awhile with saxophonist Lin Halliday. top CARL TESTA Carl Testa A native of Chicago, Carl Testa has been playing music since 1997. Primarily a bassist, he has begun to take up other instruments such as bamboo flutes, piano and most recently bass clarinet. He has studied bass with Donn De Santo in Chicago since 1998. He has also studied at the AACM School of Music with Steve Berry, Ann Ward and Avreeyal Ra. Currently he is at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where he performs in a wide variety of jazz, classical, free and non-western ensembles. In the CORE trio, along with Aaron Getsug and Stephen Ptacek he contributes compositions to the group1s repertoire. top RICHARD THEODORE Multi-reedist Richard Theodore's first musical experiences with improvising and arranging began with the dance bands he played in in his youth. Another Chicago native, he was a member of several progressive groups in the 60's and 70's, including Research Defense Squad, Burden of Friendship, Methong, and Maluco Samba. For 1,2,3,4 he employs a different saxophone and/or reed instrument each time. Recently, Richard can be heard on poet Joe Roarty's spoken-word album "Cracktopia". Richard provides brilliant moments in "Total Improv!" with his bass clarinet and C-melody saxophone, and in live settings he is the barometer for the performance's direction. top BLAIR THOMAS Blair Thomas is a puppeteer. For nine years he was co-artistic director of the Redmoon Theater, a puppet and spectacle company he founded in 1989. There he made all sorts of puppet shows, parades, pageants and awardwinning productions most notably : Moby-Dick, Frankenstein, The Evil Flower, Red Devil Green Devil, You Hold My Heart Between Your Teeth, The Winter Pageant and the Halloween Lantern Parade and Spectacle. Since leaving Redmoon he has created a one-man version of Lorca's The Puppet Show of Don Cristobal and recently directed and designed Manuel deFalla's chamber puppet opera Master Pedro's Puppet Show for Chicago Opera Theater and the City's Storefront Theater. Currently he is the coordinator for the Puppetry Institute, a summer training and research program at the School of the Art Institute and co-curated the Chicago International Festival of Puppet Theater with Susan Lipman and Performing Arts Chicago this last June. He is a second year Dharma Student studying at Maitreya Buddhist Seminary at the Zen Buddhist Temple. top SAADET TRKöZ Voice Born in Istanbul, now living in Zurich, Saadet Trköz performs Kazakh and Turkish songs and contemporary improvisations. Looking to transform memory, she seeks to evoke pictures and atmosphere by means of voice and music that transcends boundaries: cultural, traditional and new music. She has performed with Elliott Sharp, Burhan Ocal, Joelle Leandre Martin Schutz and Fredy Studer.She has performed all over Europe, Brazil, and America giving concerts: solo, duo, and concerts with larger formations. She performs with both improvising musicians and new music composers. She is something special to hearÑand something that we have not heard before.Saadet Trköz merges experimental vocalizing with the traditional songs of her native Kazakhstan. top ROGER TURNER ROGER TURNER was exposed to a broad cross-section of jazz as well as blues and pop. After moving to London in 1968, he worked extensively with the Ghanian drum ensemble, Mask, and toured with Ritual Theater, an innovative experimental band at the time. Since 1974, he has primarily focused on developing a personal style of percussion. His performances show new possibilities for subtle and specific expression through the drum. His extensive research in to the language of drumming has lead to work with Annette Peacock, Phil Minton, Alan Silva, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor, Toshinori Kondo, Lol Coxhill, Elton Dean, Otomo Yoshide, John Russell, and many others. Roger Turner grew up amongst the Canterbury musical life of the 1960s with a strong broad jazz root. His first formal performance in improvisation was in duo with Chris Biscoe for the British Council, Brighton in 1966. He moved to London in 1968 and worked with the Ghanian drum ensemble Mask and toured with the experimental and innovative Ritual Theatre. Since 1974, he has primarily concentrated on