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Dave Trenkel

Dave Trenkel is a keyboardist, bassist, composer and recording engineer living in Corvallis, OR. He is currently a member of the avant-jazz/prog/hip-hop collective Xenat-Ra, the free-fusion quartet Different Feeder, the 12-piece Bob Marley tribute band Belly Full of Bob, and the psychedelic Cumbia/Chicha sextet Orquesta Monte Calvo. Previous bands include Eleven Eyes, Minus, Balafon Marimba Ensemble and numerous other bands in the Pacific Northwest. Dave has played with Andrew Hill, John Zorn, William Hooker, Rob Blakeslee, Julian Priester, Dave Storrs and many others.

Dave runs the New & Improv Music label, specializing in new Jazz and improvised music from the Pacific Northwest. As a recording engineer, he has, among many other projects, worked on many releases by famed Portland tenor saxophonist Rich Halley.

Awards

Corvallis Alchemist Favorite Keyboardist, 2011


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Xenat-Ra, “Science for the Soundman” — The flexible sextet yanks music’s trap door, sending listeners into spaces where everything’s permitted. Spend a few seconds in “Ape With a Synthesizer” and you’ll know it’s true. The track culminates in the freakout of freakouts: Dave Trenkel mashes Hammond, Matt Calkins torches sax, Mark France shaves his fretboard supermodel-thin and drummer J.D. Monroe chops down the planet before calling his team home. Monk Metz voices this sensory assault, his limber poetry tackling dexterous wordplay in this refreshingly weird universe, rife with percussive spice (“Swalo Meh Hole,” abetted by Joel Hirsch on congas and Otto Gygax on shereke), Monroe’s expert turntable sweeps (“Parahelion”), and the ability to heed John Zorn’s request on a cover of his composition “Bezriel”: “Play the sh*t out of it” — something you’ll do with “Science of the Soundman,” if you’ve any sense of adventure

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Science For The...

New & Improv Music
2012

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Videos

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