Full Description:

Music for an IMAGINARY BAND, led by composer-pianist Gordon Beeferman, is a (real) 7-piece group comprised of some of New York's most uniquely creative musicians. The band explores the territory where classical 'new-music,' jazz and free improvisation intersect. Beeferman's compositions range from the gnarly to the operatic, and are both incredibly detailed and very free; the band's intensive improvisational explorations are tethered to highly structured frameworks.



The band's first recording, a 7" limited edition, will be released in late August on Generate Records.



Gordon Beeferman - Piano & compositions

Nate Wooley - Trumpet

Evan Rapport - Alto Sax

Matt Bauder - Tenor Sax

Josh Sinton - Baritone Sax, Bass Clarinet

James Ilgenfritz -- Bass

Michael Evans - Drums




GORDON BEEFERMAN is a composer and pianist whose work spans opera, orchestral and chamber music, improvisation, and collaborations with dance and other arts. His compositions have been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Albany Symphony, California EAR Unit, Quartet New Generation recorder collective, American Brass Quintet, eighth blackbird, and others. His chamber opera "The Rat Land," performed by the New York City Opera on its VOX showcase in 2007 and 2009, was praised by the New York Times as "complex and daringly modern...Mr. Beeferman's music, with its skittish melodic lines and pungent atonal harmony, is gritty, fidgety and intriguing."



Since moving to New York in 1998, Beeferman has been an active member of the local music scene. He has performed in a wide range of settings, including Roulette, the Vision Festival, the Knitting Factory, MATA Festival, Improvised and Otherwise, Columbia University's Italian Academy, and live on WNYC, WKCR and WFMU. His collaborations with choreographer Anita Cheng have been produced at the Joyce SoHo, Danspace, and Cunningham Studio.



Beeferman has received commissions from the Fromm Foundation, the BMI Foundation, and Concert Artists Guild, among others, and prizes including three BMI Student Composer Awards. He was a fellow at Tanglewood and a resident composer at the Copland House. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, where his teachers included William Bolcom and William Albright for composition and Anton Nel for piano.



Beeferman's recordings of improvised ensemble music are available on Generate Records; scheduled for release this year are chamber works on the Genuin and Summit labels. A 7" vinyl recording by his IMAGINARY BAND will be released in the summer of 2009. www.gordon.inkbox.org

Full Description:

Jeff Arnal (percussion) and Gordon Beeferman (piano) synthesize avant-garde jazz/improv and contemporary classical traditions of the 20th century into a unique "energized ritual of free expression"¦music with muscle and appeal" (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.