opening the way to a more personal percussion language. Extensive solo work followed (including concerts at the Bracknell Jazz Festival and the Bruxelles Festival of Percussion) and he was also granted two Arts Council bursaries (1980 and 1983) for investigation into percussion and electronics. It was during this period that he recorded his solo LP The blur between, though it focusses on very specific aspects of percussion and certainly does not represent his wide current interests. In 1984 and 1985, he undertook workshop residences at Alan Silva's Institut Art Cultur Perception in Paris. In the same period, collaborations with experimental rock musics and open song form included extensive duo work with Annette Peacock (1983-1985) and recordings with post-wave band The Nose Flutes (1986-1987). Roger Turner has worked with numerous jazz-based ensembles including those of Elton Dean, Alan Silva and Lol Coxhill. Music making with European and international improvisors in ad hoc and group collaborations has over the years included Toshinori Kondo, Derek Bailey, Trio'z with Carlos Zingaro and Tom Cora, Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor, Otomo Yoshihide, Shelley Hirsch, JoŒlle Léandre; Keith Rowe; Wolfgang Fuchs and many others. Collaborations with film-makers and image projection include work with Martin Klapper & Chikako Oyama and music for dance includes work with Alexander Frangenheim's concepts of doing (Stuttgart); Matthew Hawkins Company (London); Carlos Zingaro's Encontros projects (Lisbon & Macau, China). Roger Turner's current main collaborations are The tradition trio with Alan Silva and Johannes Bauer; The Recedents with Lol Coxhill and Mike Cooper; Konk Pack with Tim Hodgkinson and Thomas Lehn; The Phil Minton Quartet with Veryan Weston and John Butcher; duos with John Russell and Phil Minton. Performances in major festivals have included: Edinburgh; Actual, London; Setubal and Avante, Portugal; CRIM, Pisa; Bracknell, England; Ulrichsberg and Nickelsdorf Austria; Kongsberg, Norway; Philadelphia Free Music; Taklos, Switzerland; Chantenay, France; Budapest; Berlin Jazzfest; Camden Jazz Festival, London; Vancouver; Victoriaville; Sound Symposium, Newfoundland; Banlieu Bleu, Paris; Vandoeuvre; Copenhagen Voice Festival; Macau; etc. top KEN VANDERMARK If you're from Chicago you've undoubtedly heard of Ken Vandermark.Since his arrival in the Windy City in 1989, Ken has played tenor saxophone/clarinet in some of the most influential music groups of the decade including the NRG Ensemble (Delmark 485), DKV Trio, The Vandermark 5, and the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tenet, just to name a few. Since that time Ken has released numerous records and is currently celebrating his second release on theDelmark label with his innovative group the Sound In Action Trio, entitled Design In Time(Delmark516). The group features Tim Mulvenna on percussion and the legendary percussionist Robert Barry, best known for his work with Sun Ra's Arkestra not to mention Sonny Stitt, Von Freeman, Lin Halliday and Johnny Griffin.The Sound In Action Trio, provides a vehicle for expression unlike any other group that Ken has led. While the instrumentation gives him the harmonic freedom to stretch musically, the presence of Robert Barry adds an historical foundation to the music that can only be accomplished with a player of Barry's stature.Design In Time will undoubtedly become known as one of Ken Vandermark's greatest accomplishments to date. Born on September 22, 1964 in Rhode Island, Ken Vandermark was exposed to Jazz and Classical music at an early age. While growing up in Boston, Ken and his father went to nearly every jazz concert whether it be swing, be bop, or avante-garde. Ken started playing trumpet in the 4th grade, but upon hearing Joe McPhee's "Tenor" album he decided to switch to playing tenor saxophone at age 17. Ken attended McGill University in Montreal to study film, but upon graduating in 1996 he decided to pursue music full-time. Through his dedication, unyielding will, and endearing persona, Ken has succeeded in reviving the avant music scene, inspiring a younger generation to support jazz and avante music in Chicago and around the world. This year Ken's achievements were recognized on a national