Tom Heasley

B>Composer, Tuba, Didjeridu, Voice, Electronics, Loops, Throat Singing

The unique musical voice of Tom Heasley is heard internationally as composer, performer and recording artist. At live performances and in recordings, Heasley gathers the warp and woof of tuba, didjeridu, throat-singing, looping and electronics and weaves them into a musical tapestry of great originality and power. He creates “a rich and sonorous aural experience that flies in the face of all the dumb cliches about what tuba music is…” A true “father of invention”, Heasley has turned his Achilles' heel - the tuba - into a force majeure.

From Silicon Valley to Siberia, Tom Heasley’s music has been featured on radio programs throughout the world, such as National Public Radio, Public Radio International, Carl Stone’s Ears Wide Open, John Schaefer’s New Sounds (WNYC), Kalvos and Damian’s New Music Bazaar, John Diliberto's Echoes, and BBC Radio's Mixing It and Late Junction. His music speaks to a diverse audience, from students at Oberlin conservatory to inmates of San Quentin prison. His appearance at festivals and venues include CEAIT, Sonic Circuits, The Gathering, The Knitting Factory, CBGBs, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

With his first solo CD, WHERE THE EARTH MEETS THE SKY (Hypnos 2001), Tom Heasley launched the art of tuba-playing into the twenty first century. He continued to liberate the tuba [one of the world’s most under-valued instrument ] with ON THE SENSATIONS OF TONE (Innova 2002.) His third solo offering, DESERT TRIPTYCH (Farfield Records, 2003), released by Southampton, England-based Farfield Records, was his first to feature the didjeridu, along with voice and electronics.

The winner of an Artist Fellowship in Musical Composition from the Arts Council of Silicon Valley, Heasley’s work has also been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, American Composers Forum, Meet The Composer, McKnight Foundation and ASCAP. In addition to his solo recordings, Tom has recorded for Tzadik, Leo, Hypnos, Innova, Music and Arts, New Albion, Old Gold and Farfield Records and has enjoyed collaborations with many artists of note, including Charlie Haden, Wadada Leo Smith, Malcolm Mooney (of Can), Eugene Chadbourne, Deep Listening Band, Gunther Hampel, Jeanne Lee, Bobby Bradford, John Carter, Alvin Curran, Don Preston, Daniel Lentz, Vinny Golia, Joe Catalano, Pauline Oliveros, David Gamper, the Merce Cunningham Dance Co., Lois V Vierk, Frederic Rzewski, Glenn Spearman, Gerry Hemingway, Stuart Dempster, Anne LeBaron, Gerry Hemingway, Jonathan Harvey and most recently, Toss Panos.

In 2005, with the support of Meet The Composer, Heasley produced a concert series at Highways in Santa Monica, CA, where he premiered a new work for tuba, voice and electronics, Dream of Zatoichi. He was also a featured musician - performing on tuba, didjeridu and voice, as well as creating real-time loops - for the workshop production of Anne LeBaron’s opera WET.

In September, Mr. Heasley launched his record label, Full Bleed Music. Heasley’s newest CD PASSAGES, recorded in late 2006, and utilizing drums in his ambient music for the first time is the first release on Full Bleed Music. On PASSAGES, Tom was joined by master percussionist/drummer Toss Panos (a longtime collaborator with Michael Landau, Andy Summers, Robben Ford, Mike Keneally and many others.) PASSAGES received - and continues to receive - much critical acclaim and airplay.

Heasley has been very busy, prior to, during, and following the launch of his record label. In early 2007, Tom branched out from his ambient guise to sit in with the Michael Landau Band at the world famous Baked Potato. This gave rise to an invitation for Heasley to contribute to a Biff Johnson jazz/rock CD project, including performing as The Thing in a track that pays tribute to the Dimitri Tiomkin soundtrack for the 1951 classic sci-fi film. Following the release of Passages, Heasley lectured and performed at the Windward School in West Los Angeles, before going on a short hiatus toward the end of 2007. In the summer, Mr. Heasley returned to teach at the California State Summer School of the Arts. As 2008 rolls along, Passages continues to be written about, featured and broadcast, from John Schaffer's New Sounds in New York City to the BBC in London and everywhere there are radios and webcasts to be heard.

In the spring, Heasley was invited by trombonist Stuart Dempster to join him in several days of recording in the world famous two million gallon (and 45-second reverb!) Fort Worden cistern in Port Townsend, Washington. The cistern is famous largely due to Dempster's previous recordings made there - both his solo release, 'Undergound Overlays in the Cistern Chapel' on New Albion and several Deep Listening Band recordings with Pauline Oliveros. While in Washington, Heasley and Dempster will also participate in a special quartet performance and recording - also in the cistern �” of John Cage's 'Atlas Eclipticalis'. Heasley and Dempster will continue their collaborative efforts in the SF Bay Area with Eric Glick Rieman joining the fray in September at the Oakland, CA, venue 21 Grand. Heasley plans to release material from the cistern recordings on Full Bleed Music later in 2008. And, In January of 2009 Tom will return to the Bay Area for a solo concert, part of the Trinity Chamber Concerts series in Berkeley. In the upcoming summer, he will once again teach at CalArts.

Oh, yes, and Mr. Heasley is currently working on a book on contemporary tuba technique, with special emphasis on multiphonics, to be published sometime in 2010.

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