Born: January 6, 1968 Primary Instrument: Sax, alto
Rent Romus (saxophones/electronics/voice/flute/zitherod) is a force spanning over twenty years of original improvised music, production, and performance. Romus is the founder and producer of Edgetone Records a new music label since 1991. He is also the Executive Director of Outsound.org under which he is the head curator of The SIMM Music Series at the Studio 6 Musicians Union Hall, and the famous Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series in San Francisco. He was the former Director of Promotion for the SFAlt Festival 2002-2004. Romus also runs a new music distribution network to brick and mortar stores for independent artist run record labels called UIRC (Ultra Independent Recording Coalition) currently available online as well as the Artistic Director of the Outsound Presents...Edgetone New Music Summit, a national music festival held in the greater San Francisco Bay Area every summer. Romus has been recording and producing live performances and events since 1988. His early musical history includes learning with jazz great Stan Getz, guitarist Bruce Forman, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Martin, and drummer Eddie Moore.
Romus has to date performed or recorded with Chico Freeman, James Zitro former drummer for Charles Lloyd, Kash Killion former Sun Ra Arkestra cellist, Andrew Borger drummer for Tom Waits, Jason Olaine past AR director for Verve/Universal, blues guitarists Paris Slim, Joe Lewis Walker, Sonny Rhodes, and tenor sax pioneer John Tchicai, new music artists Ernesto Diaz-Infante, Marcos Fernandez, Philip Everett, Ray Scheaffer, Dina Emerson, Vinny Golia, Josh Allen, and noise artist CJ Reaven Borosque. Romus performs in a wide range of sound aesthetics and genres.
Awards:
2003 recipient Meet The Composer Grant, Meridian Gallery Series, San Francisco, CA 2006 recipient Meet the Composer Creative Connections Grant, Bloom Tour, Bowerbird Philadelphia, PA“Romus' sax rekindles that flame egregiously, thematic sketches becoming instant excuses for the instruments to coalesce into a gruelling mass of Pollockian sonic painting that plumps on the brain and self-adjusts until your synapses are completely disjointed.” Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes
“Rent Romus and his Sax are the rudder, guiding the way....his frenzied summersaults lead the band ever upwards towards the sky.” Tobias Fischer, Tokafi
“The center piece of the band is Rent Romus with his fantastic sax work, and like his contemporary Zorn, Romus has a long history in the music scene as well as in the established cultural art world working and collaborating with talented musicans.”-Jackalblaster
Edge of Dark, Lords of Outland with Vinny Golia
Edgetone
2011
Emergency Rental, The Emergency String (X)tet meet Rent Romus
Edgetone
2010
XV (the first fifteen years 1994-2009), Lords of Outland
Edgetone
2009
Sudden Aurora, Bloom Project
Edgetone
2009 GRID, Ministry of Rites
Edgetone
2008
Thundershine, Jazz On The Line with Chico Freeman (re-issuse)
Edgetone
2008
Prismatic Season, Bloom Project
Edgetone
2008
Rent Romus' Lords of Outland, You can sleep when you're dead!
Edgetone
2008
Rent Romus' Lords of Outland, Culture of Pain
Edgetone
2006
Bloom Project, Bloom
Edgetone
2006
Reverberations of Spring Past
Pax
2006
Novo Navigatio, The Abstractions
Edgetone
2004
ARS VIVENDE, The Abstractions
Edgetone
2003
Sonic Conspiracy, The Abstractions
Edgetone
2002
The Metal Quan Yin, Lords of Outland with poet C.J. Reaven Borosque
Edgetone
2001
PKD Vortex Project – New Music composed inspired by the Stories of Phil K. Dick
Edgetone
2000
Out of Town, Guinea Pig
Edgetone
2000
Rent Romus' Lords of Outland, Avatar In the Field
Edgetone
2000
Life’s Blood Trio, Blood Motion
Edgetone
1999
Rent Romus' Lords of Outland, Adapt…or DIE!
Edgetone
1997
Rent Romus' Lords of Outland, You'll Never Be The Same
Edgetone
1995
Jazz On The Line with Chico Freeman, In The Moment
Edgetone
1994
Jazz On the Line, no boundaries
Edgetone
1991
Jazz On The Line, Dark Wind
Edgetone
1988
As A Side Musician
Two Rooms of Uranium inside 83 Markers
Moe!kestra!
Edgetone
2007
C.O.M.A. California Outside Music Associates
C.O.M.A.
Edgetone
2004
LEGION OF DAGON
Tri-Cornered Tent Show
Edgetone
2004
TWO FORMS OF MULTITUDES
Moe!kestra!
Edgetone
2003
CONFIGURATIONS
Jim Ryan's Forward Energy
Edgetone
2002
Disclaimer: All About Jazz is not responsible for the accuracy of the discographical data at the website(s) provided. If a link is no longer valid, please contact discography@allaboutjazz.com. Thank you.
Primary Instrument:
Sax, alto
Location:
Richmond, CA
Clinic/Workshop Information:
Music Business Discussion/ Q&A
Rent Romus has worked as an independent music producer and curator since 1984. He runs Edgetone Records launched in 1991 originally a vanity label to support his recordings and later in 2001 began releasing other artists primarily from the San Francisco Bay Area crossing many forms of improvised and experimental music. He was the Executive Director of Jazz in Flight from 1996-1997 a non-profit jazz presenting organization based in Oakland California until it disbanded in 2001 which booked creative touring and local performing musicians at Yoshi's (jazz club) in Oakland California. He founded Outsound Presents a non-profit artist based organization and serves as the Executive Director while he curates The SIMM Music Series since 2001 at the Musicians Union Hall as well as the Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series in San Francisco. Romus co-founded and was the Director of Promotion for the SFAlt Festival in 2002-04 which lead to him create and organize the annual Edgetone New Music Summit, a national experimental music festival held in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The festival is now produced under the Outsound Presents banner which continues at the present under the title, Outsound New Music Summit.
Topics covered are:
• Business philosophies from the artist point of view
• business models, licensing, contracts
• D.I.Y (do it yourself) promotional concepts
• Navigating product manufacturing, distribution, labels
• Self-booking and independent touring
• Tools for administration
A question and answer session is utilized to engage participants after the lecture portion.
Directed Improvisation Workshop
The workshop can be open to everyone regardless of their experience and is open to others to incorporate dancers, filmmakers, writers, actors and fine artists and more if the environment allows.
Participants will leave the workshop with a greater ability to work collaboratively with others in a group setting through group awareness and interactive listening.
This is primarily designed to enhance sonic and artistic interactions between individuals within a group setting.
Though a set of written directions, graphs, signs, hand signals conducted, and input from the participants, individuals may utilize everyday sound sources, found objects and objects that already naturally exist in the space, or voice, traditional musical instruments, non-traditional instruments and ambient sounds that are occurring outside of the group and everything possible that we discover as an ensemble throughout the process.
Overall, the emphasis is not necessarily on individual creativity but on the ability to listen and collaborate with others. This workshop encourages participation by anyone regardless of their musical experience, age, or language.