level when he received the prestigious MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant". top DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF The leading drummer on the Vancouver creative music scene, van der Schyff is acclaimed by Down Beat as "a master manipulator (who) tests and expands common notions of timbre," Van der Schyff has recently been devoting considerable attention to international collaborations with artists such as Dave Douglas, Mark Dresser, John Butcher, Rene Lussier, Barre Phillips, and Louis Sclavis. Anzai, a saxophonist who uses electronics as a compositional tool, is from a wave of younger musicians in Vancouver influenced by (among other things) John Zorn, noise, and ambient musics. The Barking Sphinx Ensemble will combine acoustic textures in an electronic soundscape that moves from ambient transparency to a dense and kinetic sonic wall. top UTE VOELKER Ute Volker (accordéon) fait elle partie -avec e.a. Gunda Gottschalk, avec qui elle forme aussi un trio avec Jacquemyn- de l'ensemble du musique improvisée Partita Radicale à Cologne. Nace en 1963 y vive en Wuppertal. Trabaja en la improvisación con Michel Doneda (Francia), Camel Zekri (Argelia), Le Quan ninh (Francia), Armanda Steward (Australia), Marc Wastel (Gran Bretaña), Karlheinz Essl (Alemania), etc. Participa en distintos festivales de improvisación como: Human Noise (Wiesbaden), Real-Time-Festival (Hamburgo), Vu díun Noeuf (Verdun), Nozart (Colonia). En 1994 colabora con el grupo de teatro Un, deux, trois- la soleil (París) y forma parte de la agrupación de músicos africanos y europeos del Festival de líeau. En 1996 estudia y da conciertos en Nigeria. En 1997 participa en la performance: das 4. Geraune im Rahmen der Stille. En 1998 participa en la produccion de la obra de teatro Klavier am Hosenträger. En 1999 hace la música para Andorra , de Max Frisch. En el 2000 participa en la producción de la pieza sonora entweder-oder con Steff Flächsenhaar. top ZACHARY WALLACE Zachary wallace makes and listens to sounds in ann arbor, michigan. he plays the doublebass regularly as a member of memorize the sky (improvisations with matt bauder, aaron siegel) and flashpapr (folk songs with fred thomas, ben bracken, jacob danziger, ida pearle). he has improvised with greg kelley, jeb bishop, curt newton, kyle bruckmann, fred lonberg-holm, tatsuya nakatani, ben bracken, boris hauf and others; and recorded and performed with rock bands his name is alive, warn defever's 100 years band, saturday looks good to me, and low. other projects include tape music and installations involving organic materials and field recordings under the name field & dream, and sound environments, a weekly radio program of location recordings broadcast on 88.3 wcbn fm, ann arbor (www.wcbn.org). top WEASEL WALTER b. 1972 Composer/multi-instrumentalist specializing in confrontation, chaos and asymmetry of form. Founding member of Chicago-based No Wave/Free Jazz/Death Metal ensemble The Flying Luttenbachers (since 1991). Has appeared on more than 50 recordings as a leader, band member or side person and performed more than 600 concerts throughout the U.S. and Europe. Has made and/or recorded improvised music with Kevin Drumm, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jeb Bishop, Nandor Nevai, Jim O'Rourke, Michael Zerang, Jeff Parker, Ken Vandermark, Hal Russell a.o. Website: http://www.ripco.net/~nailhead/weasel_walter top MATT WESTON Percussionist and electronicist Matt Weston has performed throughout the US and in Europe. He has studied and/or collaborated with Arthur Brooks, Bill Dixon, Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, and William Parker. His unique approach to percussion has earned him critical praise in such magazines as Cadence, Signal To Noise, and Bananafish for his debut solo release Vacuums. As a member of the Arthur Brooks Ensemble V, his performances have included a live broadcast on Boston's WERS; the Three Days In October festival (commemorating the 30th anniversary of the October Revolution In Jazz); the 1999 Vision Festival in New York; an extended collaboration with the Rotterdam Improvisers Pool; and a month-long workshop at the School For New Dance Development in Amsterdam. Weston also spent 2 ? years in Chicago, where he collaborated with Jim Baker, Jeb Bishop, Michael Colligan, Kevin Drumm, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Bob Marsh, Jim O'Rourke, Ken Vandermark, and many others. He was a member of Corine (with Colligan and Drumm), The October Trio (with bassist Kyle Hernandez and Vandermark), Signal To Noise Unit (with Drumm and Vandermark), and Eights (featuring Bishop, Colligan, John Corbett, Drumm, Terri Kapsalis, Lonberg-Holm, O'Rourke, and Ben Vida). He also enjoyed a brief stint as the drummer for Chicago pop-rock legends Green. In 1997 Weston and guitarist Ben Vida produced and compiled Sonance Quarry, a CD featuring many of the above musicians and groups, released on the now-defunct Chicago-based Tautology label (no relation to the Boston label of the same name). In the summer of 1998 Weston moved to Northampton, MA, where he is a member of Barn Owl (with bassist Andy Crespo and electronicist Chris Cooper) and frequently performs solo. Barn Owl has played in western Massachusetts, Baltimore, New York, and Boston. They have collaborated with percussionist Le Quan Ninh and saxophonist Jack Wright, and their performance at the 2000 Autumn Uprising festival in Boston caused chunks of plaster to fall from the ceiling. top JACOB WICK Jacob Wick. born in the northern suburbs of chicago in 1985, trumpet player jacob wick is beginning to make his presence known in the new york and chicago jazz and creative music scenes. he has been playing and studying jazz and improvised music since he was 10 and has performed in numerous venues, including a 3-week tour of europe in 1999, the aberdeen (scotland) international youth festival in 2001, and the banff (canada) international workshop in jazz and creative music in 2004, to which he was personally invited by dave douglas. he has studied with ralph alessi, rudresh mahanthappa, and dave douglas, and shared the stage with such luminaries as george lewis, jason moran, han bennink, and mr. douglas. he has also performed with mark turner. mr. wick currently resides in new york. top WOLTER WIERBOS Wolter Wierbos is considered one of the world¹s leading trombone players. He has played throughout Europe, Canada, USA and Asia. Wierbos has many awards to his name, including the Podiumprijs for Jazz and Improvised music and the most important Dutch jazz award, the VPRO Boy Edgar Prize. Like many Dutch brass players Wierbos started out in a Œfanfare¹ (brass band), switching from trumpet to trombone when he was 17. "It looked good, and the trombones walk in front...." His interests range from precise chamber jazz to throbbing post punk and contemporary composed and improvised music. Described as "a phenomenon, both a humorous importer of every style into his template-free, fat-backed sound, and a tireless spy in the house of brass", he is equally at home using the classic trombone vocabulary or enthusiastically giving a round-trip tour of his horn, from buzzing mute mutations and grizzly blurts to purring multiphonics. He is also "a very good instant composer, good at keeping it moving and not taking it too seriously". Since 1979 he has played with numerous music ensembles: Cumulus (with Ab Baars and Harry de Wit), JC Tans & Rockets, Theo Loevendie Quintet, Guus Janssen Septet, Loos (Peter van Bergen), Maarten Altena Ensemble and Podiumtrio. He led his own band, Celebration of Difference, and has been involved in theater, dance, television and film projects. He has been invited to play with the EX, Sonic Youth, Gruppo Sportivo and the Nieuw Ensemble (led by Ed Spanjaard). He has also played with Henry Threadgill, The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (led by Alexander von Schlippenbach), the European Big Band (led by Cecil Taylor), the John Carter Project, Mingus Big Band (Epitaph, directed by Gunther Schuller). He is currently active with Misha Mengelberg¹s ICP (Downbeat Poll winner 2002, Talent Deserving Wider Recognition), Gerry Hemingway Quintet, Franky Douglas¹ Sunchild, Bik Bent Braam, Albrecht Maurer Trio Works, Nocando, Carl Ludwig Hübsch¹s Longrun Development of the Universe, Frank Gratkowski Quartet, Available Jelly and Sean Bergin¹s MOB. Wierbos also maintains a solo career. He has a running project under the name Wollo¹s World, where he brings together different artistic combinations, ranging from duos with tap-dancer Marije Nie or bassist Wilbert de Joode to larger groups featuring such musicians as Misha Mengelberg, Mats Gustafsson, Simon Nabatov, Frankie Douglas and Hamid Drake. Wolter Wierbos can be heard on more than 100 CD¹s and LP¹s. He has released two solo CDs: X Caliber (ICP 032, 1995), "a round-trip tour of his horn, from buzzing mute mutations, grizzly blurts and purring multiphonics to radiant melodies", and Wierbos (DATA 824), a reissue of his 1982 solo LP with an additional track. top EDWARD J. WILKERSON, JR. Edward J. Wilkerson, Jr. is an internationally recognized composer, arranger, musician, and educator based in Chicago. As founder and director of the cutting edge octet, 8 BOLD SOULS, and the 25 member performance ensemble, SHADOW VIGNETTES , Wilkerson has toured festivals and concert halls throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. Defender, a large-scale piece for Shadow Vignettes, was commissioned by the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fund and featured in the 10th Anniversary of New Music America, a presentation of BAM's Next Wave Festival. His music can be heard on fourteen recordings, including two film soundtracks and the critically acclaimed albums Birth of a Notion, and 8 Bold Souls, both on his own Sessoms Records label. Wilkerson has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the Community Arts Assistance Program, and has been cited in numerous music polls. A member of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble since 1977, Wilkerson has also played with such artists and groups as the AACM Big Band, Roscoe Mitchell, Douglas Ewart, The Temptations, Chico Freeman, Gerri Allen, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, and many others. In his free time, Wilkerson, past president and longtime member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), teaches composition at the AACM School of Music. Edward Wilkerson, Jr. P.O. Box 6812 Chicago, Illinois 60680 FAX(312)536-2222 email edwardwilkerson@aol.com top DARREN WILLIAMS Darren Williams is a musical performance graduate from Toronto where he studied contemporary improvisation at York University with Professor Casey Sokol. Since 1997 Williams has been active as a performer devoted to musical improvisation in all its manifestations. Concert appearances have included collaborations with John Oswald, Eugene Chadbourne, Ig Henneman, Lori Freedman, Glen Hall, the Vertrek Ensemble, and many others. As a diverse instrumentalist Williams explores timbral possibilities and various extended techniques on his saxophones with a penchant for reinvention of popular musical forms. Williams has been involved in a number of ensembles over the years, most notably the Vertrek Ensemble and Robots On Fire. Featuring the somewhat conventional instrumentation of trumpet, tenor sax, drums, and bass, The Robots are known for high-energy improvisations, and tender yet eviscerating versions of protest songs and pop tunes entrenched in the free styling of Albert Ayler or Peter Brotzmann. Currently Williams lives in Calgary and organizes and curates the nach Hause Concert Series, an organization devoted to the presentation of improvised and/or experimental music provided by local and international musicians and composers. top WILLIWAW Amplified ukelele A williwaw is a sudden squall or violent commotion. Williwaw is also Bill Whitmer, a recovering musicologist, who has performed his own unique brand of amplified 'ukulele music for eight-some years. "Williwaw is ultimately one man with one ukulele on a particular mission" (A. Magilow, Splendid). "Whoever Williwaw is, he's got a lot of effects pedals, and a taste for both '20s pop conventions and extreme noise" (R. Edgerton & D. Wolk, CMJ). Williwaw "runs the gamut from clear and delicate chimes to shuddering, shimmering, Sonny Sharrock-like frequencies with a paradoxical natural grace" (M. Kendrick, Chicago Reader). Williwaw is "innovative, heavily amplified, individualistic, boldly teetering on the brink of oddity" (A. Rickman, Octopus), "minimalist in the extreme" (G. Garside, Rubberneck). "I'm so stunned by the versatility, beauty and ugliness unleashed by" williwaw "that I don't know whether to love it or fear it" (R. Gibbs, Splendid). More info can possibly be found at http://www.prairienet.org/~williwaw. This particular performance at the Candlestick Maker will feature the premiere of the williwaw ensemble, a collection of ukuleles and fingers to delight all. wm. mcAllister whitmer parmly hearing institute / loyola university chicago wwhitme@luc.edu / 773.508.2723 amplified 'ukulele research headquarters http://www.prairienet.org/~williwaw williwaw@prairienet.org / 773.539.9470 top DION WORKMAN Dion Workman is a New York based composer of experimental electronic music. For the past decade Workman has been creating highly complex and detailed compositions that explore the very outer fringes of music and audible phenomena. Workman's latest release Ching (Antiopic, 2003) has been described as "an exemplar of aggressive digital minimalism" and was awarded the 2003 Max Brand Prize for innovation in electronic and electro-acoustic music. top JACK WRIGHT JACK WRIGHT, from Boulder Colo., is one of the more outrageous saxophonists and musical personalities of the continent. Continuously on tour, or organizing the next one, he has been called the Johnny Appleseed of free improvisation. To some, he is the scorned perpetrator of the "school of screech," even though at times he is practically inaudible. But the Washington Post says, "In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king", though this is a title he would rather share with his partners. He plays alto, tenor, and soprano saxes, piano, in every possible direction, but rarely what is recognizable. For over twenty years he has been doing this kind of music exclusively, and his audiences can still be counted on a couple of hands. Which is either a credit to his "refusal to compromise" or an indication that he is a fool. He considers himself as much a beginner as when he started the saxophone, back in the dark ages of the early fifties. He plays with everyone who asks, and currently visits and explores sound with over fifty partners around the country. He records, yes, but the place where he learns what music can do is mainly in live performance. For him, "free music" is a verb, not a noun. A recent review in a German publication, Bad Alchemy, had this to say: "Wright does not make music, he embodies it, he transforms it with a naiveté of another order. It grows into a sound river, he is part of the diaphragm through which the heterogeneous whispers." Recently he has revived his label, spring garden music, to record his and his partners' music--among them, Bob Marsh, Bhob Rainey, Tom Djll, Matt Ingalls, and Fred Lonberg-Holm. He has also recorded on CIMP, Zero-Eggie (Chicago), Recorded (Baltimore), Tautology (Boston), and Xerx, (Albuquerque). In Chicago, he has been playing with a variety of notables over the past several years, among them, Jim Baker, Kyle Bruckman, Jerry Bryerton, Bob Falesch, Carol Genetti, Eric Leonardson, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Adam Sonderberg, Nick Sondy, Grant Strombeck, and Michael Zerang He can be heard on an mp3 as a soloist: http://www.redroom.org/mp3s/highzero2000/jackwright1.mp3 He can also be heard in a quartet: http://homepage.mac.com/bhobr/assets/dc2.mp3 (quartet, from CIMP cd, with Bob Marsh, cello, Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello, Bhob Rainey, soprano sax) for more information, and some of his writings, check his label and website: http://www.springgardenmusic.com/jackbio.html top RYAN YOUNG ryan plays stringed instruments.  he refers to himself in the third person sometimes... like now for instance.  he doesn't use the "shift" button a lot.  he plays in something like 6 different musical outfits which encompass quite a plethora of musical styles such as jazz, bluegrass, rock and/or roll, quiet, loud, good, bad, and happy.  he does all this and holds down 3 jobs and 2 girlfriends.  he is good. top MICHAEL ZERANG Michael Zerang is a professional composer and musician since 1978. In that time he has performed with and led over thirty ensembles and have performed locally, nationally and internationally including the musical groups Liof Munimula, The Neutrino Orchestra, Trio Troppo, The Wonderfuls, The Blue Angels, Sam Pappas' Tumbling Strains, Frozen Lucy, The Quirt Quintet, Musica Menta, The Vandermark Quartet, Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, , The Sputter Ensemble, In Zenith, and Broken Wire . In addition to these ensembles, He currently performs with many innovative musicians including AACM co-founder Fred Anderson, Mats Gustafsson, Raymond Strid, Sten Sandell, Don Meckley, Jaap Blonk, Peter Brotzmann, Sebi Tranontana , Kent Kessler, Axel Dorner, Jim Baker, Hamid Drake, Jeff Parker, Bernard Santacruz, Jeb Bishop, John Edwards, Tony Bevan, John Butcher, and Fred Lonberg-Holm. He has recorded for Okka Disc, BOXmedia, Kontrans, Southport, Quinnah, Eighth Day Music, Garlic, Penumbra, and Platypus, labels as well as many others. He has been commissioned to compose music and sound scores for over 100 individual choreographer, theater directors, new music ensembles, and theater companies. He as received the Joseph Jefferson Award three times for original music composition for Frankenstein (1995), The Ballad of Frankie and Johnny (1997), Hunchback (1999), all of which have had their premieres at Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. Michael Zerang founded the Link's Hall Performance Series in November 1985 and functioned as artistic director until 1989. Link's Hall continues to present experimental music, modern dance, traditional ethnic folk music, poetry and fiction readings, and performance art events. He also curated events at Club Lower Link's, a venue for experimental arts in Chicago from 1987-1989. He currently curates a series of new and experimental music concerts at his own space, The Candlestick Maker , on Chicago's northwest side. He is a past Board president for the Experimental Sound Studio of Chicago, and current Board member of Link's Hall Inc., and The Curious Theater Branch. http://www.geocities.com/~mzerang DAVID ZIELINSKI Dave Z. was raised in Evanston, Il. He attended North Texas University and was a member of the world renowned One O¹Clock Jazz Band. In 1982 he returned home to Chicago. His horn section, "The Splifftone Horns", aka "The Steel Mountain Horns" was plastered all over Chicago¹s reggae scene. They also appeared on a LP by Ten City that went gold! On his own, Dave has excelled in diverse genera, performing with many notable musicians. Dave has lead his own groups including The Lee Street Band, a soul group, The David Zielinski Quartet, a jazz group, and Security Let Us In, a group that sports a 1994 CD entitled Ultimate Communion. Other CDs that Dave can be heard on include Billy Boy Arnold¹s Eldorado Cadillac, Dave Gordon¹s Turn, The Andalusion Dog¹s Bitter, Alice :Peacock¹s Real Day, Sam Cockrell & the Groove¹s I¹m in the Business and Professor John¹s The Long Walk Home and Big Hands. top NICK ZIELINSKI Born March 11, 1977 in Wadena, Minnesota. Knows how to use parenthesis. Son of a social worker and a minister. One brother, one sister. Likes sentence fragments. Bachelor of music in percussion performance from U of MN (2000). Master of music in improvisation from U of MI (in progress). Has taken part in many independent music projects such as: about Ouch!, Tanya and the Holsum Family Fiscal Planner, Mario Speedwagon, Arp of the Covenant, Enzo Trio, The Hopscotch Filament, Marginalized and Whoopsy , The I in Team, The Number F, Gay Cop Moustache, 33 Husky, Young Little Meat and Skul Raydr as well as co-founding the Recordings of Variable Quality record label with Adam Patterson. He has also taken part in many subsidized musical endeavors, such as: The Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra, Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, Arrowhead Chorale, Minnesota Repertory Theatre, University of Minnesota, Duluth Wind Ensemble, UMD Symphony Orchestra, UMD Chamber Orchestra, UMD Percussion Ensemble, UMD African Music and Dance Ensemble, UMD Jazz Ensemble, UMD Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Twin Ports Wind Ensemble, Hillcrest United Methodist Church Bell Choir, University of Michigan Creative Arts Orchestra, University of Michigan Symphony Band, University of Michigan Concert Band, University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble, University of Michigan Composer¹s Forum, University of Michigan Jazz Ensemble and the University of Michigan Graduate Jazz Quartet. Email: nickzielinski@hotmail.com. top   Site by SMH